PORTLAND -- As he takes the stage, wearing baggy jeans, an oversize basketball jersey and a massive gold chain, Sahaan McKelvey could be any rapper, layin' it down for any crowd in any of a dozen concerts happening in Portland that night. But he's not, and they're not, and it isn't.

McKelvey is a youth pastor. His crowd is 100 teenagers, parents, grandparents and young families, and this is RepChrist, a night of holy hip-hop at Irvington Covenant Church in Portland.

McKelvey and his backup, a five-piece band, a DJ and background singers, fill the church sanctuary with the unrelenting urgency of hip-hop that has found salvation in the message of Jesus Christ. Here's a sample:

In a year when "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won an Oscar for best original song, most Christians wonder whether rap and hip-hop belong in church. With its themes of sex, drugs, wealth and violence, hip-hop seems to be the antithesis of Jesus' message. But some ministers argue that hip-hop culture, if true to its roots, provides a valuable outreach to young people.

An evening like RepChrist "starts where your hearts are," said Darien West, 18, a regular at RepChrist. "It's not the vehicle; it's the message coming out of it."

"More and more churches are opening up to hip-hop culture," said Efrem Smith, the senior pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis and the co-author of "The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting With the Movement Shaping Our Culture."

He and his co-writer, Phil Jackson, found about 10 all-out hip-hop churches in the United States and saw the use of hip-hop elements in a growing number of inner-city churches.

"The African-American and urban church needs to really engage and embrace some part of hip-hop culture in order for the church not to die," Smith said. "There is a whole generation of people like me who grew up in hip-hop culture and, unlike me, didn't grow up in the church at all.

"Regardless of political models that paint culture as the enemy, pastors need to engage the culture in a loving way, to draw people toward a positive alternative to the lives they are leading."

The resistance to enlisting hip-hop culture to spread the Gospel comes mainly, Smith said, from ignorance about its roots and its popular forms.

"There is more to hip-hop than just rap," Smith said. "Hip-hop is about dance, art, expression, pain, love, racism, sexism, broken families, hard times, the search for God and overcoming."

McKelvey has hosted nine RepChrist nights in his three years as the youth pastor at Irvington Covenant Church.

"For kids who do go to church, we empower them that they can dress the way they dress, that church can be cool, that you don't have to be hesitant to meet your friends there."

McKelvey is 30 and grew up in hip-hop culture. He also grew up in the church, but by the time he hit his 20s, he had drifted. When he returned to church, he got rid of all his secular music.

"I threw away 300 or 400 CDs, and now I probably have that much again," he said.

He also helped produce two CDs of Portland artists who use rap and spoken word to talk about Jesus. He hopes to organize a RepChrist event during the Rose Festival.

"Young people in our country now are engulfed in hip-hop culture -- the music, the dress, everything about the way young people live. The way that hip-hop affects them can be used for good or bad," he said, and, yes, some mainstream hip-hop messages are destructive.

St. Paul, Minn. � Hip hop music is most identifiable by its hard-thumping base lines and fast-paced rap lyrics. But what makes Christian rap different from what you might hear on commercial radio stations is not the music, but the message.

This is the music of Minneapolis hip hop artist Xross (pronounced "cross"). He is one of the artists making what some have dubbed "holy hip hop." Xross, who used to run a secular music label, says he made the switch to religious rap after he became saved. And he says he's just using his music to spread the word about God.

"It's a tool. When I look at different genres of music, I look at praise and worship, that's a genre of music. Contemporary gospel, traditional gospel, quartet, those are genres. Those are all styles. But those are all styles geared to reach specific people," he said.

And the specific people Xross is trying to reach are young fans of hip hop music.

Xross recently performed at a "holy hip hop" concert at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in north Minneapolis. The event was the preview party for a documentary on the Christian rap movement called "Holy Hip Hop," which features Xross. During the show Xross performed one of his best-known tunes "Do it for Daddy."

Xross says the song was written to be played in clubs more than churches. He says the phrase, who's your daddy has several, sometimes sexual, connotations, and it's also catchy.

"But the question is, really, who is your daddy when it's all said and done, ultimately. Considering the fact there's only one God, it's Jesus Christ. That's who your daddy is. When I began to write that song, I wrote the song because the hook was catchy. It's 'come on, dance for daddy,' that's a club joint. 'Get crunk.' Those are club terms. And it's 'come on bounce.' But then it transitions into ;Come on pray, get saved.' It can't be no more direct than that," he said.

Several hundred people attended the show, which also featured spoken word artists and break dancers.

Fourteen-year-old Darin Gregory was in the audience. He says he doesn't see much difference between hip hop and holy hip hop music.

"It uses the same kind of element as what the worldy hip hop is and the Christian hip hop is. Basically, I say it's the same because it's using a different word. The worldy music is kind of like entertainment. But the Christian music is trying to pull people that's in bondage and in trouble closer to God," he said.

That's exactly what the Rev. Tyrone Maxwell wants to hear. He's the youth minister at Shiloh. Maxwell says his church regularly incorporates hip hop music into its worship because he says it works.

"In order to reach someone, you have to be able to communicate with them and you have to know their form or communication in order to do so. Holy hip hop is saying that there are areas of hip hop that's not holy, but there are areas of hip hop that are holy because we keep that part holy," he said.

But not everyone is comfortable with having hip hop in the church. The Rev. Belinda Green of Minneapolis is an African Methodist Episcopal minister. She says fears that some churches may only be using the music to build their congregations and thereby their collection plates. And Green says she worries that the music may offer a good time and little else.

"My premise is, if we're going to adopt all those kinds of music, especially one that is so much a part of the culture of today, then we need to definitely make sure that we preach Jesus first, that those who sing it know the Lord Christ Jesus and the soul salvation that it offers them, not the bump and the grind. That's not it, she said.

And while Green says she'd prefer that hip hop be left outside the church doors, she realizes she may be in the minority. But she says if hip hop is allowed in the church, it needs boundaries. She's not alone in that thinking.

The Reverend Efrem Smith is the pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis. He holds hip hop services about six times a year and he regularly uses hip hop -- as well as other music genres -- as part of his ministry.

"I think hip hop should only be in the church if its message and its lyrical content is true to scripture and has a Biblical foundation. It has a mission that's wrapped in the principles of Christ, which is what makes it holy. And when that happens, I'm saying, 'why not?' I think there's a place for that kind of hip hop in the church and I think there's a place for the church in hip hop," he said.

And that thinking is critical says Bakari Kitwana. He's the former editor of the hip hop magazine "Source" and he's written several books about hip hop. Kitwana says both sides must give a little.

"Hip hop can't be brought into the church, I don't think, exactly as it is. I think it there have to be some adjustments to fit. And I think where it doesn't fit, young people can't be so pig-headed to say 'this is hip hop, we're young people, you guys just have to accept that this is how we're going to express ourselves,'" he said.

But Kitwana says each church must decide for itself how much hip hop is too much.

Holy Hip Hop

A new DVD about the holy hip hop movement is part of a broader effort to evangelize and improve the lives of a generation steeped in urban music.

Pamela Miller, Star Tribune

Last update: March 10, 2006 � 6:53 PM

The music is urban, urgent, loud, thumping, infectious -- and clean.

Holy Hip Hop, once considered an oxymoron, is gaining popularity nationwide as more Christian artists put their stamp on urban street sounds and styles. And it's gotten a cautious welcome from many black churches, which like churches everywhere are looking for ways to retain and recruit young people.

Now there's a movie.

"Holy Hip Hop," a DVD directed and narrated by Christopher (Play) Martin, a Christian hip-hopper and half of the acting/rap duo Kid 'n Play, will be widely available for sale and rental March 21.

The fast-paced film, packed with intense music and spoken testimonials, features many prominent names in holy hip hop, including two Minnesotans, rapper Xross (Korey Dean) and spoken-word artist Mariaha Markel.

For Xross (pronounced Cross) and Markel, both 31, a married couple from Minneapolis, holy hip hop is about much more than music and money.

Last week they met with pastors and businesspeople at the Church of New Life Ministries in south Minneapolis to talk about their hope that the movie will catch the attention of young blacks who live on the economic margins and ignore the church.

"Jesus said to make disciples by going to places where churches don't, and holy hip-hop is a ministry of the street," Xross said. "As artists, we want to partner with churches and businesses in a holistic way to get young people off the street and into a better life."

Xross and Markel, parents of three children, abandoned secular hip-hop a few years ago because of its profanity and celebrations of sexism, violence and money.

Markel, whose influences range from opera to church house music, as well as the Harlem Renaissance poets, said she "was inspired by secular hip-hop, but there came a time when, as a Christian, I had to leave all that behind."

"We want to present a positive alternative for urban kids," said Xross. He and Markel founded Word on the Block, a nonprofit corporation that promotes holy hip-hop and takes its name from Matthew 22:42, in which Jesus asks whom people think he is -- "In other words, 'What is the word on the block?'" Xross said.

The movie and the Minnesota artists' efforts to promote holy hip-hop have the endorsement of community leaders such as business consultant Ezell Jones and Richard Coleman, CEO of Kingdom Oil, a Christian community foundation.

Coleman, whose foundation works to integrate the work of churches, schools, businesses and charities in ways that benefit the black community, said, "The way we relate to younger people is vitally important to them and to us."

"Kids these days are driven by the spoken word and art," Jones said. "Holy hip-hop is the bridge."

Bishop Richard Howell of Shiloh Temple in Minneapolis, where a pre-release party and concert will be held Friday, acknowledged the reservations many traditional churchgoers have about holy hip-hop, but added,"Jesus came to a society hung up on legalisms and taught that the true meaning of the gospel is not in rules, but in the heart.

"You can never compromise the message, but the language of the streets can be turned around to serve the gospel," Howell said.

--

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Hip-hop ministries move beyond the underground

Two turntables ... and the Son of God

Hip-hop ministries move beyond the underground

BY LISA B. DEADERICK

March 4, 2006

One day, Ben Brickhouse just sat his mom down and read her some of his rhymes. Slowly.

"You saying all of that?" she asked him.

"Now I'll say it fast," he said, and started rapping about the Lord.

"That's why I didn't like it. Because I couldn't understand it."

That's OK. She didn't grow up on the sounds of scratching and mixing, two turntables and a mic. Most of his group did, though. Brickhouse, Angela Smith and Aijné Williams are P.R.O.O.F., part of an underground of holy hip-hop artists that are growing in number across the country.

Today it's the younger sibling of the mainstream, with a lot of quality from hot beats to tight lyrics. Most of the DJs, rappers and producers consider themselves ministers. They're preaching the word of God and trying to lead people to Christ, and do it without coming off corny. Emcees in the mid- to late 1980s credited with starting the scene are people like Stephen Wiley, Michael Peace and D-Boy Rodriguez. But not a lot of people knew about them. Christian rap got more exposure with the success of the controversial dc Talk.

They weren't considered as authentically hip-hop as the pioneers, said Efrem Smith, co-author of "The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting with the Movement Shaping Our Culture."

Still, they were able to connect with a younger audience in a way that wasn't being done in Christian music.

"They brought a lot of convergent styles to one place using rap, soulful R&B and pop. They got the industry to pay attention to that market," said Tricia Whitehead, spokesperson for the Gospel Music Association.

The music's popularity has grown in recent years. Since January, about 40 percent of the albums on the Christian R&B/Hip-hop chart were hip-hop. Black gospel, largely hip-hop and R&B, tied for the most popular style of gospel in 2005.

But in the beginning, holy hip-hop was treated more like a stepchild. It was the place where weak emcees went to practice because the perception was that it was the minor leagues.

"If you weren't good enough to be a mainstream emcee or get a secular record deal, then you had to become a Christian and do Christian rap," said Smith.

That's changed.

"Production values have gotten better," said Eric Faison, vice president of affiliate relations for Superadio Networks. The company syndicates Club Virtue, a gospel hip-hop radio show on STAR 94.1, hosted by Grammy winner Tonex. "For a while it just wouldn't hold up to what else is on the radio, and now it does."

Members of P.R.O.O.F. admit to finding a lot of the early stuff uninspiring. (The group's name stands for Preaching the Reality Of Optical Faith.) In Brickhouse's dorm room at Old Dominion University, the trio hangs out before attending their weekly Bible study and talks about how the rhymes weren't that great, the beats only so-so.

"Personally, I feel like at first, there were only a small number of people doing gospel hip-hop, so they were all accepted," said Williams. "Now that there are so many more people doing it, it's a higher quality."

For Brickhouse and Angela Smith, the realization that holy hip-hop could be done really well came when they heard The Cross Movement, a well-known group out of Philadelphia.

"First, I thought they were lyrically tight and talented," said Smith. "I was like, 'Man, this is what I wanna do.'"

All of the Christian rap he'd heard before was corny, Brickhouse said. This wasn't. The music was hot.

Aside from people spending more time in the lab perfecting their craft, the emcees have been boning up on theology, said Phil Jackson, co-author of "The Hip-Hop Church." There are a number of them who have degrees and who've been to seminary. It's not a requirement, but it doesn't hurt when people are already suspicious of whether hip-hop can be a ministry. The lyricists who know basic theology can say something on the mike and then break it down after the show for the doubters.

"Cats can have mad skills and crazy production, but that can be smoke and mirrors when it comes to being able to be a steward of the movement of Christian hip-hop," said Jackson.

Efrem Smith says the movement has four elements: it represents Christ, uses elements of hip-hop culture, deals with social justice issues and is more concerned with people becoming Christians than with winning awards. To make the kind of impact mainstream has made, holy hip-hop needs more support from churches and radio. Too many still buy into the stereotypes of violence in hip-hop.

So what does that mean for the music? Maybe God will keep it underground so people stay humble, Jackson muses. Maybe with the maturity in the production, lyrics and exposure, more people are warming up to it. Even Brickhouse's mother will meet him halfway -- she'll listen to gospel heavyweight Kirk Franklin. It's a start.

Hip-hop sans the bling-bling

In the Spotlight

Chris Graham

There's no bling-bling - that goes without saying.

Also missing are lyrics demeaning women, glorifying violence, glorifying drug use.

Hip-hop can be done without the accouterments. The Cross Movement is living proof of that.

"You're witnessing our lives and relationships with Jesus Christ coming out in our artistry and writing. That's all it is. You see Christians who do hip hop. That's all it is," said Virgil Byrd, aka T.R.U.-L.I.F.E., a member of the Philadelphia-based Cross Movement, which will be performing at the Word for Life Conference being held on Saturday at Cornerstone Church of Augusta in Fishersville.

"We don't try to put a spin on it. We don't try to make it positive. The gospel itself, the message and our lives makes it what it is on and off the stage," Byrd told The Augusta Free Press.

"This is who we are. We're Christians who rap. We're not rappers who are Christians. The difference is, our life in Christ comes first. Our artistry is second," Byrd said.

Christian-based hip-hop music, until now limited to a large extent to reaching a niche market of hip-hop fans, seems poised for a run at serious mainstream-music-industry attention.

"Christian hip-hop is something that I think is about to take the world by storm," said Omar Blair, a member of the Lynchburg-based hip-hop group Representative, which is opening for The Cross Movement at Saturday's event in Fishersville.

"If you notice in the secular industry right now, you have a lot of lyricists talking about Jesus Christ. There's Kanye West doing the 'Jesus Walks' song. I really think as of right now that Christian hip-hop is about to take the world by storm," said Blair, a Waynesboro native and student at Liberty University.

Byrd agrees that Christian hip-hop is bound to see its influence in mainstream-music circles grow.

"The growth of the industry has been unbelievable," Byrd said. "It has a similar story to hip-hop, in that it started as an obscure genre that wasn't even recognized by the mainstream really at all. And what ended up happening, just like with hip hop itself, as it began to grow, and the artistry began to grow, in terms of people recognizing, hey, this can be legitimate. The music is legitimate. The artistry is legitimate. And it seems like some of these guys are legitimate in terms of their topic, because it never stops, it just keeps coming."

But - and this is probably inevitable when you're talking about a social and cultural phenomenon that is on the verge of gaining more attention from the world at large - there is a downside to growth.

"I see a lot of zeal, and I see a lot of people who want to make CDs really, really bad. But it's not always balanced out with a balanced Christian perspective," Byrd said.

"The world view may be skewed. The idea that as long as I can do Christian hip hop, then I'm OK as a Christian, I think, lingers in the minds of some. Even if it's not a forthright though, it's at least something of a subconscious thought," Byrd said. "I've been doing this for a very long time, and I've seen a lot of guys with a passion to make the artistry work. And the hip hop work itself. But I don't see the same passion for learning and the promotion of the gospel."

Blair, whose group is close to reaching a deal with a Christian hip-hop recording label - another sign of the industry's growth, that it has its own record labels, and that they are seeing success - said it is possible to "walk with Christ and have fun doing what you love to do."

"A lot of people question us if we're going to be able to handle crossing over and going mainstream," Blair told the AFP. "I mean, we live in the world daily, so what is it going to be to enter into that industry?

"Being a positive role model is your daily walk," Blair said. "Christ is shining through us, and you can't serve two masters. Either you're serving Him, or you're not. So you can't be wanting to live the way of the secular industry and then try to serve Christ, because it's not going to happen. Either you're all for Him, or you're not all for Him."

SATURDAY NIGHT GATHERING CAPTURES TEEN TALENT, EMOTIONS

Holy hip-hop

Lutheran, The, by Pedrotti, Kay S

SATURDAY NIGHT GATHERING CAPTURES TEEN TALENT, EMOTIONS

Every other Saturday " night, St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Decatur, Ga., follows a successful recipe for evangelizing young people: Play the music they already listen to and add the "good news."

While many churches struggle to attract young people to worship, St. Stephen's leaders jumped (literally) into holy hip-hop about three years ago. In an area of metro Atlanta that has long been multicultural and now is predominantly African American, St. Stephen departed from traditional outreach methods with ease, says church council member Andre Joseph.

A native New Yorker, Joseph is one of the major supporters of Holdin' Down Da Spot, a name chosen for the concert atmosphere that combines hip-hop, urban gospel, poetry and spoken word into a spiritual experience for "people who are uncomfortable in a traditional worship setting," Joseph says.

Ramon Montgomery, better known as Ray-Ski, hosts the bimonthly event in the nave at St. Stephen. He explains that Holdin' Down Da Spot translates into "a place to hold down your faith, to speak it out, to renew your spirit." It's a spot to interact with other young people who are excited about Jesus Christ, he adds, "and the adults who care about them."

James Capers, interim pastor, continues to support the ministry started by Cliff Bahlinger, who now serves St. Luke Lutheran Church, Cordova, Ternn. Bahlinger says the idea of using hip-hop music originally came from Alcuin Johnson, a St. Stephen member who saw a similar ministry in another city, "where the young people were lined up to get in. ... None of us had ever heard of something that would bring them in like that.

Church Needs to Embrace Hip-Hop

Authors: Church Needs to Embrace Hip-Hop

By Stan Friedman

CHICAGO, IL (March 7) - Two Evangelical Covenant Church pastors say the church must "sit at the well" with hip-hop culture if it is to continue to reach out.

Efrem Smith (top photo) and Phil Jackson (lower photo) recently published The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting With the Movement Shaping Our Culture. They learned during the 2005 Midwinter Pastors Conference that their book was nearing sales of 4,000 and a second printing of 2,000 additional copies was scheduled. The book has drawn national media attention, including the Wall Street Journal.

Jackson, 42, and Smith, 36, grew up with hip-hop and speak as insiders. Jackson is pastor of The House Covenant Church in Chicago, a mostly youth and young adult hip-hop church. The church has received national attention, including a segment on the PBS program Religion & Ethics.

Smith is the pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the urban ministry director of Minnesota Fellowship of Christian Athletes. His previously authored Raising Up Young Heroes.

"The youth and young adults living in hip-hop culture are the modern day Samaritans," Smith says. In their book, the authors draw upon the story of Jesus' conversations with the woman at the well and note how he even sought her out.

Too often the church wants to live safely within its own walls, but Jesus routinely traveled through cultures that others avoided and engaged people of those cultures, the two pastors observe. Noting that Jesus first asked the woman at the well for water, the authors write in their book, "To begin an authentic dialogue, the church must ask for a drink from hip-hop culture. Approaching hip-hop from a position of judgment will not lead to real dialogue."

Jackson and Smith also point to the Apostle Paul, who familiarized himself with the culture of his time so that he could cross boundaries to speak in Athens.

Many people think rap is the same as hip-hop, the authors say, but rap is only a part of hip-hop, which is a culture unto itself. Hip-hop is a way of dressing, a way of talking, relating, doing business and even viewing the world through postmodern eyes, the authors say. It is a culture that is open to spiritual discussions.

Smith and Jackson believe they understand why church members are wary of the hip-hop culture, especially if they think it is only what they see in many of the rap videos, which often degrade women and glorify illicit sex, materialism and drug use. "People get the wrong idea about the hip-hop culture or rap if their only contact is through some of the rap music and behavior of the artists," says Smith. "It's like rejecting rock if their first introduction was Marilyn Manson, but they didn't know Bono.

"Hip-hop culture is like any other culture," Smith continues. "There is good and bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the evil and the divine."

Hip-hop is important to certain segments of the population, especially African-Americans because, "Nobody else is validating people's experiences," Jackson says. The music industry is the only industry where blacks consistently can rise to the top, he adds.

Hip-hop comprises a number of elements, including the emcee/rapper, the deejay, visual artist and the break dancer. Many elements of the black church are found in hip-hop, Smith notes.

The emcee or rapper is akin to the preacher, and the deejay - the one who spins the records - is the worship leader, Smith says. The work of the visual artist parallels the stained glass windows in churches, while the break dancer is in keeping with praise dance.

Even the call and response of rap draws from the black church. " 'Wave your hands into the air like you just can't stop' is like 'Can I get a witness,' " Smith says.

Although Jackson and Smith are hesitant to separate secular from sacred, they do say there are differences between hip-hop and "holy hip-hop." Hip-hop artists can function as reporters, but are not prophetic because they don't have godly solutions to offer, Smith says.

The church can and should be the place where "holy hip-hop" is birthed, supporting young artists and recognizing the best parts of the culture. More than simply commentating, "holy hip-hoppers" can be prophetic, speaking biblically to a culture, Jackson says.

