Before You Ship Out

This track comes from Aaron's military service — Air Force enlisted, Army Infantry officer, DoD civilian at SPAWAR/NIWC. It tackles A letter to 18-year-old Aaron the night before he leaves for Navy boot camp. Everything he wishes someone had told him.. The lyrics get specific — "Four AM on concrete, Carolina cold and wet" — because personal tracks on Majik's are personal for real, not performatively. The r&b ballad production matches the energy of the confession. It hits tender and nostalgic, in that order. Every personal track in the catalogue comes from a real moment, a real feeling, a real person. This one is no exception.

[verse 1] Hey kid, yeah you, with the duffel bag packed tight Standing in the doorway, trying not to cry tonight You think you gotta prove something to everybody in this town But the only person keeping score is the one you're staring down In that bathroom mirror, scared but trying not to show Let me tell you something that'll take you years to know [chorus] Dear younger me, you're stronger than you think You're gonna hit the water and you're gonna learn to sink Before you learn to swim, before you learn to lead Dear younger me, you're everything you need [verse 2] They're gonna break you down in ways you can't imagine yet Four AM on concrete, Carolina cold and wet But every pushup, every watch, every time they make you crawl Is building something in your chest that will not let you fall And that kid from nowhere with no safety net below He's gonna build a kingdom, but he doesn't even know [chorus] Dear younger me, you're stronger than you think You're gonna hit the water and you're gonna learn to sink Before you learn to swim, before you learn to lead Dear younger me, you're everything you need [bridge] Save the letters mom writes, every single one Call home more than you do, the years come undone And that girl in the photograph you're tucking in your bag Some loves are chapters, kid, not the whole story that you have [verse 3] One day you'll stand on Folly Beach and watch the sunrise break And you'll be building things that nobody thought you could make CTO, entrepreneur, words that sound too big But you'll grow into them all, just like you grew into this So ship out, sailor, let the ocean have its say I promise you survive it, I'm the proof of it today [chorus] Dear younger me, you're stronger than you think You hit the water and you finally learned to sink Before you learned to swim, before you learned to lead Dear younger me, you were everything you need [outro] Signed, the man you're gonna be Dear younger me