It has been an eventful year so far for Runkus, with the loss of his father outweighing several accomplishments. For the remainder of 2025, it will be all music for the roots artiste.

“I want to push the boundaries of my own creativity and give people music at a higher rate and at a high quality. We want to spread the message of Rastafari which is love, throughout the entire universe,” Runkus told Observer Online. “I want to tell stories, stories of my own, stories of people, whether seen or unseen. I want to be an Alchemist for people’s emotions in the form of music.”

In February, Runkus lost his father and mentor Determine to stomach cancer at age 53. That month, Being Poor Is Expensive by British rapper Bashy won the MOBO Award for Album of The Year in the United Kingdom.

Runkus’ involvement on that project is Windrush Generation, a collaboration with Bashy that salutes West Indians who migrated to the UK between 1948 and 1971.

Fallback, his song with Toronto-based artiste King Cruff, was nominated for Reggae Recording Of The Year at Canada’s JUNO Awards. That was won by Exco Levi’s Born To Be Free.

In April, Runkus performed at the opening of Bahamian creative artist Tavares Strachan’s SUPERNOVAS exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim in Germany. He performed with a 100-member choir and provided ‘sound score’ to some of Strachan’s pieces.

Runkus said he and Strachan met five years ago when the latter visited Jamaica.

For all the positives this year, he said the loss of Determine, best known for the 1995 hit song Kette Drum with Beenie Man, is devastating.

“In the midst of working and getting these accolades, it’s been a tumultuous year, a hard year, with the loss of my Dad. I do this for my family, yuh nuh, for my mother, father, brother and sister,” Runkus stated. “It’s been a hard road to travel…a hard six months, but Jah neva give man more than him can bear.”