Breakdown FM: Holy Hip Hop is in the House-An Interview w/ Play of Kid-N-Play

Add to Channel ^(beta)

February 28, 2006 (ATLANTA) � One of the busiest entertainers in Atlanta doesn�t go by the name of Usher. In fact, some have called him the �R. Kelly of Gospel.� And although he�s been nominated for two Grammy�s and has performed at high-profile gigs such as Super Bowl XL and Madison Square Garden, singer/songwriter/producer Canton Jones isn�t exactly a household name.

That will all probably change very soon. Canton keeps a busy calendar�he�s got a show in a different city every other night for the remainder of the year�and he has a knack for winning over hundreds of fans at every appearance.

At 25 years old, Canton Jones is a major force in Holy Hip-Hop, a fast-growing Christian-based youth movement that differs from traditional hip-hop in message alone. �When you think of Hip-Hop, you think of gangstas, girls, and guns,� says Jones. �When you think of Christianity, you think of Grandma, church, hymns, etc. I�m showing people that these worlds can collide.�

A native of Deerfield Beach, Florida, Canton first began singing at age five in a local quartet founded by his father. At 16, he was producing his own tracks and those of other secular artists. Canton later relocated to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College and began singing with the school�s world-renowned glee club in which he performed for the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Dr. Bobby Jones, and the late Ray Charles.

Then in 2003, Canton independently recorded his first album, 20 Years, 3 Months & 12 Days followed by The Password in 2004. That same year, he wrote, produced and performed the song �You and Me� on the Grammy-nominated compilation Holy Hip-Hop: Taking Gospel to the Streets.
After signing with Arrow Records, Canton made his national debut in the summer of 2005 with the album love jones.

His current album, The Password: Access Granted (released November 2005), features the single �Stay Saved,� a modern, mid-tempo groove that describes several everyday scenarios that often test a Christian�s patience.

Canton�s tremendous musical talent has earned him a Stellar Award nomination and two Gospel Choice Awards. AUC Magazine also recently named Canton as one of �Atlanta�s 30 Under 30.�

Over the next few months, Canton can be seen on �MTV Cribs Redeemed,� a Christian version of the popular celebrity home show. He�ll also perform at this year�s MegaFest 2006 and anywhere else that the Holy Hip-Hop message can be spread.

�I�m a Christian, but I�m doing music that Christians aren�t used to,� says Canton. �I�m also Hip-Hop, but I�m doing music that Hip-Hop isn�t used to. I�m not trying to hit people over the head with the Bible. I feel living right is better than telling people about Christ.�

For more information, check out www.cantonjones.net

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

'HOLY HIP HOP' ROCKS

posted on Sun, Feb. 26, 2006

MIRAMAR | HYPEFEST II

'HOLY HIP HOP' ROCKS

THE MUSIC IS THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSAGE IS ABOUT RESISTING THE NEGATIVE AND PRAISING GOD

Special to The Miami Herald

BY EILEEN SOLER

Hip-hop music takes on messages of faith, love and positive peer pressure at monthly concerts for teens and children at the Christian Worship Outreach Center in Miramar.

''We want kids to have an alternative. It's holy hip-hop,'' said the Rev Nickey Lewin, pastor of the 6-year-old church.

About 150 kids from kindergarten to college age were in the audience Feb. 18 for Hypefest II, the second in a series of free concerts and prayer-filled Friday nights at the church.

The nearly five-hour event featuring 14 Christian hip-hop and rap acts was organized by Mareeta McIntyre of Miami and headlined by Grammy Award and Stellar Award nominee Canton Jones.

Miramar organizers presented Jones with a proclamation prepared by Miramar Mayor Lori Moseley, who praised the star's appearance by naming that day Canton Jones Day in Miramar.

But Jones, who performed for free, was there to respond to a higher calling.

''I'm up here praising God. Now, are you going to sit and spectate or get your praise on?'' Jones asked the crowd before jumping into a fever-hot performance that shook the sanctuary.

McIntyre, who started Eagle Care Productions in 1999, said up to 30 acts can perform at events called ''holy hip-hop jams,'' which aim to bring Christian messages to the streets using modern music genres.

''But it's more than music. We're about guns and drug resistance, HIV/AIDS education and putting a stop to negative peer pressure,'' McIntyre said.

Hypefest concerts, which are free every fourth Friday of the month at the Miramar Parkway worship center, give local kids a chance to hang out, dance in clean liturgical style and rock out for Jesus.

Joshua White, 24, owner of Christ Center Records in Liberty City, said the shows give Christian rap and hip-hop performers a chance to be heard.

''We give everyone another environment to show faith, but the importance is on the message, not the music. Go to any secular concert and the music is about the beat. In Gospel, it's about the word,'' White said.

About a dozen teens from the dance group Mix Mov'z, made up of Miramar and North Miami-Dade residents, exhibited just what White explained. Dressed in the latest hip-hop fashions, they moved on the dance floor like star performers. But instead of using the provocative gyrations often seen on MTV, they swayed in ballet- and jazz-inspired moves and raised their hands in praise.

''Just because we're Christians doesn't mean we can't dance. We're just crunk for Jesus,'' said Aiz'sha Hanna, 16, of Miramar.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth

By Ken Camp

Published April 25, 2005

HOUSTON (ABP) -- The in-your-face attitude, emblazoned on black T-shirts, is unmistakable: "Jesus is Lord. Satan is a punk. Pick a side."

Street Life, a Christian outreach to young people in Houston's urban hip-hop culture, offers a distinctive blend of student ministry, evangelism, church-planting and discipleship.

The hip-hop approach operates on two fronts. Hard-edged, streetwise entertainment with a distinctively redemptive message draws non-Christian young people. Then small groups offer them a place to experience community, encounter the gospel message and develop into disciples.

Since January, Union Baptist Association of Houston has helped start eight Street Life "squads" or cell-group churches -- four in homes and others on the Texas Southern University campus, on a high-school campus, at a day-care center and within a church's youth ministry.

Several established congregations have worked with the local African-American pastors' fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Texas to help launch the ministry.

Bertha Vaughns, Baptist Student Ministry director at Texas Southern University, sees the students with whom she works as "an oppressed generation," shaped by "broken homes, broken relationships [and] broken promises." She says the hip-hop approach to sharing the gospel can be "the deliverer" this generation needs.

Street Life churches use rap music, soulful rhythm and blues, stand-up comedy and dramatic films to package the gospel in a way an urban generation raised on the streets will receive, said Shawn Scoggins, a hip-hop church planter.

"We want to give it to them in a way they've never seen it," he said.

In part, that is accomplished through relationships built in small groups where non-Christians can talk frankly to mature Christians about issues that matter to them. "They need to see Jesus walking among them," Scoggins said.

But first, Christians have to establish a rapport with them by approaching them on common ground, he stressed. Just as Jesus ministered among prostitutes, tax-gatherers, lepers and other outcasts, urban missionaries must meet people where they are, in the hip-hop culture.

"We have to be where the sinner is -- in music, movies and media," he said.

Pointing out that some urban children start picking up "gangsta" slang and attitudes as early as kindergarten, Scoggins envisions high-school youth in hip-hop churches mentoring middle-school students, who in turn influence younger children. "It can start in a dorm room. It can start with a prayer group. It doesn't have to have a building or require a lot of money."

While Scoggins provides leadership for the discipleship side of the ministry, Terrance Levi provides the entertainment tools for outreach -- what he calls "redemptive entertainment." "I have a passion to help sinners come to know the Lord and to understand the Bible is a manual for players," Levi said. "It's not just a book for grandmas."

Levi speaks the hip-hop language and understands urban culture intimately. "The Lord delivered me out of a life of organized crime nine and a half years ago," he testified. "And I used to own a record company that made cuss-you-out rap records."

After his conversion, he turned his attention to Christian entertainment but concluded: "A lot of it didn't relate to the unchurched. People want to be entertained, and if it's not entertaining, they won't pay any attention to it."

Now Levi uses his professional expertise as a record producer and media entrepreneur to create Christian entertainment he believes will appeal to young people on the streets. Through his company, Street Life Worldwide Entertainment Group, he and collaborator Rob Phat wrote and produced a motion picture, Pain.

With financial assistance from the BGCT, he also is producing short morality plays on DVD. The "mini-movies" are designed for Christians to give to their unchurched friends to view.

A recent "gathering of the players" at Texas Southern University brought together leaders from hip-hop churches around Houston for a celebration worship service, and it offered an outreach opportunity to students.

As minister to students on campus, Vaughns sees tremendous potential for the hip-hop church, which she views as a revolutionary movement of the Holy Spirit.

"I feel like God pole-vaulted me into this situation, and I've plummeted into something a lot bigger than me," she said. "The Lord can use this hip-hop approach to redeem a generation. ... I don't believe this is going to fizzle out -- not be just a fad. I think it will bring about social change."

-- Photo available from Associated Baptist Press

Saturday, February 11, 2006

BAY AREA
Churches try holy hip-hop
Ministries take to genre to attract more young people

Jason B. Johnson - San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The emcee urges the frenzied crowd to wave hands in the air while a DJ mixes songs on the turntables and young people jump up and down and sway beneath the whirling strobe lights.

But this is not a rap concert at the Oakland Arena or some show at a local nightclub. It's church.

DJ Born Again has the crowd rocking at Changed Life Church in Pittsburg on a recent Friday night, where young worshipers wear casual outfits and baggy pants in place of dress suits and skirts.

Changed Life is one of about six churches in the Bay Area -- and about 2,000 nationwide -- that lace their youth ministries with holy hip-hop to attract new, young believers.

"Youngsters have to have something done in a way they can understand," said DJ Born Again, whose real name is Ramon Jackson. "I deliver the message, but I still keep it raw."

The gospel rap movement, which features Christianity instead of profanity, dates to the early 1990s in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., but it has begun to catch on in the Bay Area only recently.

"Gospel hip-hop has been around as long as regular hip-hop -- it just didn't get much acceptance or attention," said Curtis Germany, publisher of U-Zone, an Oakland urban gospel trade magazine.

Germany says San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area were slow to adopt rap in church. "Now doors have been opening, and a lot of people are waking up to it."

The movement has struggled against the negative image many Christians associate with hip-hop, particularly the violent, profanity-laden gangsta rap that dominates the genre.

At Church of Jesus Our Lord in Oakland, Pastor Phillip Tindsley said his first foray into gospel rap services about five years ago got an unenthusiastic response from his congregation. Today, the church has a large number of young worshipers, several of them aspiring gospel rappers, and plans to open a music studio this month.

"People were kind of resistant at first because of tradition," said Tindsley. "It's grown on them. People realized we could use it to reach young people, and we have reached a lot of young people."

Gospel rap has drawn in young people who didn't come to church before, and some of them have also brought their parents into the church, Tindsley said.

"The need is great," he said. "We got young men and women on the streets selling their bodies, selling drugs, and they're all interested in rap. But they tend to be interested in the negative rap."

The recent Friday night service at Changed Life Church drew a crowd of about 40 youths of various ages and ethnicities. DJ Born Again played loud, base-heavy tracks while the faithful formed long dance lines or broke into small groups.

"My dad was surprised when I started coming," said Emily Thornton, 14, of Antioch, who began attending Changed Life's hip-hop services last month with her older brother. "I think he was thinking 'why would you want to come to church when you could be at home doing something else?' "

The service included a dance-off where challengers showcased their best break and krunk-style moves and the "Faith Factor" finals, in which contestants ate a mixture of liver, clams, chili sauce and mustard. Then, youth minister Kirk Waller delivered a sermon on the biblical figure David, a teenager who rose to become king of Israel.

At Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, rap acts regularly perform and talk to the church's approximately 500-member youth ministry, which meets on Wednesdays and Sundays.

"Sometimes, I might throw a short little rap in a song in (the main service)," said Jubilee music minister Brian Waller. "I remember the first time I did. It blew some people away, and it turned some people off."

Tommy Kyllonen, 32, pastor of Crossover Community Church in Tampa, Fla., and rap artist known as Urban D, estimates about 2,000 churches nationwide use rap as part of their youth ministries.

Kyllonen hosts an annual gathering called FlavorFest that last year drew 250 church leaders from across the country and says only about 25 churches across the country feature hip-hop prominently.

"It's only a small segment of churches that are starting to use it as a mainstay in their programs, targeted to adults," said Kyllonen, whose 400-member church has graffiti on its walls. Christian hip-hop's popularity is spreading in church and on the street, with popular acts garnering 100,000-plus album sales, according to Christian music industry observers.

Jay Swartzendruber, editor of Nashville's Contemporary Christian Music magazine, said some popular Christian rap acts are being played on BET and MTV2.

In December, when Grammy nominations were announced, for the first time ever, three Christian hip-hop records were nominated. But since there's no Christian hip-hop category, the acts were placed into the Best Rock Gospel Album category.

Swartzendruber said hip-hop is also becoming a regular presence on Christian radio music charts.

"Christian radio, that's pretty conservative music targeting a white audience," said Swartzendruber. "So that's just another sign of its growing popularity."

In the Bay Area, one group uses gospel rap on the streets to reach out to drug dealers and gangbangers.

Turf Ministries holds stage shows on the back of a truck on some of the toughest street corners in San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond to reach at-risk youth who would never think of setting foot in a church.

For some young people, like Andrew Allen, 17, and Dominique Brown, 17, both of Oakland, gospel rap provides an alternative to mainstream rap, which they say concentrates too much on guns and drugs.

"I talk to people on the Internet in, like, gospel chat rooms. There's a whole lotta people who are really into it," said Brown.

Allen said that gospel rap music has improved. "Now that it's getting bigger, it sounds better," said Allen. "The musical content and the lyrics are better."

Allen and Brown themselves have formed a rap duo called D.A. Sciples, and perform in front of the Church of Jesus Our Lord congregation.

They hope their music is embraced outside the church, too. Some of their peers who still prefer traditional hip-hop are skeptical.

"They look at it, and they're kinda shocked," said Allen.

"You catch a little heat for it," Brown added with a smile.

A Grammy Awards Faux Pas?

A Grammy Awards Faux Pas?
1/28/2006 11:45:58 PM
Jay Swartzendruber
If you're a fan of either Christian hip-hop or rock & roll, then there's a good chance this year's Grammy nominations left you a bit befuddled. Personally, I'm a fan of both, so for me, the nominations were...a double whammy. Before I explain, please allow me to offer some personal background for perspective's sake.

From the late nineties until the fall of 2003, I worked for Squint Entertainment and (then) Gotee Records--two labels whose artist rosters included faith-based hip-hop acts. While at Squint, I had the privilege of doing P.R. for Southern Cal. hip-hop collective L.A. Symphony, and during my Gotee years, I represented GRITS, John Reuben, DJ Maj, Verbs and Mars Ill. Christian hip-hop had come a long way since the days of my youth when I enjoyed the raps of mid-'80s pioneer Michael Peace. L.A. Symphony, GRITS and others have even been enjoying exposure on general market radio, in major mainstream publications and on television networks such as MTV2 and BET.

Faith-based hip-hop's profile remains on the rise with artists receiving unprecedented Christian pop radio airplay (specifically at the CHR format) and now a surge of Grammy nominations. Seeing three Christian hip-hop acts receive Grammy nominations would normally put me in quite the festive mood. Just one problem: They weren't nominated in a hip-hop or even urban music category. In light of this, I felt compelled to write an editorial for the February issue of CCM. And with the Grammy Awards just over a week away, I'd like to share it with you here...

THE CONVOLUTION OF HIPROCKSOUL?

Is your favorite hip-hop artist currently nominated for a GRAMMY in a Rock category? If you're a fan of Christian hip-hop, then there's a good chance the answer to that question is, "Yes." As a matter of fact, this year there are more hip-hop artists nominated in the "Best Rock Gospel Album" category than actual rock artists! Consider the nominees:

GRITS--Dichotomy B (Gotee)

The Cross Movement--Higher Definition (Cross Movement)

Fresh I.E.--Truth is Fallin' in Tha Streetz (SOAR/Red Sea)

Audio Adrenaline--Until My Heart Caves In (ForeFront)

Day of Fire--Day of Fire (Essential)

Perhaps NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) created the "Rock Gospel" category as a catch all for both rock and urban gospel? Think again. There are also GRAMMY Awards given out for the best "Pop/Contemporary Gospel," "Contemporary Soul Gospel," "Traditional Soul Gospel," "Gospel Choir or Chorus" and "Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel" albums.

This isn't the first time a hip-hop act has been nominated in the "Rock Gospel" category, but this moves things beyond a "rare peculiarity." And with rock & roll experiencing unprecedented popularity in the Christian music world, this miscue's timing couldn't be more ironic.

While CCM Magazine celebrates the increasing profile of faith-based hip-hop, we feel it's important that the genre be honored for the great art form it is. So our hat is off to GRITS, The Cross Movement and Fresh I.E. for their recent GRAMMY nominations, but we think they deserve better...as do the three rock artists whose albums were prohibited by non-rock albums. And though many might argue the obvious fix is to start honoring hip-hop in the "Contemporary Soul Gospel" field (along with the likes of Mary Mary and J Moss), we believe hip-hop more than deserves its own category.

This year's GRAMMY Awards take place on Wednesday, Feb. 8 and will be broadcast live on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

Young Artists Making Holy Hip Hop

Manuel Ramos
Reporting

(CBS 5) ALAMEDA Hip hop and rap music are not always known for their family-friendly lyrics. But some rappers in the East Bay are throwing down tracks with a very different message.

Does it have the "street cred" to be popular with young hipsters? Manuel Ramos reports.

Popular hip hop looks like it's made by sinners. So, Chosen Vessels Christian Church is luring in teens on Friday nights with religious rap, where young people can get down with God instead of gangstas.

The rappers here brag they have never been in jail. They say it's the same sound. Just a different message.

"I don't talk about a girl being naked or nothing like that," said Gospel rapper Young Brett. "I talk about the positive things. You can still be rich. You could still do a lot of things by serving Jesus."

No mention of Eminem. No gold teeth, says the minister, just Gospel.

"You don't gotta just rhyme about gang violence," said Minister Jamari Bates. "You can rap about positive things, explore their minds about positive things, and that's what we're trying to do."

But will kids who love Snoop give him up for cut that sounds like a sermon?

"When you think of hip hop, you think of Ludacris and Beyonce, and stuff like that," said Sasha Cooper. "But, when you say church music, you say, 'uhh, what am I listening to?' "

Cooper and the other kids were willing to give it a try, since, in some of their homes, they can't listen to the usual hip hop.

"Sometimes they're bad. Sometimes they good," said James Coleman. "It's what kids our age like, but sometimes they get carried away."

The church is calling it cutting-edge, trying to combine the good word with a good beat.

And they're calling it holy hip hop.

Friends & Neighbors: Holy hip-hop catching on

Posted on Tue, Jan. 31, 2006

Friends & Neighbors: Holy hip-hop catching on

By Kara Andrade

STAFF WRITER - Contra Costa Times

THE PLACE IS more like a concert hall than a church on a Friday night. Outside Chosen Vessels Christian Church, more than 250 people packed the pews and poured out onto Haight Avenue from the hall where people danced to the live freestyle rap of Young Brett.

Toddlers grabbed their parents' legs with one hand and bounced to the rhythm; people rattled tambourines or clapped to the rhythm "holy hip-hop."

"We're not knocking the traditional form of worship, but we want to come up with a 2006 spiel and praise the Lord in our way," said youth minister Lonnell Harrell, 29, who suggested holy hip-hop Fridays.

Holding the mic close to his face and wearing his black track suit and white sneakers, Berkeley-born performer Brett Moye, AKA Young Brett, had the crowd, mostly people under 30, hanging on every verse.

He raps: "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord/Yes you have a purpose/Sometimes you have to look deep beneath the surface/Keep moving/God has a plan for you/Ya'll better learn how to keep the faith for things ain't always going to go your way.

... 24 years on this earth/the devil's been trying to kill me every since I was birthed/but I refuse to leave in a hearse/at least not yet because God's not done with me yet."

Loud applause follows Brett, who released his first album in May 2001 and which, according to his Web site, has sold close to 1,000 copies.

"I feel God has a big purpose for my life, that's why he didn't let me die that day. I believe his purpose for me is to reach out to the world with this gospel rap, and that's what I'm going to do," writes Brett on his Web site. He writes of his heart stopping for 45 minutes and being pronounced dead when he was baby.

Harrell who has been working diligently to recruit local talent said: "It's important that (the church) create a different environment that young people are not used to. They've got all this hip-hop on television and they don't know that there's another avenue for them. If you give them a chance to listen to gospel through rap then they might listen to it and feel it more."

Brett is one of many holy hip-hop performers in a genre of music that has become increasingly popular since its introduction five years ago. This year's Holy Hip Hop and Artist Showcase and Music Awards held in Atlanta in January was one of the largest events, with visitors representing more than 130 cities and 30 states and more than 100 ministers, disc jockeys and breakers for two days of non-stop holy hip-hop," states the Web site.

Chosen, a singer with the Cross Carriers rap group from Marin City that also performed Friday, said holy hip-hop has become more popular because the talent is better and it is evolving into a legitimate art form. But one main obstacle still remains.

"We're fighting tradition. People are still saying this is not gospel and it is not holy," said Chosen, 24. He said they often get criticized for performing with their jeans and baseball jerseys and dressing the way they usually do.

"Out biggest success is still that we get to evangelize," said producer Cyple, 29. "We just want to win souls and help people grow with Christ."

Hip-hop is just one way black churches are trying to keep new members and recruit new ones.

Pamela Miller, a staff writer for the Star Tribune, writes that the Rev. Richard Coleman, a Baptist minister who is an officer of Kingdom Oil, a Christian community foundation in Minneapolis, said that one of the greatest tools that black churches can use to attract young people is a paid youth minister. For reasons both historic and economic, she writes, youth ministers are not common in the black church.

Another tool, according to Harrell, is spoken word, dance, drama and other forms of music. This is why the evening's line-up included comedian Mother Onion, dancers, such as Performing Arts Dance, instrumentalists, choirs such as the Life Transformation Choir, poetry and prayer.

"Holy dance is another venue for young people to express themselves and to not just dance, but to inspire others," said Mario Howard, artistic director of Antioch Church's ACE dancers who range from 5 to 17 years old and who also performed that evening.

Harrell, who's a drummer, said they've had more people requesting hip-hop Fridays every week, but for now they're only doing the fourth Friday of each month. He hopes that as the numbers grow, they'll be able to move to a bigger building, have more performers and make the hip-hop Fridays a weekly event.

