Ludacris/Mary J. Blige's New Anthem..."Run Away Love"

A few days ago, my 11 year old daughter called me into to watch a video with her on You Tube. It was during the evening hours when things are always hectic around our home. However, she was so excited about sharing this video with me that I just had to drop everything and LISTEN.

When the video came on, I heard the hook "Runaway Love", followed by words that scrolled down the screen "Disturbing Tha' Peace" Presents.....and then images of young girls of all races and very much my daughters' age frantically running down city streets with backpacks. We then saw graffiti filled walls plastered with images and pictures of young girls with: MISSING....800, emblazoned all over them. Then in the back you see the flicker of lit candles strewn down the street and that moment I was totally hooked!

These are images from the new video from Ludacris featuring Mary J. Blige entitled Runaway Love. The video goes on to show individual stories of young girls that have been violated at home by stepfathers, fathers, boyfriends, and others and then ultimately being betrayed by the women they should have been able to turn to. I was so overcome by emotion as I sat there with my daughter thinking that this could be her or us if I had made different choices or had been confronted with different life circumstances. Sitting there with her, I could not help but think WHAT IF?

Ludacris & Mary J. Blige tackle the social issues of child abuse, sexual exploitation, teen pregnancy, single parenthood, drug use and others with such power and passion in this new video that it has sent chat rooms a buzz. As I began checking music sites including DEF JAM's Ludacris' page which had comment after comment from young people sharing their similar experiences and expressing how they could relate to this song, I knew right away that this video and song from Ludacris' album RELEASE THERAPY is sure to become an anthem as it creates "therapy sessions" for people.

I have heard Runaway Love several times since then and have seen it described as Urban/Pop. Whatever genre it is described as, this song resonates with many and transcends demographic profiles. "Luda" draws a picture of each girl (with his special rap style) reciting her name and describing the circumstances that have forced her to leave her home; believing that the streets were safer than her own home. He then illustrates the common thread between each girl, skillfully tying their experiences together with the phrases "steady tryin' to figure out why the world is so cold," "Hell is a place called home" and with "nothing' else to do but get some clothes and pack," "she says she's bout to runaway and never come back!" How scary is that? As disturbing as that concept is, we need to address them. I for one, am happy to see it being tackled by two of the industry's heavy hitters.

Let's look at the statistics according to The Center For Missing and Exploited Children:

797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one year period. Averaging 2,185 each day

1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually victimized by adulthood

More than 417,000 reports have been made to CyberTipline since it's inception in 1998

27% of youth who encountered unwanted sexual material told a parent or guardian. If the encounter was definitely distressing- episodes that made them feel very or extremely upset, 42% told a parent or guardian.

Now if the last statistic is accurate and the video Runaway Love depicts children who tell and are then ignored by the adult that they tell, is it no wonder we have so many children that are missing and exploited?

If this song is to have any social impact, we must know to listen to our children in order to avoid any more Runaway Loves.

Ludacris and Mary J Blige.......as the young people say; "did they thang" with this song and video. I strongly suggest you check it out!