Remnant Soldier

About roughly a month ago I received a message from this guy named Algiero Minnie, asking me about my services and such. As I usually do, I asked what kind of shoot he had in mind and what the purpose of it was, he went on to say that it would be for an E.P cover of his that he is going to launch soon. I thought “Yaaay! My first album cover” (although not album, Algiero schooled me on it afterward.

I was intrigued by the title of the E.P, and I had asked him what the meaning of Remnant soldier is. This was his response, “Remnant – Leftovers or remainders, whether of daily food ( Ruth 2:14 Ruth 2:18 ), food at the Passover ( Leviticus 7:16 Leviticus 7:18 ), anointing oil ( Le 14:17 ), or even and especially people who survive a major disaster. A remnant of people is what is left of a community following a catastrophe.” and everyone knows what a soldier is of course.

This impressed me even more. I thought wow, there has to be a back story to this. As any kind of artist, your work is a reflection of the things you have gone through, are going through, and your future, hopes and dreams.

One day I asked him, ”what does this mean to you? Why remnant soldier?” He replied, and in detail and also in the third person to keep things interesting.

“Algiero Tony Minnie was born, 1994 October 29, in an undeveloped township, Ritchie, in Kimberley (a place you could then figuratively call the dessert).With his father gone and with no opportunities or work, his mother was forced to leave him with his grandma and relocate to Cape Town a few months after birth.

In grade 4, his mom took him to stay with her. She had found stability and a life that could provide the necessary recourses to better his future. It was definitely better than Ritchie, however they were extremely poor and had to beg for food from Islam neighborhoods.

Fully living out Kimberley’s culture, traditions and lifestyle caused him to struggle fitting in and was bullied and made fun of for being different. Every afternoon after school was food collecting time for him while his peers played joyfully outside.

That pushed him to the edges of being an introvert, schizophrenic and always feeling depressed. Life was extremely hard for him under his step dad. As he grew older the more he got accepted the more rebellious he became.

His hard knock life started in high school as his step dad then belonged to a gang and was heavy on drugs and with him turning into a rebellious teenager. Growing up without parents and not knowing what it is to have a bond with them caused him to reject both his mom and step dad.

During these chaotic stages of his life he managed to make 3 friends that invited him to a youth service while he was high on glue sniffing. After that night he faithfully went to youth and church for girls and for popularity, because it filled the void he had.

Home circumstances got worse and he was always on with his stepdad. That was the only way to protect his mom from getting physically abused. His mom could only helplessly look on and do nothing while his step dad physically abused him.

One day he ran away from home for three days, returned home being reported missing and it became a social worker case. He then got chucked out of the house and went to live on the streets.

Knowing how to beg helped him to survive and at night he would go stand by a fire for warmth and ended up smelling like smoke in school. Despite that he faithfully went to church and ended up living with a church couple and got saved but wasn’t happy. he then moved back home as it was hard to fit into a family where you don’t belong.

This one evening his stepdad was heavy under the influence of drugs and hung him in the bathroom however the wire snapped and broke the moment the chair was taken out underneath him.

One “Guy fox’’ evening he came in late, his stepdad had waited for him and made him jump into a bath filled with cold water, his stepdad then started hitting him with an electric wire. He managed to get a gap to close and lock the door and managed to jump through the bathroom window and ran to the police station butt naked with bloody marks all over his body.

He made a case against his stepdad, however the cops brought him home and filed it under discipline. He was then the laughing stock of his neighborhood for months and that pushed him further into being suicidal.

He then got chucked out again, lived on the streets for a while then went to live with a different church couple. During his matric year his stepdad converted and tried picking up the pieces. He forgave his stepdad.

Today both of them are converted and respect each other, leaving the past behind them and looking to a bright future for the both of them. Years passed and his step dad decided to hang himself, committing suicide which left him with answers him that he is now searching for. He is basically just at square one.”

Man oh man. This is why artists need to express their heart. Music expresses what is happening on the inside.

I think that so many times people misjudge and assume you’ve been living a good life all of your life once you’re really doing something with your life. Forgetting that each and every person, no matter how intense, has a past. I think that the important thing to remember is that your past and what you went through is not just for you yourself, but for others who are still going through it and need help.

Hence why I asked him, “Who is this EP for? Who is it directed to?” He answered and said, “In this day and age, all I wanna do is be relevant to almost every age group age out there. However, the main target market for this is literally teenagers and young adults as they often need to be encouraged.

The genres that I do sits well with them and I feel they are most likely to appreciate my craft and what I prepared. However some of my songs might identify with the worshipers, the creatives and those who seek intimacy in music.”

I feel like people would definitely relate, especially those going through similar hardships too. Somehow, someway there would be a connection when listening to the music.

He told me that the reason for the title was because he wanted to be able to title the E.P something that would describe his entire life in one or two words and in my opinion he did pretty darn well.

The shoot was a compilation of a before and after of his life story. Images that would depict his past and how he has risen from it.

This shoot was an amazing honour to do as it’s not exactly easy to capture and bring out one’s life story, but we managed to pull it off somehow.

I love behind the scenes about things that happen in people’s lives, it gives you more context when you’re looking at imagery or listening to music.

I also love behind the scenes on set! Stay tuned for that blogpost. But also, stay tuned with Algiero Minnie on his pre-launch for his E.P. It will be taking place in May of 2017.

Algiero Minnie, may you continue to strive with grace.

Grace and Peace.