"Rapping or performing for God sends the message that it's not about the money the way it is on television. It shows you have character," Harrell said.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Faith - Believe in the beat

Faith - Believe in the beat
By Andrea Useem
Special to The Examiner
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2005

"Ason" (Thurman Custis) has taken his Christian hip-hop from First Baptist Church of Glenarden to the nation. On Friday he performed for a small group at E's Place on Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville. Andrew Harnik/Examiner

As he watched Los Angeles-based artist Tonex performing slick dance moves on stage several years ago, Thurman Custis says he felt God call him to a special ministry.

"I felt he was saying to me: 'I want you to do this,' " said Custis, 28. "But I can't dance or sing, so the only thing he could be talking about was rapping."

Now Custis is known by his stage name, "Ason" - as in "a son of God" - and tours full time in the D.C. area and across the country. He is part of a growing nationwide Christian hip-hop industry that seeks to capture the soul of young urbanites.

Last Friday night, after playing at a Christian coffeehouse in Hyattsville, Ason (pronounced ah-SON) arrived for a similar event at Jammin' Java in Vienna. Dressed in a black-and-silver tracksuit, Ason seemed immediately at home in front of the crowd of 20- and 30-somethings.

After asking the audience to sing along with the chorus or "hook," Ason launched into "Nod Ur Chin," a song that describes the joy - and complexity - of life after being "saved" by faith in Jesus Christ.

"Nobody told me 'bout the joy when I let Him come in/I found out life still goes on/That I still do wrong/Haters still hate and the bills ain't gone," he rapped.

Declining relevance

In Ason's view, Christian churches are becoming less relevant to young people.

"Even churchgoing youth - God is not in their heart," said Ason, 28, who lives in Greenbelt with his wife and their two children. "When they leave services on Sunday, they get in their cars and listen to 50 Cent and Eminem" and other mainstream rap artists whose lyrics are explicit and, some say, "un-Christian."

Ason argues that Jesus was a plainspoken man who used agricultural metaphors that common people of the day understood.

"Today preachers still use those agricultural metaphors. But that's not the society we live in today," said Ason. "In 2005, we live in a society dominated by hip-hop."

Ason's mission is to give young Christians an alternative to mainstream rap, whose lyrics he says deal primarily with "drug dealing, womanizing, murdering and clubbing."

Kevin Parker, co-founder of Christianhangsuite.com, an online magazine for the D.C. area, said that Ason is just one of many local Christian artists who are helping to fill the "long gap between Sundays" for many young believers.

"A lot of people think that fun stops after you start going to church," said Parker, whose Web site targets "edgy, urban" Christians ages 18 to 35.

The site's "First Sunday" music and mingling events - held monthly at H2O, the Southwest lounge and restaurant - draw more than 250 people, said Parker. And interest in Christian hip-hop has taken off in the past three years, he said.

"Everyone loves hip-hop. And with Christian hip-hop, you get a good beat, a good bass line and a good message," said Parker.

William Romanowski, a professor of communications who has studied the Christian music industry, said Christians have long been striving to put a faith-filled spin on pop culture trends.

"There was a time when everyone was looking for a Christian Lionel Richie," said Romanowski, who teaches at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The recent popularity of mainstream rapper Kanye West's song "Jesus Walks," however, has given hip-hop artists permission to talk about Christian faith, said Flynn Atkins, an artist with Christian hip-hop group LA Symphony.

Ason said his own artistic philosophy is still evolving. While "The Recruiter" is an explicitly Christian album, the rapper says he is working on a more mainstream album so he can reach a wider audience.

"Kids today want to dance. They don't want to hear you just preaching over beats," said Ason. "You have to be more sophisticated in your presentation of the Gospel."

Fast Facts

- Ason's album, "The Recruiter - Part One," is available at Christian bookstores or at his Web site, www.bigsonny.com, which also has music samples and performance dates.

- For information on Christian music happenings in the D.C. area, visit www.Christianhangsuite.com.

Preaching the hip-hop gospel

"Yes, Jesus could identify and keep it real with regular folks."

So begins the introduction to the Gospel of Matthew in "Real: The Complete New Testament," a "Biblezine" from publisher Thomas Nelson aimed at hip-hop fans and urban youth.

The New Century Version translation of the New Testament is presented in magazine format, with personal testimonies, top 10 lists and random factoids on each page.

A reader's eye might wander from the lengthy genealogy in Matthew - "Ram was the father of Amminadabâ€-" - to the "Bible 411" sidebar that explains how Jesus "is the single most important person in all of the past, present and future."

One sidebar in the Gospel of John, called "Jail's No Joke," tells the story of a young woman who went to jail for prostitution and lost custody of her baby before finding faith in Jesus. In Second Thessalonians, readers can find a list of the 10 "hottest" NBA teams.

Kwesi Williams, a minister and youth leader at Emmanuel Covenant Church in Glenarden, said he often gives the "Biblezine" to students leaving for their first year of college.

"It's hard to maintain your Christianity on campus," Williams says. "It's easier to walk around with something that looks like a magazine than a thick, leather-bound Bible."

Holy Hip Hop: Evangelists use music to win souls

November 11, 2005

Holy Hip Hop: Evangelists use music to win souls
By Colette M. Jenkins
Knight Ridder Newspapers

AKRON, Ohio — Jason and Brandon Wallace aren't traditional evangelists.

Their pulpit is the stage.

Their congregation is made up of young hip-hoppers.
Their message is delivered using rap music.

"Hip-hop has been one of the most influential forces in our lives," said Jason Wallace, 29. "We know how much of an influence it can have on the lives of young people."

Armed with that knowledge, the two 6-foot-5-inch brothers are passionately committed to using the music genre as a tool to win souls for Jesus Christ. Jason Wallace (whose rap name is J-wal the Rizon Product) and Brandon Wallace (S.o.L. or Servant of the Lord) make up the duo Divine Soldiers.

The Christian rappers describe their music as "holy hip-hop" and have a style that borrows from East Coast rap, jazz, Latin music, rhythm and blues and rap-metal.

"We're not a Christian entertainment group. We're a ministry," said Brandon Wallace, 27. "Music can really impact people. Music can move a nation."

As a teen, gangsta rap moved Brandon Wallace to buy a gun.

"I wanted to be a gangsta," Brandon Wallace said. "I remember showing (the gun) to Jason and he gave me a tongue-lashing, telling me either I was going to get killed or I could kill somebody else and end up in prison, like our uncle. I ended up getting rid of it, but that is just one example of how powerful music can be."

Gangsta rap became a major force in hip-hop in the late 1980s, and in the mid- and late 1990s. Some philosophies trace rap back to ancient African societies where men and women related their history through spoken word.

The Divine Soldiers, much like those men and women, are using the spoken word to relay their message of hope in Jesus Christ.

"If we could sing, we wouldn't be rapping," Brandon Wallace said. "While the beats may draw some people to listen, what is important are the lyrics because the message is in the words."

The Wallace brothers state on their Web site (www.divinesoldiers.com) that their mission is "to intercept enemy communication by adding a fifth element to the hip-hop culture — Jesus Christ."

Lyrics from a song called Desensitized on their first CD release, Equivalent to Water, intend to make their mission clear:

Time's running out so we declare war

Don't want to open your heart I'm gonna kick down the door

You think your life is a game then I think that's a shame

When the circle's been completed you ain't got no one to blame

I've come in Jesus name I've come to smother flames

That might burn your flesh I don't do this for fame

Cuz in these last days I'm gonna fight for someone's life

And if I lose mine I'm going home tonight.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Shouting hip-hop's praises

Shouting hip-hop's praises
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

November 28, 2005. Tampa, Florida The pastor bounds past the disc jockeys at the turntable bank under the nightclub lighting of Crossover Community Church's worship/concert space.

The Rev. Tommy Kyllonen is in his Sunday best a sparkling white "Twice-born" T-shirt under his open sport shirt as he strides onto a catwalk and launches into a sermon on "how Christ would roll," how he would act, facing anger, self-righteousness and deceit.

Would the Son of God give offenders the "ice grill"? Kyllonen asks, freezing in a confrontational pose, eyes glowering.

Or would he be "pouring out love onto them"? Kyllonen asks, citing in Psalm 86:15 how God is "slow to anger, abounding in love."

Welcome to hip-hop church a multiracial, multi-ethnic, mega-decibel, authentically biblical worship service where urban street sound and style take a holy spin.

To Read More (entire USA Today article), Click Here: USA Today (or copy/paste the following link into your web-browser: http://www.usatoday.com/life/2005-11-27-hip-hop-church_x.htm)

For more information on Crossover Community Church, Flavor.Alliance and Pastor Tommy Kyllonen, go to: FlavorAlliance.com

Come and Hear Pastor Tommy Kyllonen preach and see the Flavor.Alliance Break-Dancers, during 2006 Holy Hip Hop Week - For more information, go to: HolyHipHop.com

About USA Today:

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Monday, November 21, 2005

'Holy hip hop' energizes young Christians, fans say'

'Holy hip hop' energizes young Christians, fans say

Sunday, November 7, 2004

By ERIK ORTIZ
HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC - Once a month, hip-hop meets the Holy Bible at the Prince of Peace Christian Church on Howe Avenue.

This is where Satan is a street thug and dancing in the pews is not only allowed, it's required.

"You gotta get out of your seats," Arthur Soto, 30, shouted to youngsters at the church on a recent Friday night.

"If you're under 30 years old and you're happy you're alive, clap your hands," urged his brother, Jonathan, 29.

These gatherings, known as Radical Alternative Worship, or RAW, are an urban version of old-fashioned tent revivals, only the preachers convey their messages over Tupac tracks and the congregation is made up mostly of teens. Instead of shunning youth culture, Prince of Peace has embraced it, becoming the first church in Passaic with a regular "holy hip-hop" event.

Although spiritually laced hip-hop is regarded as a novelty by churches across the country, some within the movement say it is a powerful evangelical tool for packing youngsters back into the pews.

"We typically submerge kids in a church culture that they don't understand," said Jonathan Soto, a city councilman and the son of Prince of Peace's senior pastor. "But if we're going to reach youth, we need to be able to express the Gospel on their level. It's a bit out of the box compared to what some churches have, but it works."

Since January, the church has sponsored RAW on the last Friday of every month. The event can attract 250 youngsters, whereas regular youth gatherings might net no more than 50, Soto said.

The hip-hop, dance and spoken-word performers take the stage in front of a mural of a brick wall spray painted with Biblical passages. Just as they would in a club, the young people, from Christian churches in Paterson, Orange and Bloomfield, bob their heads and dance.

Andre Robertson of East Orange, better known as DEED the Gospel, swayed to prerecorded beats and rapped slowly:

I can rhyme with any letters, from A to Z.

To die for our sins, Jesus paid the fee.

Despite nods by mainstream artists, the Christian hip-hop movement, with roots in the early 1980s, still remains on the fringes of the music industry.

While the traditional hip-hop album can sell 400,000 copies upon release, a well-known Christian artist, if lucky, might break 15,000, said Sherice Sudds, publisher of FEED, a Christian hip-hop magazine.

Even the recent radio success of "Jesus Walks," by secular rapper Kanye West, has not influenced conventional hip-hop stations to start playing Christian artists.

Meanwhile, many churches continue to shy away from them. "They face rejection on both ends," Sudds said.

Rhonda Ridley, a New York publicist for the popular Christian duo Corey Red and Precise, says pastors are turned off by the culture because Christian artists typically mirror their mainstream counterparts.

"Their style, their language is still hip-hop," she said. "If you saw them on the street, they're not the image of what people have of a Christian. But they don't want to compromise who they are just to be accepted."

That lack of widespread acceptance doesn't mean Christian hip-hoppers aren't making strides, Ridley said, estimating that more than 150 churches in the New York area are now opening their doors to the culture.

"They're getting kids interested in Jesus," she said. "It may not be the King James version, but it's something kids understand. Hip-hop has gone from rapping about sneakers, to rapping about diamonds and cars, to rapping about the goodness of God. It's here to stay."

Newark rapper Juan DeJesus is in the new minority. The 30-year-old says he can interest youngsters with his spiritual message because they understand what he's been through.

The "crack-pipe dreams" and "ghetto-fabulous lifestyle" were tempting, but now he rebukes his experiences on the streets of Newark, Paterson and Passaic as a member of the Latin Kings gang.

"Yo, before I start ... I got to glorify [God]," DeJesus, who goes by the rap name "Forgiven," told the youngsters at RAW. "If it wasn't for you Lord, I wouldn't be here."

Six years ago, he found his spiritual side. He had been enlisted as the getaway driver during the murder of two fellow Latin Kings. He later told his "brothers" that what they had done was wrong, so they put a hit on him, he said.

But police got to him first. He was arrested as an accomplice and faced up to 60 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. He served only three. He attributes the lighter sentence to his faith.

"I said, 'God, if you for real, I'm-a give you my life and see what you can do with it,'Ÿ" said DeJesus, who now has his own part-time ministry out of the Christian Faith Center in Bloomfield.

Since his release, he has refused to slink away into the witness protection program. He wants to become a reverend and preach to other gang members, their children, or anyone else who will listen.

"God got my back," he said.

After Friday's event, youths swarmed around a table featuring RAW T-shirts and DVDs of past concerts. A night of holy hip-hop was rewarding, they said.

"When you least expect it, God calls to you," said Ary Esther Payano, 20, who stopped listening to traditional hip-hop because of its "vulgar messages."

"I've never heard this kind of music in church," said her friend Luis Ortiz, a Passaic High School senior. "They rap about true things, things with a message."

Rappers Are Raising Their Churches' Roofs

Rappers Are Raising Their Churches' Roofs || By JOHN LELAND of NY TIMES

At Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, Queens, on a recent Friday night, Adam Durso, the church's youth pastor, raised a microphone in exaltation. "Yo, God is so ill," he shouted, using a hip-hop term of praise.

It was more than two hours into the weekly service, and neither the pastor nor his congregation, a multiracial group of about 350 teenagers and adults, was ready to quit. The D.J. played a hip-hop beat, and shouts of praise rose from the pews. "Come on," Mr. Durso encouraged, "tear the roof off this place in praise to God."

Eleven years after the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem ran a steamroller over rap CD's, in what has come to symbolize the antagonism between hip-hop and the church, the two worlds seem to be inching closer together. The singer R. Kelly and the rapper Mase, who left the music business for five years to become a minister, have new hit albums filled with gospel messages, and one of this summer's most popular songs was "Jesus Walks," an overtly Christian rap by Kanye West.

From the church side, a growing number of ministries are adopting both the rhythms and the bluntness of hip-hop culture. Mr. Butts remains critical of some rap music, but younger ministers like Mr. Durso are using its attitudes and beats to spread the gospel. In the New York area alone, at least 150 churches or ministries use hip-hop in some form, said Kim Stewart, a booking agent for Christian rappers. These include many storefront churches or campus ministries, she said.

"Hip-hop is the language and the cry of this generation," said Mr. Durso, 27, who mixes guest rappers and videos with conservative evangelical preaching in his Friday services, which are called Aftershock. The results are part revival meeting, part Friday night out.
"In today's terms, the apostle Paul would be living in the projects saying, 'Grace and peace to you, a'ight,' instead of 'amen,' " Mr. Durso said, using the hip-hop contraction for all right. "Don't get stuck on the word 'amen.' 'Amen' just meant 'I agree.' Well so does 'a'ight' to this hip-hop culture." The sometimes bumpy rapprochement between the church and Christian hip-hop reflects changes in both. Instead of meeting in the middle, each is adapting to the rougher norms of commercial rap.

Christian rappers, who once presented themselves as squeaky clean alternatives to their secular peers, are increasingly spinning graphic tales of urban life, with little aroma of church sanctimony. Corey Red and Precise, a New York duo that performed at Aftershock, rhymed about their pasts as drug dealers, lacing their rhymes with sexual frankness and references to gunplay. Strutting the stage in a do-rag and football jersey, Corey Red rapped, "I put the heat to your knot," pointing a finger to his head like a gun, even as he talked about being saved.

For churches, making peace with hip-hop is a matter of survival, said Ralph Watkins, who teaches African-American culture and religion at Augusta State University in Georgia. "Mainline churches have identified hip-hop culture as an enemy, and that's their problem," he said. "If you walked in to 90 percent of your mainline churches who have not embraced this culture, you're going to find an absence of young people."
He added that even at its crudest, hip-hop flourished by telling truths that churches ignored. "The church really doesn't want to hear the true stories," he said. "They want the made-up stories, 'I was broke on Thursday and God came and I got paid on Friday, ain't he all right, he's an on-time God.' Well, sometimes God don't come on Friday. Hip-hop says, that's the deal. So I'll start selling weed or selling crack, because that's the only choice I had. And that's where the church can't embrace the honesty of what hip-hop tries to get us to understand and deal with."

In "Jesus Walks," Kanye West cites a comparable unwillingness on the part of the rap business to address matters of faith. He rhymes, "They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus/ That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes/ But if I talk about God, my record won't get played, huh?"

Mr. West, the son of a Christian marriage counselor, said that when his father heard the song, he said, " 'Maybe you missed your calling.' I said, 'No, maybe this is my calling.' I reach more people than any one pastor can."

He likened "Jesus Walks" not to church teaching but to his secular songs, which celebrate the high life without moralizing. "I don't tell anyone they have to do this or that. I never said, 'You better have your Louis Vuittons on or something's going happen to you.' I just said, 'This is what I want.' Same with Jesus."

The resistance that many churches have shown to hip-hop culture resembles previous battles over gospel music or drums in church, said Alton Pollard III, the director of black church studies at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.

"This is just the latest version" of the battle, he said. "It's about the continuing need for new expressions of what it means to be human, and the church oftentimes is not able to keep up, whether we're talking about jazz, the blues, soul or gospel music."

But unlike gospel and soul, "hip-hop didn't start in the church," said Phil Jackson, a youth pastor who last year started a hip-hop ministry called The House in one of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods.

"So there still exists some antagonism. But for this generation, the only way to make the gospel relevant to them is through hip-hop. In my neighborhood we don't need another church on Sunday morning. We need something to speak to young people."

Corey Red and Precise, who call their style hardcore gospel, are emblems of the uneasy crossover. Corey Red, whose surname is Sullivan, rejected the church as a teenager, turning to hip-hop and small-timecrime. "I didn't know anybody Christian my age," he said. "The ones I did know, there was so much religiosity that we wouldn't be able to talk. That turned me off." When he was stabbed in a street confrontation and critically injured, he said, he felt Jesus in a way that he never had in church.

"It took God to visit me outside the four walls" of the church, he said. "That's why I love the Lord, because he came into the street and met me where I was. Even though the people inside the four walls wrote me off, like 'He's finished, he's not going to see 25 years old.' "

The experience put him at odds with both his secular and his Christian peers, he said. Even now, he uses the word "religion" as a pejorative and sees his faith as tangential to the business of churches. "I'm not Christian by following the institutionalized religion of Christianity," he said. "I'm Christian like what the word really means, a follower of Christ."

He and Precise occupy a precarious niche, recording for Life Music, a Christian label started by Derek Ferguson, the chief financial officer of Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean Combs's company. Bad Boy stars who rap about sex and material excess earn instant fortunes, but Corey Red and Precise say they struggle to make ends meet. Unlike Christian rock bands, Christian rappers are rarely played on religious radio stationsand get little support from churches or the music industry.

Mr. Ferguson said he struggles to justify the music of some Bad Boy acts. But their Christian alternatives, he acknowledged, can barely support a small business.

"The church has these soldiers at their disposal," said Precise, whose real name is Robert Young. "But a lot of brothers, after a night of risking their life, they can't even keep their lights on in their house. We're here for the church. But any army poorly funded is going to struggle."

At Crossover Community Church in Tampa, Fla., Tommy Kyllonen has built a thriving ministry around hip-hop and runs an annual festival of Christian rap. Like Christ Tabernacle, Mr. Kyllonen's church is loosely affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination.

Mr. Kyllonen, 31, who raps under the name Urban D., teaches pastors around the country to use hip-hop in their ministries. With the success of Kanye West, he said, churches and the music industry are looking at the potential reach of Christian hip-hop.

But if churches simply add a D.J. or a little slang to their services, the audience will not be fooled, he said.

"Hip-hop is the hook that might draw them in, but what keeps them is building a relationship with God and with other people that are here,'' he said. "Because if they don't have that, and that doesn't become authentic, we would just be another place to come hang out, like a club. A club gets old after a while. Then there's a new club that opens up down the street that the music is better, they got a better D.J., that's where everyone's going now. The difference with us is that spiritual aspect."

At Aftershock, the crowd lingered long after the beats went silent. A plexiglass box onstage brimmed with items that people had turned in at previous services, including secular CD's, pornography and gang insignia.

Leamon Richardson and Richard Dauphin, who arrived well before the doors opened, embodied the complicated messages of holy hip-hop. Both are rappers. Mr. Richardson, 19, who lives in the South Bronx, called himself a "walking testimony," and wore a T-shirt celebrating 50 Cent, a secular rapper who rhymes about dealing drugs and killing people.

Because of the shirt, Mr. Richardson said, "You might see me and have a bad perception." But he added: "I don't take nothing from 50 Cent because he's not talking about anything godly. I pray for him."

Mr. Dauphin said that people who cannot understand this apparent contradiction are blind to the prophetic powers of hip-hop. "We're street disciples," he said. "You can be the greatest preacher in the world and not reach the street. That's where we're at."

Churches Adopt Hip-Hop's 'Rhythms, Bluntness' to Spread the Gospel

World News

Churches Adopt Hip-Hop's 'Rhythms, Bluntness' to Spread the Gospel

A growing number of churches and ministries are "adopting both the rhythms and the bluntness" of hip-hop culture to spread the gospel. In a report earlier this week that featured the headline "Rappers Are Raising Their Churches' Roofs," "The New York Times" observed that despite the longstanding antagonism between hip-hop and the church, "the two worlds seem to be inching closer together."

"The singer R. Kelly and the rapper Mase, who left the music business for five years to become a minister, have new hit albums filled with gospel messages, and one of this summer's most popular songs was 'Jesus Walks,' an overtly Christian rap by Kanye West," the newspaper noted.

Additionally, Kim Stewart, a booking agent for Christian rappers, said in the New York area alone, at least 150 churches or ministries use hip-hop in some form, including many storefront congregations or campus parachurch groups.

