“Everyone felt it, everyone knew it. He could’ve easily taken the easy route and put music out when he was 12, 14, 16, even 18, but he always said he wanted to live some life and have something to say before he did it. He didn’t want to be a child star, he wanted to be a man with scars and a story to tell. I always admired, respected and encouraged that stand,” he continued.
An aspiring rapper, McKeehan released music on various platforms under the names TRU, Shiloh and Truett Foster. Over the years he also joined forces with his father on several tracks.
Like his father, religion played an important part in McKeehan’s life, although he was not a “cookie-cutter Christian.”
The rapper went on to reflect in-depth on the last moment he shared with his son while attending his concert at the Factory in Franklin, Tennessee last Thursday.
“I had to leave the next morning very early to fly and start our Canadian tour. As I stood in the audience and watched my son bring joy to a room, I was as proud as a ‘pop’ (as tru called me) could be,” he noted. “It was the culminating moment of a dream that he had since he was 12. It couldn’t have been sweeter. Our music, and what we say lyrically couldn’t be more different, but the outcome was much the same… offering a room full of people a few minutes of joy in a crazy world.”
Sharing a screenshot from their last text exchange, the proud “pop” packed on the praise as he told his son how “very very very proud” he was.
“I wanted to tell you how proud I was of your last night…Your show was amazing and I think you got the ‘it’ factor which is very important but unexplainable. Your joy is infectious and you invite people into it,” he wrote, adding that he was also moved how he “encouraged” and supported another artist “after most people left.”
“That kind of thing right there will take you farther than great art… God doesn’t miss those things,” he wrote. “He notices things like that and blesses us I promise.”
In response, his son replied, “Love you dad.”
“Thank you so much. You have always believed in me,” he continued, noting that his father’s support made “me feel like a superhero.”
“We don’t follow God because we have some sort of under the table deal with Him, like we’ll follow you if you bless us. We follow God because we love Him. It’s our honor. He is the God of the hills and the valleys. And He is beautiful above all things,” he wrote.
The Davidson County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed he died Wednesday after medics responded to a cardiac arrest call at the family’s home.
source: people.com
