It has been a bittersweet 2025 so far for Runkus, but the roots singer says the remainder of the year will see him focused on making uplifting music that reflects his Rastafarian faith.
“I want to push the boundaries of my own creativity and give people music at a higher rate and at a high quality. We want to spread the message of Rastafari, which is love, throughout the entire universe,” he said. “I want to tell stories, stories of my own, stories of people, whether seen or unseen. I want to be an Alchemist for people’s emotions in the form of music.”
In February, Runkus lost his father and mentor Determine to stomach cancer at age 53. That month, ‘Being Poor Is Expensive’ by British rapper Bashy won the MOBO Award for Album of The Year in the United Kingdom.
Runkus collaborated with Bashy on ‘Windrush Generation’, one of the songs from that set. It is a nod to West Indians known as the Windrush Generation who moved to the UK between 1948 and 1971.
‘Fallback’, his song with Toronto-based artist King Cruff, was nominated in the Reggae Recording of The Year category at Canada’s JUNO Awards. That slot was won by Exco Levi’s ‘Born to Be Free’.
In April, Runkus performed at the opening of Bahamian creative artist Travis Strachan’s ‘SUPERNOVAS’ exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim in Germany. He performed with a 100-member choir and provided ‘sound score’ to some of Strachan’s pieces.