"Hip-hop is the language and the cry of this generation," said Adam Durso, youth pastor at Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, 27, who mixes guest rappers and videos with preaching in his Friday services, which are called Aftershock. The results are part revival meeting, part Friday night out at Christ Tabernacle, which is loosely affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

"In today's terms, the apostle Paul would be living in the projects saying, 'Grace and peace to you, a'ight,' instead of 'amen,'" Durso, using the hip-hop contraction for all right, told the "Times." "Don't get stuck on the word 'amen.' 'Amen' just meant 'I agree.' Well so does 'a'ight' to this hip-hop culture."

At Crossover Community Church in Tampa, Fla., Tommy Kyllonen, who has built a thriving ministry around hip-hop and runs an annual festival of Christian rap, said, churches and the music industry are looking at the potential reach of Christian hip-hop.

"Hip-hop is the hook that might draw them in, but what keeps them is building a relationship with God and with other people that are here," he said.

Church Communicates the Gospel in Inner-City Context

There was a shooting on one of the bus runs the Sunday night that Terry Raburn, district superintendent for the Peninsular Florida District, spoke at Pastor Tommy Kyllonen's Crossover Church in Tampa. It didn't begin to slow down the church's community outreach.

Pastor Tommy Kyllonen

Fla.vorFest 2002 2 disc DVD cover

"Crossover is in one of the most down-trodden, compromised areas of Tampa," Raburn says, "and Tommy sends out buses across that area to bring in kids. The church is very youth oriented, but it offers spiritual growth on a level that every age level can accept. The Spirit of the Lord is incredibly present at Crossover. I don't know how many people would have the chance to see 'Amazing Grace' done with stomp and rap, but at Tommy's church you can."

Crossover Church's sole purpose is to give streetwise teens and 20-somethings a soul purpose. It's been this way since Tommy Kyllonen came to Tampa, Fla., in 1996 and started the "hip-hop" youth ministry at the church with four teens.

The group grew to nearly 200 during the next 6 years. When Kyllonen became senior pastor 2 years ago, the church as a whole transitioned its focus to reaching out to those in Tampa's hip-hop culture.

Sunday morning services at Crossover are like no other. A disc jockey runs turntables, with hip-hop as well as rhythm and blues tunes mingled with praise and worship songs booming from overhead speakers. Remarkable testimonies from former drug dealers and strippers help define the services.

"God made it clear that we were supposed to reach out to what the majority of the neighborhood was, and that's hip-hop," says Kyllonen, 30. But that doesn't mean the gospel is watered down for the congregation, which is 50 percent Hispanic, 25 percent black and 25 percent white.

"We tell it like it is, but we always do it in love," says Kyllonen, noting the church has nearly 20 first-time visitors each week.

Visitors receive a free CD that includes music from various hip-hop and R&B artists who attend the church, as well as an introduction from Kyllonen, who has also recorded five hip-hop albums under the name Urban D.

For the community, Crossover holds quarterly Christian hip-hop and R&B concerts, which include a graffiti expo on a portable wall the church built. The church recently completed construction on a basketball court and, thanks to a $13,000 grant, a 10,000-square-foot skate park complete with half-pipes, ramps and rails.

"Our church doesn't look like your typical church," says Kyllonen, noting that the church is covered with murals. "The crowd we're reaching doesn't want to come into a place where there are pews and stained-glass windows."

Edward Bayonet, who is known as Spec, says Crossover's hip-hop environment led him to accept Christ as Savior at a youth service in 1998.

"I saw [people] here that looked like dudes from around my block," says the 25-year-old Spec, who as a teen regularly sprayed graffiti on the streets of Long Island, N.Y. "I felt comfortable because I could be myself."

Now Spec puts his love for Christ into his love for art. He is Crossover's media director, designing promotional graphics, fliers and the church's website.

"Hip-hop was all I knew," Spec says. "Hip-hop isn't our god, but we use what we know as a tool for Christ."

Today nearly 300 people from ages 18-50 attend Sunday morning services at Crossover, and the church recently added a second service. On Thursday nights more than 60 teens attend a junior high-only hip-hop youth service that started last year with 15, while 220 senior high and young adults meet in the main auditorium.

Newcomers are plugged into small-group Bible studies. The church has drama teams, a choir, and open microphone and poetry nights.

Youth can purchase Christian hip-hop music from Crossover's CD store. The church also has a hip-hop shop and a skate shop, and produces a magazine.

"New churches establish a new presence for Jesus," says Church Planting Director Paul Drost. "With the diversity of America now, the more churches we have that can target different segments of the population, the greater impact we can have on extending God's kingdom. I heartily recommend churches like Crossover."

by Isaac Olivarez, Today's Pentecostal Evangel

Fros'T - Minister of the Gospel

Fros'T
The Bible says there's a road in life that is WIDE and EASY and many find it, but it leads to DEATH. It also says that there is another road that is NARROW and HARD and many don't find it, but this road leads to LIFE. Fros'T decided when he was a youngster to take the road that was harder, but lead to life! He heard his Mom and Pops tell him that it was the best road to take and after seeing some of his partners go the wrong way and end up at dead ends in life, he decided to go God's way. Since that day he's been on a life long journey to please God. His latest album is a tribute to that journey.

How'd you come to know Jesus? Why would you recommend someone else to give Him a chance?
Well I am very greatful to have been raised in a Christian home, my Mom and Dad for as long as i remember (all my life) have been pastoring an inner city church in the middle of the south Los angeles area called praise chapel, but we all know that everybody says the pk's (Pastor's Kids) are the worst, and there probibly right, but this pk survived the storm, and now I'm reaping all the blessings God has for me, alot of my friend's growing up in the church went there own way and backslid, but I knew I was one of the chosen to do something great for god. I truly got serious with the calling on my life at the age of 15, and ever since God has been guiding me every step of the way. for those of you walking the picked fence, and are flirting with the ways of the world, just remember that sin equals death, stay encouraged you can make it, I know i'm a living testimony of that.

Explain the title of your latest album "Life Long Journey"?
The title "Life Long Journey" is pretty, much self explanitory, for the last 10 years since I first picked up a mic and started rapping, it's been like this life long roller coaster ride that never ends, at times very smoothe, and times as lots of dips and bumps in the path of which I'm traveling to get to where God is taking me, and what he's preparing me for in the future, I just wanted to get down dirty, and personal on this record, so after people listen they can maybe relate, and it can help somebody else in there own personal journay as well.

What advice do you have for any emcees tryin' to make it into the biz-ness?
Well, my advise to all up and coming emcees, is that it's very important that you learn ministry before you get all caught up in music. You see rap music is a great tool to use if it's used right, but God has called us to be ministers of the gospel, and that is where a lot of these new breed of emcees are missing the boat. They just want to grab the mic and flex there skills, and try to put out a demo to shop and try to get signed. Take my advise, if you want to be in this game for the long hall, focus on building youself a creditable ministry, and the music part of it will all fall into place. (Those of you interested in this should read our articles on "How to Start a Hip-Hop Ministry".)

How'd you hook up with such incredible talent for this album with emcees like Ahmad, Mr. Solo (Gospel Gangstaz) and Pidgeon John and producers like Bobcat (2 Pac, Mac 10, LL Cool J, T-Bone), KP (Ahmad & 4th Avenue Jones'), and N.Y.X. (SS Mob)?
It's all about relationship. I've been good friends with Ahmad and the 4th ave jones' camp for a few years now. I supported there ministry by hooking them up with shows and giving them plugs in Underground Fire magazine, when they where just stepping over to the gospel side. When the time came for me to record my album him and his wife Tina came down and blessed a track with me on my album. On the other hand I've know Solo, Tic-Toc, Chille Baby (of the Gospel Gangstaz)for years when I just first started to rap. I praise god, they did not hesitate to come down to the studio and rock a track. That songs a hit! KP (of the 4th Ave Jones' has been doing tracks for me for now two years and N.Y.X. has been doing tracks for me for the last 4 years. I just praise God for the relationships that He has blessed me with.

Your style's kinda a mix of East and West. Describe your style for us.
Yeah, you can say my style is pretty much universal--East/West. Many people like to say, this album has got a little something for everybody. It's rough. It's smoothe. It's very hard to describe. I guess you can say my style is just different.

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth


Source:	05-37 - Associated Baptist Press

	By Ken Camp HOUSTON (ABP) -- The in-your-face attitude, emblazoned on black T-shirts, is unmistakable: "Jesus is Lord. Satan is a punk. Pick a side." Street Life, a Christian outreach to young people in Houston's urban hip-hop culture, offers a distinctive blend of student ministry, evangelism, church-planting and discipleship. The hip-hop approach operates on two fronts. Hard-edged, streetwise entertainment with a distinctively redemptive message draws non-Christian young people. Then small groups offer them a place to experience community, encounter the gospel message and develop into disciples. Since January, Union Baptist Association of Houston has helped start eight Street Life "squads" or cell-group churches -- four in homes and others on the Texas Southern University campus, on a high-school campus, at a day-care center and within a church's youth ministry. Several established congregations have worked with the local African-American pastors' fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Texas to help launch the ministry. Bertha Vaughns, Baptist Student Ministry director at Texas Southern University, sees the students with whom she works as "an oppressed generation," shaped by "broken homes, broken relationships [and] broken promises." She says the hip-hop approach to sharing the gospel can be "the deliverer" this generation needs. Street Life churches use rap music, soulful rhythm and blues, stand-up comedy and dramatic films to package the gospel in a way an urban generation raised on the streets will receive, said Shawn Scoggins, a hip-hop church planter. "We want to give it to them in a way they've never seen it," he said. In part, that is accomplished through relationships built in small groups where non-Christians can talk frankly to mature Christians about issues that matter to them. "They need to see Jesus walking among them," Scoggins said. But first, Christians have to establish a rapport with them by approaching them on common ground, he stressed. Just as Jesus ministered among prostitutes, tax-gatherers, lepers and other outcasts, urban missionaries must meet people where they are, in the hip-hop culture. "We have to be where the sinner is -- in music, movies and media," he said. Pointing out that some urban children start picking up "gangsta" slang and attitudes as early as kindergarten, Scoggins envisions high-school youth in hip-hop churches mentoring middle-school students, who in turn influence younger children. "It can start in a dorm room. It can start with a prayer group. It doesn't have to have a building or require a lot of money." While Scoggins provides leadership for the discipleship side of the ministry, Terrance Levi provides the entertainment tools for outreach -- what he calls "redemptive entertainment." "I have a passion to help sinners come to know the Lord and to understand the Bible is a manual for players," Levi said. "It's not just a book for grandmas." Levi speaks the hip-hop language and understands urban culture intimately. "The Lord delivered me out of a life of organized crime nine and a half years ago," he testified. "And I used to own a record company that made cuss-you-out rap records." After his conversion, he turned his attention to Christian entertainment but concluded: "A lot of it didn't relate to the unchurched. People want to be entertained, and if it's not entertaining, they won't pay any attention to it." Now Levi uses his professional expertise as a record producer and media entrepreneur to create Christian entertainment he believes will appeal to young people on the streets. Through his company, Street Life Worldwide Entertainment Group, he and collaborator Rob Phat wrote and produced a motion picture, Pain. With financial assistance from the BGCT, he also is producing short morality plays on DVD. The "mini-movies" are designed for Christians to give to their unchurched friends to view. A recent "gathering of the players" at Texas Southern University brought together leaders from hip-hop churches around Houston for a celebration worship service, and it offered an outreach opportunity to students. As minister to students on campus, Vaughns sees tremendous potential for the hip-hop church, which she views as a revolutionary movement of the Holy Spirit. "I feel like God pole-vaulted me into this situation, and I've plummeted into something a lot bigger than me," she said. "The Lord can use this hip-hop approach to redeem a generation. ... I don't believe this is going to fizzle out -- not be just a fad. I think it will bring about social change."

Christian Ministry Hip Hop Haven

Christian outreach ministry Hip Hop Haven hopes to reach teens through music and dance

By Kim Mulford

Picture a church service designed for urban teens. Instead of a choir, it would have hip-hop artists and step dancers. Instead of a live band, it might have a DJ. Instead of a pastor preaching from a pulpit, it might have somebody such as 28-year-old Miguel Ortiz "keeping it real" and delivering his personal testimony.

This is Hip Hop Haven, a Christian outreach ministry beginning next week in Camden. It's the project of Urban Mission Fellowship, an ecumenical and multicultural collaboration of area churches interested in hooking young people.

Pastor Noel A. Morales, a street preacher in Camden, came up with the idea after pestering a teenager on a street corner about why she stopped coming to church. She told him church was boring.

"Kids nowadays make a lot of excuses," said Morales, who holds an afternoon service at Urban Promise at 36th and Federal streets. "They have to do this and they have to do that. There's no time for God, no time for church. But if I tell them I'm having a concert, they say, `Oh, yeah! I'll be there.' "

How does a 51-year-old preacher do that?

Morales approached Ortiz, a former club and concert promoter whose life once mirrored the stereotypical lyrics of the big-name artists he brought to town.

Four years ago, after he was questioned in a fatal nightclub shooting, Ortiz walked away from his business, the money, the women and the drugs.

After he was released by police, Ortiz spent a day looking at his life and praying. The next day, he said, he was back in church.

"I remember the Holy Spirit just saying, `What are you doing? I haven't called you to do this. My streets are crying for you.' " Ortiz recalled. He turned his life over to God and joined the Coast Guard.

Now nearing the end of his enlistment, Ortiz and two partners have formed a nonprofit organization called Vigilant Multimedia & Entertainment, which seeks to promote the Christian Gospel through music, drama and the arts.

Lately, VME has been doing just that. In December, the Voorhees resident organized a holy hip-hop concert for his congregation, Revo Youth Church, under Cherry Hill's Kingsway Church. In March, at Morales' request, Ortiz put together another concert, this time at Urban Promise in Camden. About 140 kids showed up.

"Even when we told them, `You have to go home,' they didn't want to go home," said Morales. "Kids were fellowshipping, taking each other's names and addresses. They loved it. They are the ones that asked me to do it again."

He went back to Urban Mission Fellowship, which decided to organize a monthly outreach service through the summer on the last Saturdays of May, June, July and August.

Hip Hop Haven is not a church, said Carol Pavlicin, a 47-year-old Cherry Hill resident and a member of Urban Mission Fellowship's board of directors.

"Kids don't like to do church," Pavlicin explained. She prefers to call this "youth fellowship." The message will be the same, but the way it's delivered will be different.

Eventually, the organizers hope to broaden their outreach and become a resource for other churches. Urban Mission Fellowship already holds a weekly Bible study at Urban Promise. It hopes the monthlyservice will draw more to attend.

Pavlicin's 18-year-old daughter, Tracey, goes to the Bible study with her mother. The two have passed out flyers in Camden, inviting kids to next week's service. They've been receptive, said Tracey.

"I think they're ready to see who God really is," Tracey Pavlicin said. "They don't want the boring traditions. They want to live in a radical new way that's relevant to the culture."

When they do come, they'll hear the rap artistry of Jessica Garcia, aka Jusdis. The 21-year-old Philadelphian is signed with VME. She and her fellow artists perform mostly in churches. The kids love it, she said.

"My testimony is the biggest part of my ministry," said Garcia, who became a Christian about a year and a half ago. "If you can be real to the youth, the youth is going to respond to that."

Her life turned around one night after she accepted a friend's invitation to attend church. The pastor was preaching out of the basement of a house. As soon as she walked in, he looked at her and told her Jesus loved her, but didn't love the life she was living.

"The tears started coming to my eyes," recalled Garcia. "It was anger. This guy doesn't know me from a can of spray paint."

The conversation changed her and on Feb. 4, 2004, she became a Christian. Now, she said, she wants to share her faith with other young people through her music.

"I just hope that they see and they accept Christ," Garcia said. "I do all this for God. I'm God's microphone."

Hip Hop Haven is "the greatest idea ever," Garcia said. "What better way to get them than with their own music?" IF YOU GO

Hip Hop Haven opens at 7:30 p.m. May 28 at Urban Promise, 36th and Federal streets, Camden. Admission is free. .

Hip Hop Ministry

osted on Tue, Oct. 25, 2005

Hip-hop ministry

By Glenn Lovell
Mercury News

Like others who eventually heed the clang of The Firehouse, rapper SanJoe remembers a time not so long ago when his life was burning down around him.

``I was so lost, man -- I used PCP and crank,'' the ex-gang member from Modesto testifies from the stage of the San Jose youth club on St. James Street. ``I'd ride around in stolen cars. I've been left for dead in the desert with an ice pick in my back . . .''

At this, the 29-year-old SanJoe (real name Joe Whitson) nods in time to his pre-recorded performance mix and raps, ``Father, forgive me, I was stuck in the streets/Thought I had to fend for myself, like a savage beast.''

A popular fixture on the local scene since February, The Firehouse has become a safe haven for ``all young people at risk,'' explains San Jose pastor-activist Sonny Lara. ``We're an alternative to the thug life, man. When they come here, they don't need to stand with their guard up; they can relax . . . be themselves.''

The free, non-denominational nightspot meets the last Friday of each month at the old Oasis disco or, if that's taken, the St. James Community Center down the street. The club has been hailed by San Jose Recreation Superintendent Angel Rios Jr. as ``cutting edge'' and ``a positive alternative'' for kids who are confused or have lost their way.

``When you tell teens don't join gangs or do drugs, that comes across as preachy,'' says Rios, a member of the mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force. ``This points them in a new direction, but in a fun setting so they can still be cool.''

Besides SanJoe, this night's decidedly non-gangsta lineup includes Bloodline and Brother Ig. They do their thing, then mingle with audience members, some of whom are called onstage to dance or recite poetry. Each testifies about his or her deliverance from drugs and gangs.

`Introduce yourself'

``Get up and walk around,'' instructs Sonny Lara's son, Israel, who as emcee-Christian rapper works the crowd with the fervor of a televangelist.

``Shake hands, introduce yourself,'' prods Israel Lara. ``It's not about my color, your color, my church, your church -- it's about fellowship.''

If this sounds like a hip-hop version of the old-time prayer meeting, it is.

``I've seen people break down in tears,'' Rios says. ``The look on their faces says, `Man, I'm accepted, I'm important.' So something is happening there that's meeting their needs.''

Adds Israel Lara during a break in the show, ``We provide a safe place for teenagers who are struggling with drugs and alcohol, but you don't have to be troubled: We welcome kids 12 and up who just want to hang out and have a good time.''

James Chavez and Patty Balderrama, both 16, fit this description.

Chavez, no stranger to school detention, commutes here from Modesto; Balderrama, of San Jose, found the youth club when she was taken from her mother, who was doing time for drugs. ``I had a lot of anger in me,'' Balderrama confesses. ``But I came to this place instead of going out on the street and doing other stuff, like partying and drinking.''

No fear

Pastor Lara rents the St. James Street club from downtown developer Barry Swenson for a token $375 or ``as close to that as we can come.'' He calls The Firehouse ``neutral ground,'' a place where different religions and ethnicities can mingle without fear of the kind of gun violence that erupted Saturday morning outside the Ambassador Lounge on San Pedro Street.

``Neutral means anyone is welcome, man,'' says the pastor, whose heavily tattooed body still carries the scars from a gang shooting. ``Check out the atmosphere, man. It's charged with positive energy. We give the kids a place to express their talents, whether it's poetry, dancing, drama or rap.''

But leave the gangsta attitude at the door.

``It's the Law of Magneticism, man: Who you are is who you attract,'' says Sonny Lara. ``The rebellion comes from the music. They hear all that negative stuff by Eminem and Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent. No wonder they're depressed. Our music relaxes you, puts you in the mood.''

So far, he says, there have been some tense moments, people who were asked to leave -- but nothing physical. ``You'd have to be crazy to try something here. You see those bouncers? They're big guys, they're buffed-out, man.''

Heading off trouble

Angelina Macias and her husband, Freddy, are members of the security team. A former gang member herself, Macias says she can home in on potential troublemakers.

``It's easier for me because I was part of that lifestyle,'' she says. ``Anybody that's trying to sneak narcotics or alcohol in, look out -- I can read your mind.''

Rios is impressed by the level of supervision. ``It's not just a bunch of kids running rampant,'' he says. ``It's run by adults who are trained to interact with young people.''

Clubs come and go in the downtown. How long does Sonny Lara think he can keep this one going with donations? (A fundraiser is planned for Nov. 5 at San Jose's Wyndham Hotel.)

``I'm training my son Israel to carry on,'' he replies. ``We're not one of those fly-by-night ministries -- here today, gone tomorrow.''

Rios would like the youth club to meet more frequently because ``young people don't just hang out the last Friday of every month.''

Sunday, September 04, 2005

PERKINS TO HOST HIP-HOP WORSHIP SERVICE

April 13, 2005
PERKINS TO HOST HIP-HOP WORSHIP SERVICE

DALLAS (SMU) -- SMU's Perkins School of Theology will host an outdoor Hip-Hop Worship Service at 11:30 a.m. Thursday (April 21) on the steps of Perkins Chapel. Christian hip-hop recording artist, La Crea, of Denton will perform, and Rev. Tiate Carson, senior pastor of Bethel AME Church in San Antonio, will preach.

In the event of inclement weather, the service will be held in Selecman Hall Auditorium.

The event was conceived, planned, and will be facilitated by the Perkins Worship Committee; Dr. Mark Stamm, Perkins director of community worship; and other Perkins seminarians who embrace hip-hop culture.

The Perkins Worship Committee was supported in this venture by the SMU Wesley Foundation and affords an opportunity for Perkins to demonstrate the piety and spirituality of Holy Hip Hop culture. Perkins invites the SMU community and lovers of Christian Hip-Hop to support this event with their presence and participation.

Perkins School of Theology is one of five university-related official schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. The school was founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Church Ministry, Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies and Doctor of Ministry degree, as well as the Ph.D. in cooperation with SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

Bringing Hip-Hop to Church

By MARK JOHNSON

Posted: Aug. 13, 2005

For a month, the pastor cruised his neighborhood blasting the car stereo.

The year was off to a bloody start. Homicides way up from 2004. Killings just a few blocks from Win-A-Soul Ministries, the faded brick church at E. Concordia Ave. and N. Richards St., where the Rev. David King preaches.

Bringing Hip-Hop to Church

Photo/Elizabeth Flores

Jonathan Gayden, 18, also known as Annointed Prophet, shouts the letters G-O-D to Christian rap music as a young boy dances in front of the congregation at Win-A-Soul Ministries, at E. Concordia Ave. and N. Richards St., in Milwaukee.

