JGM Pick of the Week – May 6, 2025

“Mother, I Miss You”
John P. Kee
From the Death Row album Altar Call (release date: April 27, 2025)

By Robert M. Marovich

With Mother’s Day nearing, making John P. Kee’s latest solo release, “Mother, I Miss You,” this week’s Pick of the Week is appropriate. It’s the opening track on Snoop Dogg’s second various artists gospel-inspirational album, Altar Call.

It’s not his own mother, but Snoop Dogg’s, that Kee is singing about. Beverly Tate placed her little Snoop squarely in the pews of Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church, where he learned to sing and play piano. Snoop was close to his mother, who directed the church choir, and considered her one of his “prime musical influences.”

The first line of the song, “You gave me an angel for a mother,” may reference Snoop’s comment on his Instagram post announcing his mother’s passing in October 2021: “Thank u god for giving me an angel for a mother TWMA (til we meet again).” Still, the song must also be heartbreaking for Pastor Kee, who lost his own mother, Lizzie Shannon Kee, in early 2024. Hearing the cry in Kee’s voice, I suspect that’s correct.