‘Still Holding On’: Cousin of Dayton shooting victim writes song for the city

By Jen Picciano | January 26, 2020 at 5:53 PM EST - Updated January 27 at 12:19 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Sadly, a lot of the music that moves us is inspired by tragedy. Much like country artist, Eric Church’s song “Why Not Me?” about the Las Vegas shooting, an Ohio native hip hop artist was moved to write a song about this summer’s mass shooting in Dayton, when he learned his cousin was among the nine victims.

“Everyone can relate to this song because everyone lost someone. Everyone is holding on to something, holding on to a dream, holding on to a job, holding on to hope, faith. So I feel like this song is touching people in a different way than my other music ever did, or ever could. It’s relatable and it’s from a real place of hurt and a real place of wanting change,” he said.

Working on a story for Grammy Night with a powerful message. Jevin Lamar lost his cousin in the Dayton Oregon District shooting. Now this hip hop artist is using his craft to communicate with his city and his family about this tragedy.
Posted by Jen Picciano Cleveland 19 on Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Tonight after the Grammy Awards, hear from up and coming hip hop artist Jevin Lamar on what it took to write “Still Holding On”, why he rejected previous versions, and where he traveled to spread the message.