Go to more photos

Photo/Elizabeth Flores

I cannot catch the hip-hop generation with the old hymns that grandma used to listen to. They’re not biting on that. It’s like trying to catch catfish with the same bait you’d use to catch bluegill.

- The Rev. David King of Win-A-Soul Ministries, on having hip-hop services

Photo/Elizabeth Flores

It wasn't until later on when I met my wife that I realized that what is preached and what is given through hip-hop, they don't correlate...That;s when I realized there was a calling for me as an artist of hip-hop to clean it up and give people a new perspective on what hip-hop is.

- Rapper Shannon Eric Vick ,
Who performs as Eric Cross (Cross stands for Christ Rose On Sabbath Sunday)

Multimedia

Video: Watch a performance at Win-A-Soul Ministries

Slideshow: More photos from the ministries' services

So the 43-year-old pastor, tall with a shaved head, drove past young men and women hanging out on porches in the summer heat. He went by slow with his windows rolled down. He made sure they heard his music.

Their music, really. Hip-hop. Trunk-rattling bass. Rat-a-tat rhymes.

And yet, not the same hip-hop folks blame every time the homicide rate spikes.

Listen:

So can I get an encore,

Christ is our Lord - that's what we praise him for

So everybody out there give Christ a roar

Now tell me what are you waiting for?

The pastor's music. The bait he used to fish for souls.

"I cannot catch the hip-hop generation with the old hymns that grandma used to listen to. They're not biting on that," King said. "It's like trying to catch catfish with the same bait you'd use to catch bluegill."

In the pastor's logic, there was a simple solution to Milwaukee's crime wave. The solution was the church.

He saw too many young people with no connection to God, and too many houses of God with no connection to the young. He had an idea how to put young people in the pews: hip-hop. The plan, supported by a handful of other preachers, was to open the church for Friday night gospel hip-hop services. Rappers and preachers rock the mike.

If the music was the problem, as some insisted, maybe it could be the solution.

Any solution sounded good to the young men and women on N. Buffum St. who'd been talking to the pastor and listening to the music blasting from his car. One hot morning, they stood chatting on a neighborhood porch, their eyes drifting now and then to a nearby tree decorated with teddy bears and two dozen liquor bottles, the memorial to their slain friend Randy "Lorenzo" Winfrey.

Winfrey was 24 and died in early July from a gunshot wound to the head. His killer dispatched him with a taunt: "Who's the tough guy now?"

"Music encourages people," said Telecia Johnson, a 26-year-old mother of two. "Rap music is strong." But the combination of hip-hop beat and Christian lyrics might reach some people, she said. "Maybe some of us standing right here."

Demetrius Renfro, 20, put it this way: "If you can dance to something with bad lyrics, why not dance to something with good lyrics?"

The music called gospel rap or holy hip-hop has come many miles these last 15 years, from the small churches and community centers to concerts in the new 5,000-seat mega-churches and even sometimes in the arenas usually booked for acts such as Madonna and Britney Spears.

Although the recording industry has yet to measure the sales of gospel rap, there are signs the music is starting to come into its own. Sales of gospel music almost doubled in the last decade from $381 million in 1995 to $700 million last year, according to the Gospel Music Association. The rock segment, which includes holy hip-hop, rose 125% in the last year alone. Grits, a Nashville-based gospel rap group, has sold 140,000 copies of its 2002 CD, "Art of Translation."

M. Sean Agnew has tracked the music since the early 1990s when he met gospel rap pioneers DC Talk while touring with his own band.

"I've always felt that they were very, very good lyrically, but from a rap standpoint, the tone and cadence never matched up to the innovation," said Agnew, 37-year-old CEO of Blue Metallic Entertainment Group, a Chicago-based marketing and promotions company in the entertainment industry.

Now, holy hip-hop bands have made a leap forward in rap and production skills, he said. "They're going toe-to-toe with a lot of the secular artists."

Still, the gospel rappers aren't exactly slugging it out with their secular rivals when it comes to sales.

"I just think there's not enough of the product out there," said Joey Elwood, president of Goatee Records, a label with five gospel rap acts. "I think, too, that the gatekeepers at all levels - record labels, promoters, radio stations, booking agents, club owners - there's just not that many engaged with that genre."

The exception: churches, a place where gospel rap can offer something the secular version does not, Agnew said.

"In church, people would have this emotional outlet. They would be emotionally drained. They'd pass out and someone would have to catch them. With rap, with many people we haven't given them that outlet."

With Jesus Christ there is no reason to fear,

Because he's coming back in time, this is the season and year

We live by faith even though we never seen him appear

He never breaks a promise, giving us reason to cheer

Rapper Shannon Eric Vick wrote those words. Stage name Eric Cross (Cross stands for "Christ Rose On Sabbath Sunday"), the 24-year-old Vick said he was born out of wedlock and didn't meet his birth father until the age of 17.

Vick grew up in Milwaukee influenced by the music of LL Cool J, Eric B. & Rakim, and later Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

They weren't throwing down rhymes about peace, faith and Christ, particularly Shakur. Still, Vick found in rap a way of competing, or fighting without fists.

"People want to battle so it was a battle, a freestyle battle, to see who can connect the words, who has cadence, who has the proper gestures and the right thing to say at the right time," Vick said.

"I would have guys come at me and they might say statements that were kind of bad, I guess you could say. I would always keep it clean, but at the same time be aggressive with the lyrics."

Vick's early raps were solidly secular:

I was rolling in my 6-4 number one rate,

Girls are looking fine and I'm feeling great.

Although he went to church, he didn't give much thought to the conflicting messages he heard from the preachers and the rappers.

"It wasn't until later on when I met my wife that I realized that what is preached and what is given through hip-hop, they don't correlate," Vick said. "The two don't match. And that's when I realized there was a calling for me as an artist of hip-hop to clean it up and give people a new perspective on what hip-hop is." In 2001, Vick decided, as he put it, "to show the world the true hip-hop." He began rapping about his personal battles against temptation and about the return of Jesus. He recorded a CD. The cover bore his logo: a silhouette of the rapper kneeling by a cross, "being humble."

Vick started performing in churches. Those who heard him never seemed to mind that he was bringing God into hip-hop. Maybe, he said, it was because many hip-hop fans had gone to church at least sometime in their youth, even if they'd later stopped.

"When they hear it," said Vick, "it brings them back to their roots, to where they started."

They were hearing it on N. 22nd St., near Center, where Serita Ward-Campbell was running 3G Records out of her house (the Gs stand for God's Gift Gospel). She formed the label to record her own brand of holy hip-hop.

Born in North Carolina to a mother addicted to crack, Ward-Campbell was still an infant when her mom began taking her to smoke-filled clubs and parties. She was removed from her mother's care, sent to foster homes and finally, at the age of 2, adopted by an aunt.

Her birth mother died of an overdose when Ward-Campbell was a teenager. By then she had already found a place to channel her sadness: music.

"I started doing what they call crying on paper," she said. "Instead of shedding tears, I wrote it on paper."

Ward-Campbell sang and learned keyboards. She played trumpet in church and eventually learned the tuba, saxophone and clarinet.

At 13, she wrote her first song, "Put Your Trust in Jesus Christ."

In 1998, she moved to Milwaukee, where she met her husband, Rodney Campbell, a pastor. She started 3G Records and set up a small studio in her home because she didn't have enough money to record in other people's studios.

"My husband and I invested every dime we had (in the studio)," she said. More than $30,000 over the last five years.

Her first CD, "Miracle Worker," was produced in 2001. It sold maybe 100 copies. Three CDs later, her sales have totaled somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000.

Gradually, Ward-Campbell added other gospel rap acts to her label: Day-Day, Anointed Prophet, Moe' Soul and others. She performed in some churches and was turned away by others.

"I got rejected by many churches," she said. "I heard people say, 'We don't want that kind of music in the church' and 'That hip-hop is (music) of the devil.' "

But that hip-hop was absent from her words:

Dear Lord, I wanna thank you

For savin' me

Raisin' me

Baptizing me

And filling me

Protecting me

With your grace and your mercy

Long before the Rev. David King invited the rappers to his church, the pastor had shown a willingness to seek new ways of reaching the young.

King, who had survived sexual abuse and drugs in childhood, became a Baptist minister in the mid-1990s and founded Win-A-Soul Ministries in 1998. In the summer of 2000, in the midst of a 40-day "soul drive," he began leading members of the congregation into some of the city's rough neighborhoods on "midnight raids." Past midnight they'd confront young men and women bound for taverns, drug houses and street prostitution. They'd try to get the lost souls to commit their lives to Christ.

This year, the pastor heard Vick rap at a block party in his neighborhood. As he listened, King said, "I knew Eric was anointed by God to do what he was doing. Not only his beat, his music, but I felt his heart."

At the same party, Day-Day and other gospel rap artists from 3G records performed. Afterwards, the pastor asked Vick's help in offering a gospel hip-hop service at the church.

"I thought about the Pied Piper," King said. "He went after folks and ended up getting them through music."

Friday evening, 8 p.m., sun sinking, cars cruising, music pumping.

The pews filling in Rev. King's box of a church - 30 people by the time the beat began. The pastor handed the mike to Daytona "Day-Day" Rhodes.

Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party

Cause a Holy Ghost party don't stop!

Ye-aah!

Now, the congregation:

Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party

Cause a Holy Ghost party don't stop!

Ye-aah! Ye-aah!

Rhodes, 15, shuffled and hopped as he rapped, his knees pumping up and down like a metronome.

Say 'He's Christ the king.'

He's Christ the King!

Bass rumbled from the speakers. The folks in the pews - now 40, half of them children and teens - danced and cheered. Kids from the neighborhood peeked in the open church doors, curious.

Finally, the rapper handed the mike back to the pastor. King wore a T-shirt that said, "Follow Jesus and He will make you Fishers of Men."

"How many of you all realize that religious people say hip-hop is bringing the world into the church? How many of you all have heard that?" King said.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

"But what it actually is: We're not bringing the world into the church. We're taking the church into the world."

Amen. Yeah.

The pastor continued: "It's nothing wrong with the beat, it's nothing wrong with the music. What was wrong was the words. It's the words that plant the seeds in our children's heads. That's why a little boy at the age of 6 can go up to a little girl and call her a B-, because he got it off a song. . . . But now we've got these young brothers and they're rapping about Jesus Christ."

Oh yeah.

Back and forth the mike goes: preacher, rapper, preacher, rapper.

In the final hour of three, King introduced Vick by his stage name, Eric Cross.

"I married as a virgin. My wife was a virgin," Vick said, offering testimony before rap. "We waited until we were married. We fought (the temptation) and we fought and we fought."

Then he was off, the rhymes flying from his tongue, his finger pointing to the heavens. In the pews, they were on their feet, more than 50 people now.

Christ is our Lord - that's what we praise him for

So everybody out there give Christ a roar

From the Aug. 14, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Hip Hop 'A Voice for Justice'

Covenant News
Hip Hop 'A Voice for Justice'
By Stan Friedman

CHICAGO, IL (March 24) - Church property may "abut a street," but far too often churches are failing to reach people "on the street." Instead, "There's a vast gap between the church and the street," said Pastor Phil Jackson on Saturday in addressing North Park University's symposium, "Hip Hop: A Voice for Justice."

Attendees were broken into groups for a lengthy discussion, during which they were asked to discuss where they found justice issues in hip hop (the accompanying photo shows a group of students with Precise). They also heard from a panel of speakers, to whom they were able to address questions.

Precise and Group Discussion The biggest injustice discussed, however, was the refusal of much of the church to use culturally relevant means of ministry, including hip hop, that have proven effective in reaching people who otherwise might not give the Gospel a hearing. "Every other week, we're having to bury cats, then there's more wounded people, people being harassed by the police," said Jackson, who pastors the Evangelical Covenant Church plant known as The House in Chicago and served on the panel. "We've got dudes who can preach their brains out, but can't do ministry."

"There's a lack of urgency," Jackson continued. "There's not a zeal for the people. There's a heart for 'churchianity,' but not Christianity."

"We have to figure out what is culturally sensitive and what is essential to the Gospel," said Kaziputalimba Joshua, North Park Theological Seminary professor of justice ministries and director of the Center for Justice Ministries. "The church has to do its work with attention to the sounds and the voices that are coming from the street. If the church is going to reach the street, it must be as diverse as the street," Joshua observed.

Included on the panel were Corey Red and Precise, a New York hip-hop duo who are supported by a label run by Covenant Pastor David Holder. Corey Red and Precise have the street credentials, with the former giving his life to Christ when he feared he might die from a knife wound that punctured a major artery.

Precise suggested that the church keeps away people from the street by not meeting people at the street, as well as having "a preconceived idea of how they should look." He laments that the church too often is concerned more with the outer appearance of those entering its doors than with the condition of their inner life. "Let's let God be God," Precise said. "Decently and in order, yes, but let's not have our ideas on top of that."

Corey Red With reference to hip hop that often is played on the radio, Corey Red told the audience, "You're smarter than what they're rapping about." The duo lamented that while some churches are saying good things about Christian rap, they aren't using it or supporting it so that it can be noticed. Programmers at secular radio stations ask, "Why should we play you when your own people won't play you?"

"God's not sending us to make rap conversions," Precise said during an interview, explaining that if people do not like hip hop, that is fine with them (the duo). They just want an opportunity to reach those who do. Winners of a 2002 Holy Hip Hop award, the duo has shared the stage with well-known artists such as Yolanda Adams and Mary Mary. Their album, Resistance Iz Futile, has received positive reviews.

The symposium was followed by an evening of hip hop from various groups and individuals at The House, which raised nearly $1,000 that will be directed to Covenant World Relief to assist people in Darfur, Sudan, according to Ginny Olson, co-director of the Center for Youth Ministries. The audience also viewed a video from the nationally broadcast PBS program Religion & Ethics Weekly that focused on the church in February. To read more about hip hop and view the PBS video, visit PBS.

The Evangelical Covenant Church - - Copyright 2005 =5101 N. Francisco Ave. Chicago, IL 60625

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Ministers give gospel a hip hop beat to reach young souls

Ministers give gospel a hip hop beat to reach young souls

By WENDY ISOM
Apr 17 2005

At 8 p.m. on the fourth Friday of each month, youth are flocking to the Faith Deliverance Center for Freestyle Friday in the Hamilton Hills Shopping Center in Jackson. It's part of a thriving ''holy hip hop'' ministry that is reaching the younger generation by combining hip hop culture and holy Scripture.

Admission is free, and youth are encouraged to be ''free in the Spirit'' as well. They are ministered to in an environment that's more like a club setting than a church. There they are free to dress in what's comfortable to them and dance to the sounds of holy hip hop, music performed by Christian hip hop artists. There are also biblical games and prizes.

And so far it's working. Youth of all ages and ethnicities continue to come. Over three services, more than 100 youth have turned their lives over to Christ after experiencing the holy hip hop services in Jackson, said Charles Wallace, pastor of the Faith Deliverance Center, where the Freestyle Fridays are held.

Mr. Del, a former rapper with Three 6 Mafia, pastors City of Refuge, a holy hip hop church in Memphis. He is the visionary behind the holy hip hop services in West Tennessee.

''This is the most innovative thing that has come to Jackson,'' Mr. Del said in a recent interview with The Jackson Sun. Anticipating more growth, Mr. Del has plans to eventually move the holy hip hop services to the Carl Perkins Civic Center. A holy hip hop radio show is in the works. The rap artist and minister said he feels called to ''use hip hop and Christ to win the world.''

Hip hop is a culture originated by young blacks that not only relates to certain forms of music - now primarily associated with rap - but also relates to fashion, language and social interaction.

The hip hop culture is a major influence among the majority of U.S. youth, Mr. Del said.

''Seventy percent of hip hop music is bought by white people,'' he said.

Mr. Del and Wallace, the pastor of Faith Deliverance Center, sat down to talk with The Sun about the future of holy hip hop services in Jackson.

Question: How long have you been holding holy hip hop services at Faith Deliverance Center in Jackson?

Mr. Del: Since September 2004.

Q: What do you say to people, including some ministers and parents, who don't think that hip hop belongs in the church?

Wallace: Out of three (holy hip hop) services, 111 have got saved. While they're complaining, we're doing God's work. I'm too excited and too motivated to worry about the haters.

Mr. Del: We're actually doing what the Bible says. He said: ''Go out into the world.'' The majority of the people we want to get to will not come to church.

Q: Two studies released earlier this week, one from UCLA and one from the Jewish networking group, Reboot, show that youth in America are very interested in developing their spirituality. But the studies say that youth are more likely to explore their spirituality in non-traditional ways. Why do you think that is?

Mr. Del: Religion and tradition has never catered to young people. I remember when I was younger in the church, it was like ''sit at the back of the church and children don't say nothing.'' For so long, we've been turned away if we have on jeans or wear earrings. They're looking at other vehicles.

Q: What have you found that young people really want from a church experience?

Wallace: The kids really just want to be accepted. We want them to open up and let them have a say-so their way. I never read in the Bible that you had to have a neck tie or a suit on.

Visit talkback.jacksonsun.com to share your thoughts.

- Wendy Isom, (731) 425-9782

If you go The community is invited to attend a holy hip hop service featuring Mr. Del at 8 p.m. April 22 at Faith Deliverance Center, 581H Old Hickory Blvd. (in the Hamilton Hills Shopping Center). Admission is free.

On the Net To learn more about the holy hip hop ministry, visit www.holysouth.com

About Mr. Del

# Name: Mr. Del

# Age: '20-something'

# Hometown: Memphis

# Ministry: Mr. Del, former rapper with Three 6 Mafia, got saved in April 2000 and left the rap group to start the Holy South ministry in 2001. Now, he is the pastor of City of Refuge, a hip hop church in Memphis.

About Wallace

# Name: Charles Wallace

# Age: 47

# Hometown: Jackson

# Ministry: Wallace has been the pastor of the Faith Deliverance Center for the past 10 years. He embraces the 'holy hip hop' ministry.
Copyright 2005 The Jackson Sun - 245 W. Lafayette Street, Jackson, Tennessee

Friday, April 15, 2005

Interview with "THE BODY"

Contributed by:
Min. Anita Jarrell,
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles, The 411

This morning, I had the honor of getting to know "THE BODY" a little better. THE BODY is an innovative group of soldiers on guard for Christ, as you'll discover for yourself as you check out their responses in this interview. Be encouraged and empowered.

Min. Anita Jarrell: Who are you?

The Body: We are "The Body". A Hip-Hop collective out of Brooklyn N.Y. The members are Nzingha, Missionary Men, NeoRock, Paradox, G-Force, Syntax and Mr. Skidz.

Min. Anita Jarrell: Why did you choose to do what you do?

The Body:

-- NEOROCK - Simply because I was made for this. I just have too much fun doing it.

-- SYNTAX - I did not even know I could do this rapping thing until one of my GETGOSPEL peeps asked me to "spit" some lyrics. After that, it was a "rap".

-- JAHDIEL - I do what I do because I love Rap, but not the way people do it now. I believe I could put it into better use especially when delivering the message with each song.

-- NZINGHA - This helps me to use my skills and talents to let people know that I'm passionate about what I do.

-- MR. SKIDZ - WELL IT WASNT DAT I CHOSE IT. I WAS CALLED TO DO THIS. WHENEVER I CHECKED OUT MY TALENTS IT ALWAYS POINTED TO THIS.

-- PARADOX - I guess the best response is that "I'm driven". The ideas come to me all the time and I right them down or do a scratch recording as quickly as possible before I lose the idea. Music wasn't my original career path but I'm happy that I became true to myself and started taking my talents seriously.

Min. Anita Jarrell: What has been your biggest challenge as a soldier for Christ?

-- MONK - Women, when they see that you're doing something special (music), they see you in a whole different light but they approach you in the wrong way. They don't want to take the time to get to know you, they just want to have a relationship. A lot of women, when they see a young guy doing big things, they want to be a part of his life and what he'sdoing. Like groupies. Sometimes I feel like they don't respect my mission, probably because they don't respect themselves.

-- G-FORCE - My biggest challenge is being a human being who makes stupid mistakes everyday. The challenge is not making excuses.

-- NZINGHA - My biggest challenges are making good music and living the lifestyle that people who don't know Christ can relate too without compromising my views.

-- MR. SKIDZ - STAYIN' CONSISTENT. TRYING TO KEEP CREATIVE AND APPEALING WITHOUT COMPROMISING JESUS'S PRINCIPLES.

-- NEOROCK - Learning how to love like Christ, unconditionally. Its hard, I am not going to lie.

-- PARADOX - Staying balanced. Somehow, our day to day challenges can bring us down if we don't keep them in check. I saw a lot of people quietly drift away from God over the years. You can be so concerned with reaching your personal goals that things like prayer and Bible study get lost in the chaos. It's one of the side effects of a Rat Race
Society. On the other hand I saw a lot of people become spiritual fanatics to the point that they lost the ability to think for themselves. It's like they have to have a week of prayer and fasting to decide whether they should have toast or pancakes for breakfast, or if it's even Godly to have breakfast. Their faith has been replaced by fear and there's no joy in the Lord.

Min. Anita Jarrell: When is the last time you all performed and how'd it go and when's the next time you'll perform? Give us some dates, some times, and some words to describe how you feel about it all.

The Body:

-- SYNTAX - The last time we performed, the acts that went on before us blew out the monitors. As a result, we could not really hear ourselves during our performance, but that whole situation reminded me of how much God blesses us. I think we gave a great performance, even with handicap of no monitors. I think we did great.

-- NZINGHA - I do what I do all the time. This is what life is about now.

-- PARADOX - Typically we perform every week or every other week. We intend to perform more frequently now that the album is done. We don't make much appearances when working on a project. Our last performance was cool. The sound system was real clear although we had some issues with the mics. The audience said that they heard everything we said so it was good to me. We enjoyed it and they enjoyed it.

Min. Anita Jarrell: Where did Jesus find you and what were you up to that day?

The Body:

-- SYNTAX - He always knew where I was but I just had to accept that fact. It was during a deep conversation I had, with the woman who eventually became my wife, that led to me accept Jesus for the second time.

-- G-FORCE - Honestly, I get lost often. He comes looking for me everyday...

-- JAHDIEL - My cousins and uncles would always talk to me about the Bible, but would always tell me to read it for my self. I was about 17 years old when I was convicted and I kept on reading until it changed my life.

-- MR. SKIDZ - WELL I CANT REALLY WRITE WHAT I WAS DOING WHEN I FELT DA LORD REALLY CALL ME, BUT LET'S JUST SAY HE SAVED MY LIFE, AND HE CAME RIGHT ON TIME!

