Contemporary Christian music singer and rapper, TobyMac, opened up about his personal album "Life After Death" and the incident that he said rocked his faith in an interview with ABC News' Chris Connelly.
Truett Doster McKeehan, 21, TobyMac's oldest child, was found dead due to an accidental overdose at his Nashville home on October 23, 2019.
The "I Just Need U" singer said that after the incident, he leaned on his wife, Amanda Levy McKeehan, to get through the tragedy and asked for God's guidance and help not only for the couple but also for their four other children who were also affected by the incident.
The Grammy winner said he started the process of making "Life After Death," released on August 19, 2020, along with the song "21 Years," which he made in the wake of his son's passing.
The singer admitted that it was not all about his art but rather a tribute to his son. The 57-year-old rapper said he wanted to show the world how amazing his son was, and he could only do that by writing a song. He admitted that it took him two days to record the first verse as he kept getting emotional singing and thinking that he could not finish the song, but he reminded himself that the song was for his son and he was doing it to honor him. Eventually, he successfully recorded the song, but it's still a question for him how he finished the recording as he felt numb and couldn't say those words. He couldn't even remember writing it but knew that what he only wants is to honor his son.
Truett's cause of death was an accidental overdose
Nashville Fire Department received a call about a person in cardiac arrest on October 24. It turned out that it was McKeehan that the authorities found an aspiring rapper who released songs under the names TRU, Shiloh, truDog, and Truett Foster.
Medical examiners found the cause of McKeehan's death was an accidental overdose of both fentanyl and amphetamines. The aspiring rapper died due to acute combined drug intoxication. His system also showed marijuana, per his autopsy and toxicology results.
Davidson County Medical Examiner, Feng Li, stated that TobyMac's son had a history of both drug and alcohol abuse.
Truett's father released a song called "21 Years," which talks about TRU's past struggles and experiences, per NBC News.
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Holding on to faith and remembering the memories with his son
The rapper said that his son realized that he was meant for music when he first appeared as an artist at The Factory in Franklin, Tennessee. Although TobyMac had a flight to Canada the next day, the proud father wanted to ensure he was there for his son's gig. He described his son's performance as amazing as he crushed it.
That memory of his son became bittersweet as the "Move" singer said it was the last time he saw him. The Christian singer remembered he hugged his son, told him he was proud of him and loved him so much.
The last text from his son read: "Dad, you've always made me feel like a superhero."
The singer said he couldn't ask for anything more than that. He added he was thankful that his son knew he was loved. He learned about his son's death while on a tour bus in Canada. He asked the person who gave him the bad news if he was sure because he couldn't believe his amazing son was gone.
"When we lost Truett, I met grief in the fiercest way," said TobyMac per CHVN 95.1 FM.
