Editor’s Note: As June marks both Black Music Month and Men’s Mental Health Month, the intersection is necessary. For Black men, conversations around wellness often get buried beneath responsibility, survival, and silence. Music speaks when they can’t. It holds their joy, grief, memories—and sometimes, our peace. I Love Us co-founder Dewey Johnson reflects on his personal journey toward emotional wellness and how a carefully curated playlist became one of his most powerful tools for healing.
This year, my goal was to work on my mental health. That meant doing some real digging—trying to figure out what actually makes me happy and what triggers me. Still a work in progress. But one thing I’ve figured out? Scents and songs help me relax.
I’ve started lighting a candle and playing my happy playlist when I need to reset. That playlist is like therapy I can afford. It’s full of songs that hold meaning for me—memories, moments, people. It ranges from Dirty South rap to Motown to Bob Marley. Every track brings something different. It helps me breathe again.
There are days I wake up feeling great—only for work to come in swinging and knock the wind out of me. I don’t want work to have that kind of power over me. So I put my earbuds in and disappear into the music. Just like that, I’m back in a better moment. A place that feels like me.
“Small Axe” by Bob Marley used to be just a chill little groove. But one day I stopped and really listened to the words. That’s when it hit me: I may not be the biggest blade, but I can still make a dent. I can still cut through. That song reminded me I still have power—over my mind, my space, and my energy.
Then there’s “Be Happy” by Mary J. Blige. That’s basically the theme song of my life. Some songs aren’t just songs—and this is one of them.
A lot of the older tracks bring me back to childhood and simpler times. “Check the Rhyme” by A Tribe Called Quest? I used to blast that through my father’s speakers like I was running the block. That was 30+ years ago.
And maybe that’s why I lean toward the old stuff. Not because I think the artists were more talented, or sang better—nah. It’s because back then, everything wasn’t made in a rush. Nowadays, phones and computers make it easy to crank out a track in minutes.Easy doesn’t always mean better. Sometimes it means we lose the magic. It feels like today’s artists want to go viral instead of go timeless.
Still, I give props where it’s due. I love the new producers. The way they use technology—Berry Gordy couldn’t have imagined that. There’s some real innovation happening. Pros and cons to every generation, I guess.
But man… imagine a track with Luther Vandross on the hook, Jay-Z on the verse, and Pharrell on the beat? That’s the kind of collab I wish we could’ve seen.
At the end of the day, I might be a grumpy old man about some things—but I know one thing for sure: music heals. It helps me slow down. It helps me not lose myself in the chaos.
If nothing else, it reminds me to keep going.
Cover photo: I Love Us Co-Founder Dewey Johnson on Men’s Mental Health and Black Music / Credit: Thiy Parks
Leave a Reply