-- PARADOX - I was fine and then all of a sudden I wanted to change my life. It's weird because people always tried to get me to go to church but I was never interested. And the few churches I did visit with friends didn't compel me to come back. I had Christians, Muslims and New Agers giving me books and pamphlets about their faiths and why the other people are no good. I thought that all of the material was interesting but only the content of the Bible seemed real to me. I keptreading and decided that that's the direction I'd go. I was eventually baptized and here I am now.

Min. Anita Jarrell: How are you gonna or how have you already moved past the stereotypes associated with Holy Hip Hop artists to be for real for Christ?

-- MONK - We moved past the stereotype by not escaping reality with our lyrics and we give people songs that they can relate too. Our songs are not just for the Christian audience but for everyone.

-- SYNTAX - First, I do not say Holy Hip-Hop. It is Hip-Hop. I would say it is positive music, or something like that, if I had to classify it. We pass the stereotype by us making music for everyone, not just for church people.

-- G-FORCE -- It was easy to move past the stereotype and be real because Christ was real. The stereotypes are ongoing and I'm not sure we will ever get past them.

-- NEOROCK - Simply, I am not a Holy Hip-Hop artist. To be honest with you I hate that title. No matter what style of music I choose to do its still music to me, no matter what I am saying on it. I hate titles like "Gangsta Rap", "Positive Hip-Hop", "Holy Hip Hop","Gospel Hip-Hop", etc. Hip-Hop to me is freedom, to express yourself in art like no other type of music. To me, no matter what you say its still Hip-Hop.

-- NZINGHA - I stay being myself.

-- MR. SKIDZ - WELL WE NEVER WERE DA TYPE TO LISTEN AND MODEL OURSELVES AFTER ANYONE OR ANY FAD DATS OUT. WAT WE DO IS HARNESS OUR INNER EXPERIENCE AND CONVICTIONS AND JUST LET IT COME OUT DESPITE WAT PEOPLE MAY THINK AND JUST MAKE IT SOUND GOOD, YOU KNOW?!?!

-- PARADOX - People know I'm real because they know my history, They know I made a choice to be Christian but I'm not a Holy Hip-Hop artist. I was already doing this before I knew HHH existed. I didn't even know that Holy Hip-Hop was a separate type of music before 2003. I always thought it was just Hip-Hop from a different point of view, but as I kept
reading about it I realized that HHH has it's own history, style and sound. Since none of us came up in the HHH circle we don't have any of the stereotypes associated with it. People just see us as Hip-Hop.

7. In your own words, describe the perfect Holy Hip-Hop concert.

-- MONK - A concert where everyone is listening to your words and enjoying it as well as edified by what you brought to them. Also that it's fun as well.

-- SYNTAX - That way everyone would come (the gospel is for people who don't know God). Then we would rap some real deal songs that everyone can relate to. Our songs would say what we represent.

-- G-FORCE - Everyone would be invited.

-- MR. SKIDZ - WOW! THE PERFECT HHH CONCERT WOULD BE TO HAVE ALL OF DA HOTTEST HHH MC'S LEAVE ALL OF THEIR EGOS OUT DA DOOR AND INVITE ALL EVEN SOME OF SECULAR MC'S OVER TO PARTICIPATE AND HAVE DA MEDIA COME OUT. EVERY ONE WOULD THINK TO SEE SOME TYPE OF COMPETITION, BUT WHAT THEY WITNESS IS DA HOLY SPIRIT FILL ALL OF DA MC'S AND A TOTAL LIFE TRANSFORMING EVENT DAT EVEN DA SECULAR HIP HOP WORLD BEGINS TO ADOPT. DA MEDIA BROADCAST IT AND DA WORLD SEES DAT GOD IS USING HIP HOP TO CHANGE PEOPLE AND SPREAD DA GOSPEL OF LOVE (JESUS) TO MANKIND.

-- JAHDIEL - If a lot of the songs performed had a message and each song touched someone - everyone was convicted and everyone enjoyed and everyone realized who Jesus was is.

Min. Jarrell's 5 Good Sense
(worth about 5 good cents)

Whoa. Can you feel it? Did that not move you? It sure moved me- toward more dedication to my Savior, Jesus Christ. You just have to visit the websites listed for "The Body". You just have to find out where they're gonna be and get yourself there asap. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be blessed and de-stressed.

I always say that the best parts of a song are the melodies and lyrics behind the melodies and lyrics. There's nothing better than a heart surrendered to the Almighty God.

****CHECK OUT SOUNDCLIPS OF THE NEW ALBUM BY 'THE BODY'!!!****
http://getgospel.com/promo.html

GETGOSPEL Ministries / Records - http://getgospel.com
JAHROCKN Productions - http://jahrockn.com
Renee Hampton Media - http://reneehamptonmedia.com
YAHAHAMEDIA - http://yahahamedia.com

Contributed by:
Min. Anita Jarrell,
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles The 411

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Snapshot Interview with Bishop "A"

Click here to skip directly to Bishop "A".

Written by
Min. Anita L. Jarrell,
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles The 411

I would like to first thank God for all the love He has shown me by sending His Son to the cross for me. I thank Jesus for being willing to go through with God’s plan for His life. I thank my producer BlancO aka Oscar White III for all his heart felt help, Unc and T over at Trigate Studio, Dove Media and Joey Garza for mastering, my grandparents A.C. and Mable Allen for raising me, my mother Christian Allen, my father/stepmother Eddie and Patricia Smith for all they do for me, my Uncle Lloyd Allen for teaching me how to play drums because that’s what brought me back to Christ, my mother and my Uncles for inspiring me in music with their band “The Funk Factory”, my wife Destiny Allen and my kids Travon, Antinette, Marcus and Kamaria for putting up with me and being my audience, my godson Alex and my niece and nephew Tashara and Ronald Bradley for being the background for my first show, also my brothers and sisters for their support. I would like to give a special thanks to my public supporters and pray that I continue to be a blessing to them through D.O.C. Records Inc.

www.docrecordsinc.org

Min. Anita L. Jarrell's 5 Good Sense

Disclaimer . . . my opinion is worth about 5 good cents, but for at least that much, here we go. Bishop "A" does not need my endorsement. He has already been chosen by God and anointed with the Holy Ghost to go forth in obedience. He is determined to destroy the citadels that have been erected and furnished by Satan. Isn't that cool?

Check out his mission statement. . .

Mission Statement: D.O.C. Records is on a mission to take over the party scene! Since the dawn of the music industry, there has not been a Christian record label willing to venture into Christian party music. However, D.O.C. Records is willing and prepared to carry out this much needed assignment.

Powerful.

Don't forget to support this warrior.

Here's the release information that can be found on his website as well. . .

On February 25, 2005 D.O.C. Records released its first single entitled "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes". The song was written and performed by Bishop "A" (Anthony A. Allen) the CEO/President of D.O.C. Records and produced by BlancO (Oscar White III). The single also has an inspirational song on it entitled Prodigal Child, which Bishop "A" says is part of D.O.C. Records' call.

KWWJ 1360am located in Baytown Texas was the first to air the single on February 26, 2005. The single received a lot of positive feed back from the KWWJ listeners. Bishop "A" also performed the song live for the first time on February 26 at the 32nd Anniversary Celebration for the Inspirational Souls of Harmony. The celebration was given at Canaan Land Baptist Church located in Houston Texas. The audience found this new style of music quite entertaining and applauded the mission.

Album Release: D.O.C. Records will release its first album in June of 2005, which will be entitled Bishop "A" and the D.O.C. Party Squad - "Got The Whole Church Crunk". This album will be produced by BlancO and written and performed by Bishop "A" and the D.O.C. Party Squad. The Album will feature several Christian Hip-Hop and R&B artist like Donyale, Praise, Paul Revere, The Soloist, T-Wrecks and Big Texas. Bishop's mission on this album is to be an example to other record labels and artists that God has impregnated with the same vision. Bishop says he's on his way to start a revolution in the nightclub industry and believes that he won't be by himself.

I know there's at least One on his side. Guess who?

Contributed by:
Min. Anita L. Jarrell
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles The 411

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Snapshot Interview with XROSS

Written by
Min. Anita L. Jarrell,
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles The 411

Recently, I had the distinct privilege of reviewing the website of Holy Hip Hop Artist, XROSS. The graphics and artwork are superb. The message behind it all is supreme, to say the least. Videos . . . Music . . . a Live Interview . . . He brings the goods. Let's go on tour through the heart of this servant.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Who are you?

XROSS: XROSS (pronounced cross) I am an artist and the president and CEO of One Way Entertainment, an urban gospel record label. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am from Louisville, Kentucky.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Why did you choose to do what you do?

XROSS: I didn't choose to minister the gospel, God choose me. I actually ran from his calling. No matter how pre-occupied I was with something, God would come to me at the most uncomfortable and embarrassing times and speak, I wasn’t one of those people who got convicted at church by hearing the word of God preached. I was out in the world having a good time, living and indulging in sin. Now that I am saved and filled with the spirit of Christ, I am able to look at worldly things thru the spirit and see how a whole generation is being misled, and pulled totally away from God. When God revealed my purpose and perfected my gift I then accepted it and went forth to deliver it.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: What has been your biggest challenge as a soldier for Christ?

XROSS: From a spiritual perspective, my greatest challenge, is accepting the fact that I have no control over what I do now, and that Christ is in total control of my life. I have willingly given all of my rights over to Christ. It's challenging because, the closer you get to God, the worse you view yourself and the less you see of yourself. Therefore, allowing Christ to be the leader in your everyday walk, life, decisions, ways, thoughts, actions, and choices is frightening to me because I now realize that I depend on Christ completely and if He removes His hand from me, then there is nowhere for me to go, but down, to hit rock bottom. So I am training myself to not focus on where He is bringing me from, but rather to give Him praise and worship for where He is taking me. To be with Christ is to be absent from the body. From an industry perspective, the greatest challenge is securing capital to fund a global vision.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: When have you done your thing and when's the next time you'll be doing your thing?

XROSS: I just came off of a performance in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Shiloh Temple International Ministries for Easter service with over 3,000 in attendance. It was absolutely wonderful. My next engagement is scheduled for Louisville, Kentucky (home) during derby weekend.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Where did Jesus find you and what were you up to that day?

XROSS: I was out in Orange County, California; Ballin' and out of control. Jesus spoke to me one night when I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway getting high. He gently asked me one simple question. "Are you happy?" Of course, my answer was no and from His personal visit to me I broke. I then realized that the norm was not for me and that I was called to do something exceptional that had never been done, which was to minister the gospel through Hip-Hop to the masses. I left my job as the COO of a secular hip-hop record label and moved back to Minneapolis. During that time, I put myself on lock down at home for a year and just read the word of God. I didn’t even have a desire to go outside. When the time came to record my debut album “The God” I moved diligently. You can purchase it at: www.xrossmusic.com

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: How are you gonna or how have you already moved past the sterotypes associated with Holy Hip Hop artists to be for real for Christ?

XROSS: Jesus said in his word that I would be persecuted for preaching the gospel, but that I should rejoice in it for his namesake. I don’t sweat the stereotypes because Christ justifies me, and I don’t look for my validation from men any longer. I love people, but I don’t look for man's approval to carryout the passion God has placed in my heart. I don’t expect for everyone to accept it and pat me on the back. I know God works in mysterious ways, I know that God has not revealed nor done all that He is going to do in the time that He has allowed us to witness. We are living in a Joshua generation, God is doing things that have never been done before and I am willing to ride with Him until my mission is complete.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: In your own words, describe the perfect Holy Hip Hop concert.

XROSS: When people from all walks of life, colors, and creeds turn out in the masses to hear the unexpected. . . When sinners are baptized in Jesus' name and they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as a result of being convicted at a Holy Hip-Hop concert . . . When believers of the Gospel seek a closer relationship with God as a result of attending a Holy Hip-Hop concert . . . When people purchase Holy Hip-Hop CD’s and paraphernalia to take home with them afterwards to continuously get fed the word of God. . . When the ministers of the Gospel perform their songs that have Christ at the forefront . . .

To read more or book XROSS go to: www.xrossmusic.com or www.sonicbids.com.xross

Min. Jarrell's 5 Good Sense

Here's my disclaimer. You know this is worth about 5 good cents, but for what it's worth . . . XROSS is a work of art. From the streets and back with power from on high, this child of God expresses only what God places within his spirit. Whether bringing the house down with forceful lyrics or taking it back up with focused praise, He brings along with him the presence of God. He doesn't need my accolades, but because his God is worthy of praise, I want you to remember this dude's name and don't forget to drop some change.

On several occasions, I've communicated with this overcomer and was encouraged each time. In a time when men and women of God all over the land are being exposed for being hypocrites and swindlers, it's nice to come across a true soldier. It's a breath of fresh air to meet a brother who is down to earth, but heavenly minded. That does not happen everyday, does it? Keep your eyes on this one. Don't forget to support him spiritually and financially.

Here are some things you may not have heard about him yet . . . He has a real name. His mom did not name him XROSS, but our Daddy did. Did you catch that? He was born in Kentucky, but raised in Missouri. Now, he lives in Minnesota.

He faithfully serves at Shiloh Temple International in Minnesota, where he is cultivated and developed in his intimate relationship with God. "It was at the cross that I got my deliverance, " says XROSS. When He received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he was further convinced about his calling to reach the multitudes with his new name, "XROSS".

God anointed him to play the drums in the 3rd grade and he went to a Holiness church with his grandmother because he felt compelled by God. How many 3rd graders are feelin' church like that? I know I wasn't. Although he grew up in church, he holds tightly to his experience with the Holy Spirit as the propeller to his mission. From all of the experiences good and bad was birthed "The God", his debut album. Let me warn you that XROSS does not at all sound like a rookie- in rhythm or in verse.

He says that God has his back. I dare you to listen to one of his songs or watch one of his videos and see if you don't immediately agree. His overall message to those who don't know Christ is repentance, baptism, and being born again. You can't get any better than that.

He is liked and loved by many already- only hated by the foolish of spirit. My niece bobbed her 11 year old head to one of his hits, "Who's Your Daddy", which she heard recently on one of the major Christian television networks. When she found out I was communicating with XROSS, she got excited. That little girl has a triple dose of discernment. When I saw how excited she was, I knew that XROSS was something special. You're gonna have to listen for yourself, though. Get your own blessing. Then share it with someone.

Tough as nails . . .
Gentle as a lamb . . .
XROSS is a worshipper of THE GREAT I AM.

To read more or book XROSS go to: www.xrossmusic.com or www.sonicbids.com.xross

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Snapshot Interview with Sincere-Israel

Written by:
Min. Anita L. Jarrell
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles . . . The 411

On the 24th of March this year, I had the privilege of getting to know one of God's sons a little better. I asked him a few questions. He kept giving me the same answer within the context of a few words. That answer for him in a word is "Jesus". He's for real. Check the verse . . .

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Who are you?

Sincere Israel: Sincere Israel C.E.O. OF ProdigalSonz Innertainment
Minister and prophet of Yahweh the Most High
Bondservant of Yashua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ the
Messiah)

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Why did you choose to do what you do?

Sincere Israel: Hip Hop chose me. I have always done this form of
music as well as many others.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: What has been your biggest challenge as a
soldier for Christ?

Sincere Israel: Conquering my past and temptations in the
flesh. . . to remain patient waiting for God's will
to be done . . . to not let MY Passion override HIS
direction.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: When have you done your thing and when's the
next time you'll be doing your thing?

Sincere Israel: I've preached and performed at various churches in
various states with some well known artists as well
as local artists of those areas. This ministry was
one of those select few chosen by Holy Hip Hop.com
that ministered at the United States Pentagon in
Washington, D.C. on December 12, 2003 along with
Corey Red & Precise, Gospel Gangstas, Platinum
Souls, Street Sweepers, Flavor Alliance, DJ. Lace
and DJ. Halfman.

My Next event is Saturday March 26, 2005 6pm
Fountain of Life Church
622 Broad St. Newark, NJ

To see my calendar log onto:
www.sonicbids.com/SincereIsrael

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: Where did Jesus find you and what were you
up to that day?

Sincere Israel: Jesus found me July 25th 1999. I was homeless and
facing 11 years in prison for a gun charge in New
Jersey and an Aggravated Assault and Battery Charge
in Oklahoma.

I was set up by my best friend of 25 years.

Jesus saved a Gang Leader
(Crip Affiliate- Leader of the Bulldog Posse in OK.)
Drug Trafficing Cocaine & Marijuana Dealer, Stick
up Kid, Whoremonger, Adulterer, Muslim, Zulu Nation
Member, Suicidal, Demonically Oppressed, Ninja
Black Magic Kungfu Instructor, House Burglar,
Alcoholic since 15 years old, Backslider that
taught kids in the park that the Bible was written
by Shakespeare.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: How are you gonna or how have you already
moved past the sterotypes associated with
Holy Hip Hop artists to be for real for
Christ?

Sincere Israel: I do not let traditions judge me nor hinder me from
doing what I've been called to do for Christ. When
I do a concert I open with prayer first to cleanse
the air. I say what the Spirit tells me to say
knowing if I compromise I will be held accountable.
I do not care what people think or say as long as
my Father is pleased with me. I don't care if the
Church ever calls me back. It's about saving
souls. Record sales will come because of my Gift
and Talent and because God made me one of the
Hottest M.C's out right now and the world wants me.
I am called for the edification of the Body of
Christ and the Salvation of the Lost to be grafted
into this Body of Believers, period. I can only
offer truth and Reality and let people know what
made Sincere Israel, Formally Esau Rashad Aly-Muu
Akbar, change and become who he is today.

Min. Anita L. Jarrell: In your own words, describe the perfect Holy
Hip Hop concert.

The Perfect Holy Hip Hop Concert is one that
no one knows is a Holy Hip Hop Concert done
in a secular arena with prayer warriors
surrounding the area with songs of reality
being played. Not any of the Hardcore
churchy churchy traditionalism but songs
from the struggle of fighting the Enemy and
being Homeless, desperate, drug addicted,
molested, alcoholic with aspirations of
dreams, being betrayed by friends, suicidal,
lonely and then finally finding a way out of
Gangs and violence and let people know that
Christians are people too and the only
difference between Saint and Sinner is HOPE
and Jesus Shed Blood.

That would be perfect. You have to reach
people where they are in life. That's being
led by the Lord's example.

You would literally see Sinners change into
Saints.

BE Blessed,

WATCH & PRAY

SINCERE ISRAEL
ProdigalSonz Innertyainment
P.O.BOX 5288
EAST ORANGE, NJ 07017
Mobile:(973) 830-5623
Office: (973) 673-5539
[email protected]
[email protected]

Minister Jarrell's 5 Good Sense

Ok. First of all, let me give you this disclaimer. This is worth about 5 good cents, if that. This soldier does not need my promotion. He has already received His commission from God Himself. The best way to get answers is to ask questions. Wouldn't you like to get to know this brother better after the power you just felt reach out to save and deliver you through him? Whoa.

Sincere-Israel careth not what haters thinketh for he knoweth He who hath senteth himmeth. Got that? From listening to this brother's heart, can't you just see the multi-colored crowd oozing into the large open space carrying with them every pain's name? Can't you see God's generals and lieutinents getting their final orders from the President and mentally preparing for the daunting task soon to happen upon them? Look at the vast array of artillery glaring out of many pages for immediate and fatal use against the enemy.

Don't be scared.

It's about to go down, but Sincere is on the winning team. He knows it. He breathes it. He says it. He loves it. It shows. He glows. The Shekinah glory of His Warrior-God crashes the party his enemy thought he was having with that oozing crowd. Blam! A loud silence covers the hearts of the crowd in a long instant of grief and belief in this Savior that Sincere-Israel respresents . . .

This Savior was sent for them. They recognize His voice in the midst of it all. Chunks of the crowd start to cry out loud as quietly as possible until they open up their mouths and allow some nearby general to shoot the enemy dead that has held them captive for so long. Freedom rings. Freedom sings. Freedom brings her friends to stay forever and things change in the neighborhood. Nothing is ever the same. Names have changed. Prices have been paid. Foundations have been laid. Life is sweet like red koolaid.

There's a new meaning of words like "today". At the end of the night, you hear the people say . . ."Ok. Ok. I have to keep it real and pray. Jesus, I just wanna say . . .you're okay. You saw me and loved me anyway. You sent Sincere up in here this day to break these chains and get me saved. Much respect. Much praise. Lord, have your way. All respect. All praise. I'm yours to stay."

Alright stop. That was a snapshot of what you might see when you look into the heart of this soldier. For a bigger picture, you might wanna check him out in concert or pick up a cd. This brother is determined to be determined and you just can't get away from God with that kind of faith. I don't believe he wants to. If this interview touched you, well, it was supposed to for that is what it was sent forth to do.

In the words of Sincere-Israel, be blessed.

Contributed by:
Min. Anita L. Jarrell
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles 411

Friday, March 25, 2005

All about soul: Christian rappers' holy hip-hop

All about soul: Christian rappers' holy hip-hop

by Chris Slattery
Staff Writer
Mar. 16, 2005

Preaching from the choir: Jamal Ingram and Terrell Sullivan mix rap and religion when they perform in Silver Spring this weekend.

Somewhere between rap wars and holy wars is -- holy rap. Music that fuses hip-hop beats with the religious fervor of the born again isn't quite as incongruous as it seems.

Whether it's King David putting his psalms to music, Mozart composing his Requiem Mass or the cheerful nuns-with-guitars that could be heard on the radio in the '70s, the marriage of pop music and worship has been happening since, if you'll excuse the expression, The Beginning.

"You reach a lot of people, a lot of lives," says Jamal Ingram aka The Professor -- get it? -- who formed his Christian hip-hop duo The Phusion with Terrell Sullivan, aka Tru Soldier, in 2001. "It's a mix of spiritual music and inspirational music, and it also has an international sound.

"Different cultures and backgrounds, that's the fusion."

Ingram, the son and grandson of ministers, grew up in the District and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He says he "came to know the Lord being raised in a Christian home," while his musical partner grew up in a more secular environment. Indeed, if Sullivan's compelling autobiographical rap "My Story" is to be believed, it was downright dangerous at times.

But what his upbringing lacked in religious fervor, it made up for in music.

"We were not a 'musical family,'" he says. "It was just something God had given me, a talent."

