KINGSTON, Jamaica – A 2021 report by the JFA Human Rights Journal revealed that 41 percent of Jamaican homes are run by single mothers. Veteran artist Hitman Walle knows what it is like growing up without a father.
He is one of many Jamaican entertainers raised by single moms. In Hitman Walle’s case, Florence Porter is the hero, as she nurtured seven children on her own in Spanish Town, Jamaica’s first capital.
She, and other single mothers, inspired his song Best Mother which is from Lion In The Jungle, Hitman Walle’s latest album.
Hitman Walle
“It’s a song for all mothers…I see a lot of youths suffer without fathers, and it’s the mothers who do it all by themselves,” he said.
To support her children, Florence Porter worked as a domestic helper, which many Jamaican women did to support their families when they migrated to the United States.
The struggles of the Jamaican mother are documented in many reggae songs including Johnny Was by Bob Marley, which sympathizes with a ghetto woman who has lost her son to violence.
Marley was born to a teenaged mother in rural St. Ann parish in 1945. They relocated to the Kingston community of Trench Town during the 1950s.
Other classic reggae songs hailing the prowess of mothers are Thank You Mama by Sizzla, Hush Baby Mother from Judy Mowatt and Mama by Garnet Silk.
Hitman Walle, who has been recording songs since 1989, plans to spend Mother’s Day acknowledging the selfless contributions of his mother who now lives in Washington, DC.
