R.I.P. Natural Langdon

I had known Natural Langdon almost my entire life.  His mom and my mom were colleagues and furthermore besties.  Due to that relationship, even though we weren't neighbors, we did spend a lot of time together.  I even stayed with his family for a couple of weeks back in my early teens but had pretty much lost contact with him throughout the entire 1990s and aughts.

Then, circa 2013, Nat reached out to me on Facebook.  By then, both of our lives had changed significantly.  I was now living in Ghana.  And Natural, though still based in Brooklyn, had become a globetrotter.  Furthermore, he had also, surprisingly to me, transitioned into something like a Rastafarianism, though he didn't smoke trees or anything like that, nor was he overly religious.

Nat expressed a desire to come and visit me in Ghana.  I was all for the idea, considering that encouraging other people to come and see the Gateway to Africa was one of my inspirations for expatriating.  If I'm not mistaken, he had already been to Morocco by then, but coming to Ghana would mark his first trip he made to sub-Saharan Africa, i.e. the land of our forefathers.

Natural did proceed to make the trip, in 2014, and it turned out to be quite memorable.  He was sort of a freelance filmmaker by profession, and he used to opportunity to film a music video for a couple of homeys of mine who went by the stage name Akyerekyerefo (which, to my understanding, translates to "teacher" in Twi).

Concurrently, Nat himself was being followed and filmed by a crew from the Africa Channel.  And they highlighted his Ghanaian adventures on an episode of one of the television programs, First Time Africa.  

Unfortunately, the Africa Channel took take episode of First Time Africa down from YouTube, but embedded above is a preview that's still online.  And I believe if you visit that YouTube page, it'll point you to a link where you can stream the full episode in select countries, like the United States, where the Africa Channel is based.

Nat only stayed in Ghana for a couple of weeks but since then, when we communicated on occasion, he regularly expressed a desire to come back.  Maybe if he had stayed in GH longer or perhaps even permanently, the environment would have helped stave off some of the deadly health issues he would later face.

Recently, Nat earned his PhD, from a school in either the UK or US, though in what particular field I don't remember.  Sometime around mid-to-late last 2025, I was joking to him that now he's a doctor, he must be rollin' in the dough.  But he told me it wasn't like that, and now, in hindsight, I'm thinking that maybe he sought to achieve that goal in light of his declining health.

The last time I chatted with Nat was around January 2026, just a couple of months ago, and again, he didn't give any indication he was dying.  Maybe he didn't know?  More likely, that kind of news was something he couldn't accept and propagate.  Positivity thinking had become one of Langdon's defining traits as an adult.  When he came over, sometimes he'd be so positive that it was annoying, like you could never have a pity party with Natural Langdon around.

There's a part of me that wishes I was more aware of what he was going through health-wise though, in the grand scheme of things, I don't know how much of a difference it would've made.  I would've been like, 'come back to Africa, maybe if you spend some time in the village, your health will improve'.  But I strongly doubt he would've taken such advice.  And what I was told after his passing is that he wanted to keep the severity of his struggles more or less private.

It sorta reminds me of another friend from New York City who died a few years back.  With that individual, I was aware that he was pretty sick and did advise him, on numerous occasions, to come to Ghana.  I don't believe in medicinal miracles per se, but I do believe that a change in environment and diet can be beneficial, especially to the likes of Americans.  But he never took that advice seriously and one day unexpectedly perished.

CONCLUSION

I always felt that Natural Langdon's visit to Ghana held some type of historic or spiritual significance beyond how it may appear on the surface.  But that whole episode was pushed to the back of mind, until he passed away recently.

May his soul rest in peace.  Having someone you grew up with pass away before his time is one of those kinds of experiences that makes you stop and appreciate the fact that none of us are promised tomorrow.  And I hope that by the time all is said and done, all of Natural's exploits and travels and educational accomplishments will result in a lasting, positive legacy, perhaps even one that encourages more people stateside to travel to Africa.