He started playing trumpet in the school band at age 8, but he says he always had been interested in singing -- plus breakdancing and rapping on the streets of East Baltimore where he grew up. Music, he says, "just compelled me and grabbed my attention."

Back then, the music Sullivan liked was East Coast gangsta rap. He favored the classics: Run DMC, LL Cool J and the Wu Tang Clan. But he liked gospel, too. And by age 14, he liked The Gospel even more.

"My life needed a change," he remembers. "Starting around high school, I surrendered my life to the Lord, committed to going to church and living my life under God."

So both men were committed Christians by the time they met through mutual friends at the Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg.

At first, they performed with other musicians, from Peru and Trinidad.

"We had a multicultural thing going on," Ingram says. "We decided to take different styles and incorporate them to give it an international sound."

They scaled down to a duo and formed the songwriting and production team known now as The Phusion. They cut a CD, "One." And on Saturday night, they're on the program in Silver Spring, part of "Eight Months of Straight Fire," a version of the third-Saturday-of-the-month-coffeehouse that offers a mixture of Christian punk rock, hip-hop and rap.

"It's an alternative for young people," Sullivan says. "They can enjoy the culture of hip-hop in a positive way."

That's positive, not wimpy; both musicians insist their music is true to its roots.

"Lyrically, we tend to lean more to the gospel sound," says Ingram. "We don't have any profanity, but we don't make the lyrics so religious that people can't relate to it. It's not preachy."

He adds that The Phusion has its own distinct sound that goes beyond the anachronistic nature of its clean lyrics.

"It's hip-hop," says Sullivan, "but it gives answers for living. And [people] receive it very well; they're tired of hearing the negativity. We get a good reaction from parents and the older generation: 'Wow, it's something my children can listen to.'"

Which, with national figures like Bill Cosby and Rev. Al Sharpton stepping up to address mainstream rap's vices -- profanity and violence among them -- could mean their timing is right.

"Someone has to say something," says Ingram. "Our theme is to show that hip-hop can be done in a positive and encouraging way."

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Holy Hip-Hop: When Reverend Phil Jackson spits, Jesus talks

Holy Hip-Hop
When Reverend Phil Jackson spits, Jesus talks

By: Tom Lynch

A handful of attendees shuffle to the front rows of a North Park University auditorium, a room haunted with empty chairs. The daylight beams through the many windows, as it's only early afternoon, the start to a long day. More people are to come, everyone's assured. It feels, and looks, a bit like church.

However, it's only the "2nd Annual Hip-Hop Symposium," as the screen projector hanging over the stage reads, titled "Hip-Hop: A Voice for Justice." A table rests on the stage, under the screen, with multiple microphones primed for the panel discussion to come. Towards the back, juice, soda and snacks, as well as two tables of religious literature revolving around pop culture--"The Gospel According to Tony Soprano," "Faith, Hope, and U2," and others. After several hip-hop artists--including Corey Red and Precise, both from New York-- freestyle about Jesus Christ for the growing crowd, Rev. Phil Jackson, the man behind Lawndale's new hip-hop church, is introduced by the emcee as "My man--the hip-hop pastor of Chicago."

The reverend takes the mic. "Everybody cool?" he asks, donning a relaxed pair of jeans and a 1968 Olympic Games T-shirt he looks like he's had for years. He lectures a bit about the history of hip-hop, the terrors of economic expansion in New York, and a bit about himself, like his experiences at the once massive Fresh Fest. "It was my B.C. days, you know, so I was all high. When Run DMC came on stage it was like, damn, we finna die? That be God?" The crowd laughs as the Reverend mildly jokes, but his point is clear. Plus, with the expanding religious aspect of hip-hop these days--with artists like Kanye West winning Grammys for songs with titles like "Jesus Walks"--it all seems quite timely. Jackson talks of sending and receiving--that the hip-hop artist is sending his message and receiving from the audience--and that's why hip-hop has lasted for decades.

He cues the projector screen and plays an old Slick Rick video, "Children's Story," a tale about a boy who takes "the wrong path" down a road of drugs and violence and ends up dead. It's a warning to all the kids of hip-hop, to reject the bad and embrace the good. "Hip-hop's gift is storytelling," says Jackson. "If you have a tight MC, an MC spitting about justice, that will bring you into the story. It'll drop the truth on you. You'll be like `Damn, I never saw it that way.' Storytelling is the key to real MCs."

(2005-03-22)

(c) NewCity Communications, Inc.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Gospel or Hip Hop

Words: Michael Williams

In a recent call in segment of a local Gospel radio station fans are outrage over the latest Destiny Childs video featuring Gospel recording artist Michelle Williams. In that video Michelle displayed ungodly lucious acts of sex said one caller. Another caller said that she will now longer support Michelle Williams ministry cause she is singing for the devil. And Last but not least one caller called Michelle a fornicator referring to lyric's in the video by Micghelle that says "This boy don't know we are about to get it on tonight". People say thats you can't please God and man. But its not our job to judge or decide when it comes to someones faith. Cause if it was, then why are Christians watching Hip Hop video's In the First Place.

Contributed By:
Min. Anita L. Jarrell
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles 411

When rap music meets contemporary gospel, all heaven and hell break loose

Emcee JayCee: Sunnyvale gangmember-turned-gospel-singer Jason Carter stands at the forefront of the local gospel rap movement.

When rap music meets contemporary gospel, all heaven and hell break loose

By Traci Hukill

JASON CARTER CAN'T stop dancing. It's hour three of an all-night recording marathon, and he's standing in the glassed-in sound room all alone with his music. The bass boom and melody of "Sound of Love" are blossoming into his headphones for the 10th time today and he's still blissed out: this is his song, his time, his lucky star. His body weaves and his head bobs as he starts the second verse in a tenor smooth and rich as caramel: "A love that is pure and holy 'cause it flows from right here in this sanctuary ..."

In the studio's equipment room, sound engineer Denard Fegans leaps to his feet in exasperation and shuts the music off. "No dancin' AROUND, bra!" he pleads into the intercom. "I know you're feelin' it, but you gotta stay still! Stand closer to the microphone. No--closer. Now stay there. Let's take it from the same place."

Chastised, Carter makes a sincere effort to stand still. But a couple of takes later his eyes are closed and he's swaying again, singing gospel R&B in a soulful voice that makes women go dewy-eyed and men nod their heads in time to the beat. Carter makes praising God look and sound that good.

He can't help himself about the dancing. Staying in place goes against everything that's natural to this 25-year-old who in the last 10 years has covered a lot of ground. At 15 he was a skinny little Sunnyvale gangbanger with a police file and a big mouth. Now he's a devout Christian, a family man with three kids and a gospel artist who's just finished his first solo CD, a compilation of sacred R&B songs and gospel raps, under the name JayCee.

During a break in recording, Carter plays back a rap he recorded the night before. His style is goofy and lighthearted, but the message is all Christian business.

He endured the cross even though despising the shame, so in the Lamb's Book of Life you can find your name
And it gives me joy to know I serve a risen Savior, it's not about a bunny laying eggs on Easter
And when I realized this, you know I wanted to change, so I got baptized in Jesus' name
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is, filled with the Holy Ghost, tongues is the evidence
And with the Lord, I came and made amends, I don't need to do drugs, I've been high ever since.

To an entire sector of the faith community, gospel rap's beat alone sounds like the devil's footsteps at the door. Secular rap is so saturated with sex, drugs and violence that some critics can't even stand the thought of a cleaned-up twin in a Christian CD collection.

But nowadays more churches than not recognize the futility of asking kids to insulate themselves from pop culture. Christian bookstores are packed with CDs by Matchbox 20 soundalikes and rap acts with names like the Bruthaz Grimm, along with compilations like Glory Grooves and Heavenly Hip Hop. Gospel rapper Kirk Franklin's 1996 album, Whatcha Lookin' 4, entered the R&B charts at No. 3, and his latest album went double platinum and won a Grammy this spring.

Traditional rocking gospel, with its scorching blues solos by robed choirmembers, is still going strong. Walk into any black church on a Sunday morning and the music sounds better than what most people were dancing to Saturday night. That's the style that defines gospel for the general public, and it's been drawing souls to the church for decades. But the face of gospel music is changing to mirror popular culture--just as it always has--and Carter, with his good looks, honeyed voice and magnetic personality, could be its newest poster boy.

Jason Carter Gift Rapped: Gospel rapper Jason Carter counters critics by saying that rap music is just another instrument to reach souls.

Christopher Gardner

A GOSPEL RAPPER'S STORY of sin and salvation is his stock in trade. It establishes credibility with the troubled youth he's charged with saving, and it testifies to the strength of his spirit. Finding the avenues to mainstream power closed to him, an ambitious, talented young black man seizes power in a parallel universe by turning to crime. And then when he barely escapes the prison sentence or his best friend overdoses or he almost dies, he thanks God for getting him out of the fix, accepts Jesus into his life and vows to save others. People's testimonies are practically formulaic, like the classic hero myths of antiquity.

Jason Carter grew up in Sunnyvale under a "rough upbringing" and at 13 started running with a gang that called itself the SVC, for Sunnyvale Crips. Already charismatic and talented, he was voted Most Popular at school and was known for his abilities as a singer and dancer. "I had a certain clout about me," he says modestly.

His old friend and former fellow gangmember Johnny Harper puts it another way. "He was this young guy who ran off at the mouth," the 26-year-old Harper remembers. "When I met him he thought no one could touch him. Jason was younger than us, but he was wilder than us. He was the one who would start the fights. More often than not, he was the ignition to the fire."

Then came the night that changed Carter's life. When a rival gangmember pulled a gun on Carter and his friends during a fight, the group scattered. Carter stopped to pick up the medallion he'd dropped, and when he stood up, there was a gun at his head. "I thought, 'I'm too young to die,' " he remembers. The gunman fled when a cop car pulled up, and Carter, shaken, vowed to make a change.

Shortly thereafter, two unlikely evangelists brought him to their father's church. His gangster friends Johnny Harper and Willie Harper Jr.--sons of ex-49ers linebacker-turned-minister Willie Harper--woke him up one Sunday morning and dragged him to services. That week Carter was baptized by the elder Harper.

"I tore all the naked ladies off my wall," he says. "I cut 'Jesus Saves' in my hair." He made a 4-foot-by-8-foot wooden cross, got a bullhorn and started witnessing in downtown San Jose at his old hangouts, urging people to repent. He still does it sometimes. His gospel raps developed as an outgrowth of his evangelizing, as something he just did naturally.

THE REV. Johnie Thompson, choir director and youth pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in east San Jose, spins a yarn of debauchery that would make a great movie. The climax would have to be the scene where he's just been busted selling cocaine to an undercover cop and takes off in the city bus he drives as his day gig. He shuts the doors, instructs the panicked passengers to remain calm and turns the bus onto 880, whereupon he proceeds to lose the cops.

Thompson came to the Lord after drug charges were dropped that would have surely landed him in prison. He believes life as a sinner prepared him for life as a saint, working with young people who are skeptical of adults who've never seen any action.

"I know now that God put me through all of that just so He could use me here in this capacity," he says. "If your life has been too goody-two-shoes, you're just talking a bunch of rhetoric."

Likewise Horeish White, a local gospel rapper known as Menacesta Reese, sustained four gunshot wounds in 1993 and came to God while in jail. Now poised to release his CD The Sacrifice in July, White says he raps "so I can reach the people who are still doing what I was doing, let them know you ain't got to be perfect, you know what I'm sayin', to be forgiven."

Meanwhile, neither of the Harper brothers ever made the commitment to the church their friend has. "We're the ones that brought Jason to church, and that's where we left him," Johnny Harper laughs.

Harper wound up spending two years in the California Youth Authority and almost lost his life in a fight after he got out. He went on to play football for San Jose State and now works at a technology investment firm in Palo Alto. His brother, Willie Jr., an AllSanta Clara County running back from Fremont High, was shot three times by rival gang members in Nebraska in 1991. Willie Jr.'s now a Bay Area rapper.

But to Johnny Harper it's not a simple case of being saved or lost. More than anything else, the church praises young men for their willingness to preach the gospel, and that's what people call him--a preacher, even though he doesn't spend much time at church. Even his co-workers teasingly call him Deacon Harper for his tendency to quote scripture.

"That's what people didn't understand about my brother and me," he says. "Our whole lives are church. We do church 365 days a year. We would bring people to church and yet we didn't go--because we could see, 'Hey, you're looking for something, you're reaching for something,' and we would take them to church. Just because I'm not out there preaching the Word like Jason doesn't mean I don't accept God, don't worship God."

Bible Way Christian Center Choir
Christopher Gardner

Under God's Spell: The choir at Bible Way Christian Center--here featuring Rolesa Smith--sings traditional gospel music, although the church is open to the influences of rap.

RAP SOUNDS AREN'T the first worldly beats to infect gospel and scandalize the faithful. At another moment earlier in this century, African American spirituals joined up with music from the streets, prompting all manner of hand-wringing by church folk. Until the early 1930s, the black spirituals that had their genesis as veiled messages sung among slaves remained true to their roots--embellished, more rhythmic cousins of the hymns sung in white churches. Then Tommy Dorsey came along.

A preacher's son with a love for the blues, Dorsey (not to be confused with Frank Sinatra's bandleader by the same name) played piano for the great blues singer Ma Rainey and in 1928 penned the scandalous hit "It's Tight Like That." Neither distinction did much for his relations with the church. Blues were considered the soundtrack to a life of sin, and the low moan and wail of Dorsey's hit single horrified decent folk. But three years later the prodigal preacher's kid returned to the church and scribbled bluesy spirituals like "Precious Lord" as fast as he could.

At first the churches ignored him, put off by his sordid past and his music's worldiness. Then, as now, when church people used the term "the world" they meant an evil, dangerous place that tempted the Christian soul from the straight and narrow. Nothing symbolized "the world" at that time like the blues did, with its whiff of gin and dirty dancing. But the Depression brought hard times, and eventually the magic formula of soulful music plus hopeful message overcame suspicion. The blues fit the times, and gospel moved to take full advantage of that.

Which is exactly what it's doing now, explains Emmanuel Baptist's Thompson.

"God allowed the older gospel music style to go from generation to generation," he says, "but as society changed it didn't have the same effect. His grace allowed it to make a change, turn a corner. Now we have a new gospel music with R&B style, rap style."

Thompson's written a few raps of his own, though he doesn't look the part. He wears suits with suave accents--gold watch, colorful tie, spicy cologne. He's a powerful man with a small build and eyes like a fox's, quick and clever.

"People come to the black church because of the music. What the music does, it sets your heart up to receive the Word. We're talking biological now. It gets those neurotransmitters going in the brain, and they send a message to the heart to open up, and the heart sends a message right back to the brain: 'This is good! Send some more!' It's nothing but spiritual food."

The Emmanuel Baptist Male Choir performed its contemporary R&B-based gospel at Ron Gonzales' inauguration, and a mostly rhythmless stageful of city councilmembers and dignitaries awkwardly clapped and attempted to boogie.

"People were up on their feet, clappin' their hands, having a good time," Thompson recalls about the blending of church and state at an official municipal function, "and"--he leans forward--"we were singin' about Jesus. We had Susan Hammer clapping her hands--now, how do you get Susan Hammer to get with it?"

He leans back in his chair.

"That's what happens when you get a group of men together singing about Jesus."

Arron Kelly Child of God: Young Arron Kelly adds his voice to the joyful noise that rocks the East side's Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sunday mornings.

Christopher Gardner

ON A SUMMER MORNING in the late 1970s, sunlight pours in the windows of a little white church in rural East Texas. In the pulpit a pale, thin man with a forlorn expression is leading his aging flock through hymns, their quavering voices frail and naked against the silence of the new day. My grandmother's gardenia perfume and those simple hymns are the best things about church, in my youthful opinion. The tremulous strains of the music float out of the building, roll over the old cars parked in the churchyard and drift out to the deserted highway to finally evaporate in the shimmering heat.

Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died ...

No one dances in the Church of Christ or claps or shouts Hallelujah. Musical instruments are forbidden. If the Lord wanted us to use a piano or organ to worship Him, the wisdom goes, He would have instructed us in the Bible accordingly.

The Church of Christ has a reputation for joylessness. People tell jokes about it: Why don't Church of Christers have sex standing up? Because it's too much like dancing.

Most African American churches--most churches, period--are more flexible than the Church of Christ, but Jason Carter has still encountered opposition to his music from black churches. In Sacramento, where he sang and rapped with a Boyz II Menstyle gospel group called Step of Faith, he was often criticized.

"One place, the pastor set me down afterward and said, 'I'm disappointed in you,' " he recalls, " 'because you have such an anointing in your life. When you rapped,' he said, 'you gave me a bad taste in my mouth.' I tried to get him to see how we were just reaching out to souls, but his concern was that we shouldn't compromise the message. It was hard, because I really respected this man."

Willie Mae Ford Smith would understand Carter's distress. One of the first to use a heavy blues sound in her gospel singing, she blew minds in the early '30s and was upbraided for it. In the documentary film Say Amen, Somebody, she recalls the sting of the accusations and her ultimate response. "They said I was bringing the blues into the church," she says. " 'You might as well be Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, one of those Smith sisters, you make me sick with that stuff.' Well, I said, that's all the stuff I know. I kept going because that's what the Lord wanted."

ON THE OTHER HAND, Carter tells about one Step of Faith concert at a water theme park that made him wonder if his music was too worldly.

The show was for a church of several thousand members who received the quartet warmly. Steamily, even. "They loved us to death," he says. "They had"--he laughs a little telling it--"they had all these church people, but they were wearing bikinis! And I remember, we were up there singing and this one person was really dancing and getting into it--and I remember I was feeling awkward onstage, wondering, 'Whoa, is this wrong?' So there is an extreme. You can take it too far."

One oft-cited example of overdoing cool is the L.A.-based group the Gospel Gangstas. With their braided hair, saggy pants and slangy lyrics, Da Demon Recka, The Holy Terra, Da Gangsta Poet and The Holy Hoodlum set off alarms all over the gospel community. The violent imagery--even if it is about violence against the devil--is the hottest button:

They called me cool when I blasted a .380, then Jesus saved me, now they call me crazy
But I'm smarter, I comes a little harder, I pack a 9 for those thinkin' of makin' me a martyr
Me wrestle against the flesh, I'm not saying that, but comin' up on me, devil, I ain't playin' that.

Much about gospel music requires the balance of worldiness and holiness, like the art of dancing in church. Rocking from side to side is OK, even jazzed-up swaying with a little hip shimmy is acceptable, but front-to-back pelvic thrusting is strictly forbidden. The trouble is, some of the choirs around here are so good it's hard to remember to dance nice.

At Bible Way Christian Center, Pastor Oscar Dace, working miraculously under the burden of needing a kidney, has positioned his church to be an up-and-coming leader in the South Bay African American community. Michael McBride, the young man whose mistaken detention by San Jose police in March led to a controversy over police profiling, is a youth minister there. The church hosts an old-time gospel quartet called The Legget Brothers and a 75-member choir that released a CD in January. Quite simply, the choir rocks. Backed up on organ by director Tammy Brown (she also delivers fabulous solos), plus drums, bass and lead guitar, the choir raises the roof with soaring vocals and energetic dancing (of the side-to-side variety, of course). It's living proof that traditional gospel music is alive and well. And it's a stronghold of musical talent.

"This church is really on the move," says Carter, who is in the midst of changing membership from Jesus Christ for All Nations in Fremont--Willie Harper's church--to Bible Way. "This time next year it's going to be a Mecca of gospel music. There's so much talent there."

The mannerly Church of Christ experience of my memory cannot explain Jesus Christ for All Nations in Fremont, where the service is nearly three hours long and a saxophone player serenades people speaking in tongues. Nor does it apply to Emmanuel Baptist, where a man leads a prayer that turns by degrees from speech into a half-sung, half-chanted blues solo, or to Bible Way Christian Center, where Pastor Oscar Dace winds up his sermons with an impromptu musical invocation, a sort of trancelike spoken song. In these churches, something different happens. The left side of the brain shuts down at prescribed times, logic takes a hike and something else moves in--inspiration, the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it. It's powerful.

Vincent Harris The Word Up: Vincent Harris of Bible Way Christian Center delivers the kind of powerful blues-inspired solo that has come to represent traditional gospel's trademark sound.

Christopher Gardner

CHURCHGOERS' FAITH--the kind they like to say can move mountains--often resembles what's called arrogance in other contexts. But Christians always give God the glory. God allows great things to befall them.

So when Carter answers the question of whether he will be successful by saying, "I know it's gonna happen. I already got the promise from God," it's impossible to tell whether he's full of faith or full of himself.

Superstar gospel performers are like rich devout Christians, left to walk on the slippery slope of worldly success. Gospel has lost countless performers to the world: Sam Cooke, Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick--the list goes on.

But staying in gospel music is no guarantee of prolonged holiness either. The Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson herself, was criticized for allowing Columbia Records to dilute her potent style in the interest of broadening her appeal. No babe in the woods, Jackson was famous for her business acumen. Her business ventures at one time included a chain of fried chicken stores a la Kenny Rogers.

Carter says he's constantly aware of the threat of the secular world. He used to attend church with a prime example of what can happen when an artist strays from the gospel calling--the great MC Hammer.

Hammer began his career in a gospel act called the Holy Ghost Boys. When Capitol Records got ahold of his sound and repackaged it, Hammer wound up going almost completely secular, though he always included a sacred song or two on each album. Three Grammys, 25 million records and an estimated $33 million later, Hammer was riding high.

Then came the Mattel Hammer doll and the Taco Bell endorsements, and people started accusing him of selling out. His popularity plummeted, and in 1996 Hammer declared bankruptcy and sold his 12.5-acre estate in the Fremont Hills, labeling his problem "the business drug" that most successful artists can't recognize. Hammer's making gospel music again--he's in London recording right now--but his story stands as a cautionary tale to Carter.

"I need to be concerned about it," Carter says, "because it's happened to so many people. I don't think I'm beyond that temptation, but I have to keep myself close to God. That's why my first project is Keepen It Real."

Back in north San Jose's Upper Room Recording Studio in the first week of May, Carter is nearly finished recording. He's finally laying down the title track, and he's imported family friend Edna "Nikki" Owens to help out with harmony. While Denard Fegans works the computerized digital recording program, Owens eats a Twizzler and nods her head to the music, lost in thoughts of harmonic lines she's making up on the spot. Carter, meanwhile, lays down the tracks, dancing this time without reprimand.

"He didn't listen to me," Fegans says, defeated. "As long as his vocals are coming through, I'm OK."

