SINGER/SONGWRITER, Tarrus Riley, tackles the rampant issue of gun violence in his third official release Living The Life Of A Gun, from his latest studio LP Contagious.

The lead single on the 18-track compilation, Living The Life of A Gun sees Riley masterfully stepping aside from his characteristic lover’s persona to deliver an infectious track laden with clever puns and weaved with stark realities. He juxtaposes his name to that of the similarly titled automatic weapon — the Taurus — giving the gun a poignant voice to detail its role in the rising scourge of violence in today’s society.

“Me strike fear inna yu heart, All sorts of people a walk with me and nuh fraid fi pop me off. When me seh blow! See it deh, everything dead off in a second… look how much trouble I cause…”

Riley’s expressive lyrics on the Dean ‘Cannon’ Fraser-produced track rings an all-too-familiar tone of violence pursued in the name of war and plunder or similarly youths spewing shots in retaliation to social and economic frustration, ferocious accounts that hit close to home and witnessed daily by newspaper headlines and TV reports.

“I chose this song to be released as my next single because of its crucial anti-arms message and direct relevance to humanity today. I wrote it from the gun’s point of view and who better to tell the story of the gun than the man who bears its namesake? This Tarrus, however, is strictly against violence and asks, ‘What dem make gun for? Me no see no good whey it do round yah’. Guns wreak destruction and as it stands, even the man who makes the gun is afraid of the gun. Nobody wants to die so let’s put the guns to rest,” Tarrus declared.

A firm believer that positivity should always be spread through music, Riley hopes to impact change with his latest release. “Tarrus is not an artiste who will just give you solely love songs, we have to talk about ‘real’ things as well, which is why we sing Start Anew, Good Girl Gone Bad and Living The Life Of A Gun. Domestic violence, drug abuse and gun violence are real offences in our society and as artistes we need to reinforce these reality-themed messages and help inspire change,” says the singer.

With artistes now being called upon to be more creative and wholesome in their lyrics, Riley’s diversity and conscientiousness sets him standards apart. “I am on a mission with my music. I always deliver positivity and even more so as we approach the New Year, I want to impress the message of love and peace — love is lovely and war is ugly,” he declared.

With the track gaining steady ground on local and international playlists, Tarrus prepares to shoot the video for the single this weekend with director Gareth Cobran (Konshens, Demarco, Morgan Heritage) at the famed Rebel T headquarters.

“I am looking forward to the shoot this weekend. Gareth and I have worked on projects before so there is great synergy there. The video will also have special cameos by some of the premiers in reggae and dancehall music including the legendary Joe Lickshot who does the introduction for the track. The treatment for the video is impressive and fans will see a different side to Tarrus Riley,” says the singer.

In addition to working on his new video, Riley is buzzing internationally and prepares to end a successful year with several dates in the Caribbean as well as finalising preparations for the Europe leg of his ‘Contagious’ tour which will kick off in January 2010. Earlier this year, Riley and his Blak Soil band toured multiple cities across the US and Canada earning rave reviews on his new album, talent, passion, and originality from publications such as Jet, Essence, The New York Times and many others.