A convicted murderer who served more than 15 years in prison has launched a reggae CD promoting a message of love and peace.Ronae (Slanger) Burgess turned his life around and hopes his album ‘Good Ova Evil: The MixTape’ will reach out to others living lives of violence.“Sadly but truly, gangsterism has become a way of life where some people aspire to be a gangster just like they aspire to be a footballer or cricketer or a teacher,” he told The Royal Gazette.“I think we need to bridge the gap between the elders and the young ones. Often we are quick to beat them down and criticise them, but do we take the time to sit with them in their space? We bash them from a distance when we should be getting to know them.”Father-of-three Mr Burgess, 37, was jailed for life in October 1994 for stabbing Clarence (Trees) Smith to death outside the Southampton Rangers sports club. Supreme Court heard the murder, in February 1993, occurred after Mr Burgess and the victim’s brother argued over a bag of pawpaws. Mr Smith stepped into the argument and a heated verbal altercation resulted in Mr Burgess stabbing him twice with a kitchen knife.Mr Burgess, from Warwick, was just 19 years old when first remanded into custody over the killing. He was released in October 2009 at the age of 35. ‘Good Ova Evil’ is his second CD; he launched his first, entitled ‘Transitions’ in 2007 when he was still behind bars.He explained: “I’ve always enjoyed and appreciated music and while I was incarcerated I began writing lyrics. It’s like a greater power than myself took up my hand and inspired me.”The lyrics detailed his journey of self-development and covered topics including “self, culture, mankind and slavery”. He spent the first two years of his sentence in the maximum security wing in solitary confinement and recalled: “Being locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day when it’s nothing but yourself means you are basically being stripped naked mentally and emotionally. This is the point where there’s no friends, there’s not even family, it’s just you all alone. I took the opportunity to delve into myself.”Mr Burgess said before he was jailed he had grown up with a “false definition of manhood” and been “driven by the ego and the pressures of life”. He admitted: “I was definitely on the streets selling drugs. I was a street guy and when you’re on the streets these things come with the territory; violence, police, prison, but the sad part of it is that the street life also breeds envy, jealousy and greed.”Once he got locked up, he made the decision to change.“I had to make the best of it. It wasn’t easy getting used to having your freedom taken away from you and everything is about rules and order. I joined every class possible, even for some things I already knew, just to keep myself occupied,” he said.Meanwhile, he had to come to terms with taking another man’s life.“I made peace with his family and that has helped me immensely. They have supported me and that’s helped me realise what I put them through,” he said.Mr Burgess kept his talent for music to himself at first, but it was discovered during holiday events in prison when the inmates were encouraged to perform. He describes his songs as “conscious, uplifting and positive” in tone and with lyrics that spread an anti-violence message. He won an award for Best Reggae Song for his tune ‘Hard Life’ when he entered Bermuda’s Underground Awards in 2008, a year before his release.In one song on his latest CD, called ‘Love Among the People’ Mr Burgess sings: “Why is it hard to love but easy to hate? The youths don’t have hope, they don’t have no faith.” He also sings: “Everybody wants to be the big boss until you slip and fall short” and “let peace reign happiness again, love maintain, our blood is the same, people in pain we’re going insane, from this killing campaign we need to refrain”.He empathises with the men caught up in Bermuda’s gang violence.“It saddens me because we are taking about our future. These guys are so young, and having been there, I know what I’m up against. It’s about others too; the families of those that go to prison and those that are killed are left behind,” he said.“If we don’t come to grips with this and address it it will perpetuate itself as these youths leave behind children without fathers who will end up angry, hurt and confused. It’s such a waste.”Mr Burgess held down a job in the Surgical Outpatients department at the hospital while spending his spare time over the past 18 months working on his latest CD. He helps transport patients and do the cleaning and said: “I love to know that I’m helping people. You’ve got to be a people person and have a heart.”He also tries to reach people through performing his music at small gigs and private events such as wedding receptions.“It’s always touching when people ask me to be a part of their party and some people have me speak to their kids,” he explained.He hopes that one day his music career will land him an international record deal. His new CD is produced by Detrimental of Near Future Records, Bermuda, with the mixing done by Lenky Boy. It also features international collaborations with French producer Madrigal Musique, who discovered his work online, and Jamaican singer Bramma.It came out earlier this month, and according to Mr Burgess: “It’s doing very well. The response has been overwhelming and I’ve had lots of support. I encourage people to come out and get it as it’s all knowledge; it’s all truth.”Mr Burgess can be contacted via his Facebook page or e-mail on slangermusic[AT]gmail.com. The CD is available from outlets including Duchess Boutique in the Clocktower Mall, Dockyard, LimeLight Barber Shop at Camp Hill, Warwick, Hayward’s Liquor, Middle Road, Warwick, Dub City Records, Court Street, Hamilton, and Choices Boutique, Bermudiana Arcade, Hamilton. It can also be purchased online at iTunes and Amazon.