"Keepen It Real" is a song about the hypocrisy of people who maintain a veneer of holiness while enjoying the world's sensual pleasures. Naturally it's written in Carter's humorous style.

You're full of carnality and worldly livin', in church Sunday mornin' but on Friday you're giggin' On the dance floor getting numbers from the ladies and you got more babies than a dog has rabies ...

Between takes Fegans makes a face. "I have a problem with some of his raps. They're too corny," he asserts. "When you rap, you kind of have to get the approval of a certain crowd, if you will."

Carter takes this critique in stride, grinning and dancing in place while Owens expresses shock at this harsh treatment.

"Oh, no," Carter says. "We're open about it. That's just not my style, that hard-core rap. I'm gonna make people laugh, have a good time."

He finishes the rap. "Keepen It Real" just might be his own personal doctrine, speaking to his desire to preach the word, inspire others and remain genuine:

Junction, junction, what's your function, I feel an unction comin' from the Holy OneAnd can't no one stop this flow 'cause I believe it's 'bout to go from shore to shore Touching every single man, woman, boy and girl, heck it's 'bout to go across the world.

Across the world is a long way from Sunnyvale. Jason Carter's going to need a lot of faith to get there--either that or a lucky star. No matter. He seems to have both in abundance. The way things have gone for him so far, he'll be just fine.

[ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]

From the May 20-26, 1999 issue of Metro.

Copyright� Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.

All about soul: Christian rappers' holy hip-hop

All about soul: Christian rappers' holy hip-hop

by Chris Slattery
Staff Writer
Mar. 16, 2005

Preaching from the choir: Jamal Ingram and Terrell Sullivan mix rap and religion when they perform in Silver Spring this weekend.

Somewhere between rap wars and holy wars is -- holy rap. Music that fuses hip-hop beats with the religious fervor of the born again isn't quite as incongruous as it seems.

Whether it's King David putting his psalms to music, Mozart composing his Requiem Mass or the cheerful nuns-with-guitars that could be heard on the radio in the '70s, the marriage of pop music and worship has been happening since, if you'll excuse the expression, The Beginning.

"You reach a lot of people, a lot of lives," says Jamal Ingram aka The Professor -- get it? -- who formed his Christian hip-hop duo The Phusion with Terrell Sullivan, aka Tru Soldier, in 2001. "It's a mix of spiritual music and inspirational music, and it also has an international sound.

"Different cultures and backgrounds, that's the fusion."

Ingram, the son and grandson of ministers, grew up in the District and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He says he "came to know the Lord being raised in a Christian home," while his musical partner grew up in a more secular environment. Indeed, if Sullivan's compelling autobiographical rap "My Story" is to be believed, it was downright dangerous at times.

But what his upbringing lacked in religious fervor, it made up for in music.

"We were not a 'musical family,'" he says. "It was just something God had given me, a talent."

He started playing trumpet in the school band at age 8, but he says he always had been interested in singing -- plus breakdancing and rapping on the streets of East Baltimore where he grew up. Music, he says, "just compelled me and grabbed my attention."

Back then, the music Sullivan liked was East Coast gangsta rap. He favored the classics: Run DMC, LL Cool J and the Wu Tang Clan. But he liked gospel, too. And by age 14, he liked The Gospel even more.

"My life needed a change," he remembers. "Starting around high school, I surrendered my life to the Lord, committed to going to church and living my life under God."

So both men were committed Christians by the time they met through mutual friends at the Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg.

At first, they performed with other musicians, from Peru and Trinidad.

"We had a multicultural thing going on," Ingram says. "We decided to take different styles and incorporate them to give it an international sound."

They scaled down to a duo and formed the songwriting and production team known now as The Phusion. They cut a CD, "One." And on Saturday night, they're on the program in Silver Spring, part of "Eight Months of Straight Fire," a version of the third-Saturday-of-the-month-coffeehouse that offers a mixture of Christian punk rock, hip-hop and rap.

"It's an alternative for young people," Sullivan says. "They can enjoy the culture of hip-hop in a positive way."

That's positive, not wimpy; both musicians insist their music is true to its roots.

"Lyrically, we tend to lean more to the gospel sound," says Ingram. "We don't have any profanity, but we don't make the lyrics so religious that people can't relate to it. It's not preachy."

He adds that The Phusion has its own distinct sound that goes beyond the anachronistic nature of its clean lyrics.

"It's hip-hop," says Sullivan, "but it gives answers for living. And [people] receive it very well; they're tired of hearing the negativity. We get a good reaction from parents and the older generation: 'Wow, it's something my children can listen to.'"

Which, with national figures like Bill Cosby and Rev. Al Sharpton stepping up to address mainstream rap's vices -- profanity and violence among them -- could mean their timing is right.

"Someone has to say something," says Ingram. "Our theme is to show that hip-hop can be done in a positive and encouraging way."

The Phusion will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday during FreeStyle Feat at Immanuel's Church, 16819 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring. Admission is $5. Call 240-876-2317.

Frederick County | Montgomery County | Carroll County | Prince George's County

Contributed by Min. Anita L. Jarrell
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles 411

Who is Parabols?

Bryant Sojourner, whose pseudonym is Parabols, is a twenty-seven year old husband and father of three. For the past 4 years, Bryant has been traveling this country ministering to youth and adults alike. Bryant's ministry consists of: preaching the gospel, motivational and awareness speaking in junior high and high schools, gospel hip-hop/poetry, and he also possesses the licensing necessary to perform marriages and funerals.

Bryant has faced many hardships and struggles in his life. However, the tribulations he experiences produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Bryant now shares this hope with a troubled generation thirsting for the redemption of Jesus Christ. Covered by a true anointing, Bryant creatively, and fluently communicates Bible based solutions for everyday life struggles. Through the gifts God has provided, Parabols' vision is to internationally share the gospel and lead youth and young adults into a Christ centered relationship. Furthermore, not only lead them into a life changing relationship, but through: preaching, hip-hop, and poetry, teach them how to stay committed.

Bryant "Parabols" Sojourner has been called to affect the city, state, nation, and the world.

Called by God to be a preacher, youth motivational speaker and a Gospel Hip-Hop artist, Parabols travels the country effectively communicating the gospel to youth and young adults.

Contributed by
Min. Anita L. Jarrell,
Staff Writer, Street Chronicles 411

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Opening the Hip-Hop Hymnal

Holy hip-hop
Saturday night gathering captures teen talent, emotions
By Kay S. Pedrotti

While many churches struggle to attract young people to worship, St. Stephen's leaders jumped (literally) into holy hip-hop about three years ago. In an area of metro Atlanta that has long been multicultural and now is predominantly African American, St. Stephen departed from traditional outreach methods with ease, says church council member Andre Joseph.

A native New Yorker, Joseph is one of the major supporters of Holdin' Down Da Spot, a name chosen for the concert atmosphere that combines hip-hop, urban gospel, poetry and spoken word into a spiritual experience for "people who are uncomfortable in a traditional worship setting," Joseph says.

Ramon Montgomery, better known as Ray-Ski, hosts the bimonthly event in the nave at St. Stephen. He explains that Holdin' Down Da Spot translates into "a place to hold down your faith, to speak it out, to renew your spirit." It's a spot to interact with other young people who are excited about Jesus Christ, he adds, "and the adults who care about them."

James Capers, interim pastor, continues to support the ministry started by Cliff Bahlinger, who now serves St. Luke Lutheran Church, Cordova, Tenn. Bahlinger says the idea of using hip-hop music originally came from Alcuin Johnson, a St. Stephen member who saw a similar ministry in another city, "where the young people were lined up to get in. ... None of us had ever heard of something that would bring them in like that."

Believing it could work in Atlanta, Bahlinger and other leaders sought performers "who would bring the message in the language of the people," he says.

There is no lack of holy hip-hop performers in Atlanta, says Bahlinger, and it wasn't difficult to get them to come and play. After all, he notes, "the average church doesn't want that kind of music and the average bar doesn't want them, so where would they find a place to tell about God in their music?"

An ELCA In the City for Good grant and help from the Southeastern Synod furnished equipment, small stipends for performers and other necessities for the ministry. In the City for Good is a program that funds urban ministry initiatives that illustrate a potential for transforming lives, congregations and communities.

Recently a group called JAADE (first initial of the members' names) played to a smaller-than-normal crowd at the church. Ray-Ski also invited the fledgling group from his congregation, Body of Christ Church International in College Park, Ga.

In a blend of high and low voices, the teens (all aged 16 or 17) raised the blood pressures and bounce levels of listeners as they danced out such lyrics as, "I will keep my head up in Jesus Christ's name; the devil tries to bring me down but I will dodge his flame ...."

Montgomery says he loves doing the ministry at St. Stephen because "it's so uplifting to see the kids not just entertained but fed spiritually." He has witnessed turnarounds in the lives of kids as young as 11, as they come to realize God's love and the gift of Christ and salvation, he says.

"There is not enough paper" to write down all the names of those who have helped Holdin' Down Da Spot, Montgomery adds, but he cites Billy "Blaze" Davidson, first host Denique Alexander, a DJ named EDoubleU, and musicians Clay and K-Bizzy.

If those names aren't enough to denote a nontraditional ministry, Bahlinger provides an anecdote that proves the willingness of St. Stephen to reach out to the young people. He says the congregation's altar guild changed its usual practice of setting up communion and preparing the altar on Saturday nights — just to accommodate the holy hip-hop ministry.

The Lutheran | 8765 w. higgins rd. | chicago, il 60631 | usa |0©2003 Augsburg Fortress.

Giving Hip-Hop a Good Name

Campus Life, June/July 2002

Giving Hip-Hop a Good Name
DJ Maj talks about the power of holy hip-hop
by Mark Moring

Mike Allen is boring. But DJ Maj, the name by which he's known on his CDs and at his shows, is like magic.

It's an exciting "alter ego" that brings out the best in a guy with a plain name. Like Mike.

When we asked Mike why hip-hop artists don't use their real names, he said, "Because it's square."

"Hip-hop and rap is like an alter ego for people," explains Maj, whose two CDs, Wax Museum (Gotee) and Full Plates (Gotee) are a great introduction to Christian hip-hop. "You have your regular job where you're John Doe, but when you're on stage, you're Super Emcee Fresh Kid or whatever. You can become that person on stage."

That stage persona, says Maj, is one of several ways to express yourself within the hip-hop culture, which is about more than just the music.

"Hip-hop is an expression of who you are," he says. "It's a total culture of break dancers and B-boys, MCs and DJs."

We asked Maj to explain those terms:

* Break dancer: "He's the guy on the dance floor, spinning on his head and all that kind of stuff."

* B-boy: "He's just a hip-hop fanatic. He may not be able to dance, he may not be able to rap, but he's got all the gear and the clothing."

* DJ: "He plays the records."

* MC: "He's the guy who raps."

Maj says almost anybody can rap.

"For me, an African-American young man without musical training, hip-hop gave me something to do—and someone to look up to besides drug dealers," says Maj. "You don't have to be a musician to make a good rap song. It welcomes people who want to express themselves in music, but may not be educated in music theory."

But it still takes talent, says Maj.

"You can't just jump up on a stage and start rapping and expect people to show you some love, 'cause it just won't happen," he says, laughing. "You have to be sharp at your skills."

Maj says crass acts like Eminem and Dr. Dre—and all the MTV videos glorifying sex and big money—have given hip-hop a bad name.

"You can't label all of hip-hop music because of those people," he says. "They've even tainted the image of Christians who are doing hip-hop."

The good news is that many Christ-ians, like Maj, are doing hip-hop, providing an alternative to the often vulgar message of the mainstream scene.

That's why Maj hosts a radio show, Virtual Frequency, featuring the best in Christian hip-hop. (You can find it online at virtualfrequency.com.)

When DJ Maj moved to Nashville, Christian music's capital, in 1992, he didn't see much respect for Christian hip-hop. "But instead of griping, I started a radio show, just to raise awareness of Christian urban music. I just want to get this music out to the people."

Christian Music Gets Hip

Saturday, February 12, 2005
By Megan Dowd (Fox News)

Christian Music Gets Hip

Pop Culture Puts Religion in the Spotlight
NEW YORK -- It might not seem like a miracle that a song about Jesus is up for a Grammy but this isn't gospel music. It's hip-hop.

Producer-turned-rapper Kanye West (search) heads into Sunday night's Grammy Awards (search) ceremony with a leading 10 nominations — and his inspirational mega-hit "Jesus Walks" (search) stands to win two awards, song of the year and best rap song.

Naysayers told West a song about "hustlas, killas, murderas, drug dealas, even the strippas" and Jesus didn't have a prayer.

"They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus/ That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes/
But if I talk about God my record won't get played, huh?" he says in "Jesus Walks."

The song, however, was a huge success, and the 26-year-old star is poised to walk away with gold.

But experts say it's not the message of the song hat Jesus walks even with "sinners"that has made it big. It's the mastermind behind the music.

"It is a spiritual song, but that is not why it is popular, that is secondary," said Neil Drumming, a music writer for Entertainment Weekly. "It is really an addictive, engaging and unique track. The first time I heard it at a party it had just come out and already people were dancing to it."

That said, Christianity has been creeping up on American pop culture in recent years. In 2002, Christian rock bands like Creed and POD blew up the charts and converted mainstream fans. Mel Gibson's 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ" was the third-biggest film of '04.

And while he hasn't been included in the titles of many popular rap songs, there's actually nothing new about hip-hop artists giving a "holla" to Jesus. For inner-city youth and rap fans, West is only "keepin' it real" when he mixes a song about God with profanity and street life.

"If you look at the hip-hop albums, a lot of rappers try to 'shout out' to God. They manage to reconcile their faith with the realities of street and 'hood life — it is not that contradictory to them," said Nathan Brackett, senior editor for Rolling Stone magazine.

In fact, "Holy hip-hop" first appeared in the late '80s and early '90s with little-known underground groups like SFC, Dynamic Twins and Stephen Wiley. "Holy Hip Hop: Taking the Gospel to the Streets" (search), featuring various artists, received a Grammy award nomination for Best Rock Gospel album of 2004.

But surprisingly, the holy hip-hop community does not see West's success as opening the door to fame for religious rappers.

"It is interesting, the [holy hip-hop community] has not accepted him with open arms. They have not seen it as a way to mainstream," said Brackett.

Maybe this is because West is not trying to conform to any particular religion through his song, but rather spread his own vision of faith.

"This is his own 'Jesus,' what his vision of Jesus is, a modern, forgiving Jesus," Brackett said.

West couldn't rap it better himself:

"I ain't here to argue about his facial features,
Or here to convert atheists to believers,
I'm just tryin' to say the way school need teachers,
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way ya'll need Jesus," he says in "Jesus Walks."

At the Grammys Sunday night, West will perform with an impressive group of soul, R&B and gospel artists, including John Legend, Mavis Staples and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

But will he do what filmmaker Mel Gibson could not, as in get his "Jesus" piece accepted by a group of mainstream critics?

Brackett said OutKast's (search) 2004 win for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" is a signal that the Grammy judges are opening up to hip-hop and progressive music, whether it is religiously inclined or not.

But there is one potential winner who may trump West's night.

"I hope [West gets the gold], but he is up against a legend. Ray Charles would be the one contender in his way," Brackett said.
Copyright 2005 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hip Hop Ministry

February 18, 2005 Episode no. 825

Requires Real Player
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Appealing to young people is a challenge for congregations as well as religious publishers, and there is something going on in about 150 churches around the country that, if not a model, is at least attention-getting. Every other Saturday night in Chicago, a group called The House fills the Lawndale Community Church for testimony, scripture, preaching, and hip-hop. Bob Faw reports.

BOB FAW: Across America, in toddling towns like Chicago, hip-hop isn't just hot -- it's downright holy.

Bless the Lord through the house. Bless the Lord through the house.

FAW: Hip-hop, the inner-city sound of protest and rage, is now being used to bring souls to Christ.

Pray turn from your ways. You've got to seek his face.

Photo of sign for hip-hop church FAW: An art form often raw, vulgar -- sometimes misogynistic -- here proclaiming the gospel.

Are you ready for the change that's going to change your life?

FAW: This new style of worship uses both the lingo of the streets ...

Church, they call me big brother bang-wow. I'm the one that brings the funk, the bang, and the wow -- all in the name of Jesus Christ. And I never turn my back on God.

Photo of hip-hop church performance FAW: ... and its hard-driving cadence. Rappers call this "step sessions." In an old factory converted into a sanctuary, the physical and the verbal are accompanied by old-fashioned testimonials.

As crazy as I was for the devil, I'm more crazy for Christ!

FAW: Sponsored by the Evangelical Covenant Church, these twice-monthly Saturday night sessions are the inspiration of Phil Jackson, the worship leader.

Photo of PHIL JACKSON PHIL JACKSON (Pastor, The House, Lawndale Community Church) (Preaching): It's important to me that we raise up brothers to be serious about our commitment to Christ. Am I right?

FAW: A hip, 41-year-old former seminarian, father of 3, who says when it comes to reaching young people, most churches just don't get it.

(To Rev. Jackson): The old hymns, the conventional order of service, that's not going to cut it with these kids?

Rev. JACKSON: What we're trying to do, objectively, is to reach students where they are, to take them where God would have them to be and using the vehicle of hip-hop.

FAW: Jackson does more than talk the talk. In Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, where drugs and violence are rampant and the unemployment rate approaches 50 percent, he cruises the mean streets inviting anyone and everyone to what Jackson calls The House of Hope.

Rev. JACKSON: You'd like it; these folks look like you and act like you. They are there all the time.

Photo of girls cheering FAW: And "there" is like no other service. These churchgoers here are lured by raffles. During services, free CDs and hats are dispensed to loosen things up. There's the hip-hop version of bobbing for apples

Rev. JACKSON (To Participants Putting Faces in Whipped Cream): One, two, three ... go!

FAW: Scoff if you will, but it's working. On Saturday night, when many kids wouldn't dream of going to church, they flock to this one: 500 seats filled, standing room only.

PBS.Org -© 2005 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Gospel from A to holy hip-hop

Gospel from A to holy hip-hop

July 25, 2004

As gospel music has grown, it has absorbed influences from other musical genres. According to Al Hobbs, vice chairman of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, gospel music has developed three main styles under the gospel umbrella.

Traditional gospel. Modern gospel music was created during the 1930s, when traditional church hymns and spirituals were coupled with the ragtime, rhythm, and blues styles that were popular at the time, employing simplified chordal progressions popular in blues. Traditional gospel songs were written specifically for worship in church services and speak about the role of God in a person's life. They sometimes involve call and response, where a leader sings a line and the group answers.

Contemporary gospel has a close relationship to jazz, but with a church flavor. The writing style gives direct praise to God. The music is artistic and experimental, blending jazz, R&B, Latin, classical, and rock, yet is clearly identified as the gospel music of the modern black church.

Urban contemporary gospel integrates the gospel message with secular musical styles and is geared to a hipper crowd. Called ''the sound and beat of the street," it would not typically be heard in church. Holy hip-hop is a sacred style that chronicles the writer's life with God. Gospel rap spreads the gospel message, but is more indigenous to the mainstream culture. Reggae gospel (reggae rhythms with a gospel message) is also beginning to grow.

JIMMY CRONIN
� Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

The 411

LINK MAGAZINE ARTICLE- Holy Hip-Hop: In Hampton Roads�.

Holy hip-hop

Lutheran, The, Jul 2003 by Pedrotti, Kay S

Gospel Rappin'

by Wil LaVeist | Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hip Hop Delivers Holy Message

Ministry Uses Music To Help At-Risk Youth

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/7/07

'Holy hip-hop'

Copyright � 2007 WORLD Magazine February 03, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 4

The ministry of Hip Hop

Religion notes

Holy hip-hop concert at Canton YMCA next week

By Colette M. Jenkins

Beacon Journal religion writer

SUNDAY, JUNE 04, 2006 12:00 AM

Hip-hop gospel

Hip-hop trend adding young congregants to churches

The melding of religion and the energy of the culture helps to spread the word.

Holy hip hop! - June 30, 2006

Hip Hop gospel

Holy Hip Hop

--

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Hip-hop ministries move beyond the underground

Two turntables ... and the Son of God

Hip-hop ministries move beyond the underground

Hip-hop sans the bling-bling

Hip-hop sans the bling-bling

SATURDAY NIGHT GATHERING CAPTURES TEEN TALENT, EMOTIONS

Church Needs to Embrace Hip-Hop

Authors: Church Needs to Embrace Hip-Hop

Breakdown FM: Holy Hip Hop is in the House-An Interview w/ Play of Kid-N-Play

Tags

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

'HOLY HIP HOP' ROCKS

MIRAMAR | HYPEFEST II

'HOLY HIP HOP' ROCKS

THE MUSIC IS THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSAGE IS ABOUT RESISTING THE NEGATIVE AND PRAISING GOD

Special to The Miami Herald

Monday, February 13, 2006

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth

By Ken Camp

Saturday, February 11, 2006

BAY AREA Churches try holy hip-hop Ministries take to genre to attract more young people

A Grammy Awards Faux Pas?

Young Artists Making Holy Hip Hop

Young Artists Making Holy Hip Hop

Friends & Neighbors: Holy hip-hop catching on

Friends & Neighbors: Holy hip-hop catching on

By Kara Andrade

STAFF WRITER - Contra Costa Times

Friday, December 02, 2005

Faith - Believe in the beat

Holy Hip Hop: Evangelists use music to win souls

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Shouting hip-hop's praises

Monday, November 21, 2005

'Holy hip hop' energizes young Christians, fans say'

Rappers Are Raising Their Churches' Roofs

Churches Adopt Hip-Hop's 'Rhythms, Bluntness' to Spread the Gospel

Church Communicates the Gospel in Inner-City Context

Fros'T - Minister of the Gospel

Hip-hop churches carry message of redemption to urban youth

Christian Ministry Hip Hop Haven

Hip Hop Ministry

Sunday, September 04, 2005

PERKINS TO HOST HIP-HOP WORSHIP SERVICE

Bringing Hip-Hop to Church

By MARK JOHNSON

Posted: Aug. 13, 2005

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Hip Hop 'A Voice for Justice'

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Ministers give gospel a hip hop beat to reach young souls

Friday, April 15, 2005

Interview with "THE BODY"

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Copyright � 2007 WORLD Magazine
February 03, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 4

BAY AREA
Churches try holy hip-hop
Ministries take to genre to attract more young people