Barack Obama didn't say "I only want to be the President of Black people," he said "I want to be the President of the United States and have something to say about the United States and my perspective and my lens is going to affect my judgment on everything" and that's the way a Christian should be. I'm going to invade culture and my lens and perspective is going to influence culture just as much as anyone else's.
I think one of the areas of favor and grace that God has allowed us to see is internally he's just given us a strong sense of work ethic and craftsmanship. We really do work hard to make GOOD quality music.
I think that as a Christian, we're to be a light in this world. I think it's almost like saying "Christian American," it doesn't mean that I'm not American, it just means that I'm distinctly and authentically Christian as much as I am American.
Anytime you're dealing with moral issues, in a government position, you're dealing with some sticky stuff because everybody's morality is different. So you may be a Christian and say "my morality is based on the Bible." But if it doesn't line up with the way they think it should line up, now you got a problem with them. And then you can say, "I'm more in line with the Bible," but you don't care about the Bible, so they are like 'why are you imposing these difficult rules on me? I don't even believe in that.' So you just have an interesting and sticky situation.
I've always been the type of person - you know, I kind of am extreme. So you know, I'm not, like, oh, let me get one tattoo. It's, like, my old whole arm has to be covered.
I'd rather die like Christ than live unholy.
I want to be the bridge. I embrace it. I don't mind being a leader. I don't mind opening the doors. I guess my prayer is that there will be other leaders behind me who will come in and do more than what I've done, and more than what I can do and that this serves as an opportunity to level the playing field in hip-hop. I just want to be able to say "Hey, there's way more going on in life than the club."
Men, specifically in the West, have no rights of passage, no way to know when they become a man. Everywhere else in the world you gotta kill a lion or stab a shark, or go on some journey, and you come back and you're a man. But here in the West, we're really kind of clueless as to what makes us a man.
When I moved into one of the worst inner-cities in America to do missionary work I had to do risk assessment, and It was a risk. My family could have been in danger, house could get robbed at any minute but I count it all as nothing compared to knowing Jesus it was all worth it at the end of the day.
I know for me as an artist, I think I do myself and my listeners a disservice, if I don't listen to some of the best music out there. If I was an architect or a carpenter, I'm going to want to study the best architects and carpenters and I'm going to appreciate their work, because they're going to inspire me to do well. And I just look at them as great architects and I just appreciate the gift that God gave them.
You got to do well at your craft ultimately, especially if you know that people are observing you and watching you and you don't want to get out there and produce subpar work. Because that's how people look at it. They don't just look at you as an athlete, they look at it as o you're an athlete and you're a Christian, what's happening now?
I think it's okay to ask questions. I don't think everything is answerable though.
If I'm learning something, that's all I want to talk about.
God just has his own agenda, and he does what he wants to do with stuff.
I think Hip Hop and Gospel are such strong distinct cultures that have problems, unspoken problems obviously, but problems with one another. On the hip hop side, it's the problems of "awe man I don't like the suits and ties," and on the Gospel side it's " awe man they need to pull their pants up." I just think those are minor, really small issues that we just need to get over and learn to help each other. We're all on the same , and in the same boat.
I think the artist has an ability to draw pictures for people to where they can process these messages that otherwise they wouldn't be open to hearing.
If you want to put on a suit and come to church, fine. But it's a problem when you make people feel like, if you don't do this, you're not going to be accepted and God doesn't look at that.
Artists have the unique ability to tell stories. It's not charts and graphs that get people to change.
It's such a phenomenon for a hip-hop artist to fully embrace his Christian roots and his faith. And that becomes something that people almost need you to justify.
I've always done music to push people to get them to get uncomfortable in their seat so they could wrestle with things. Not to become pew potatoes, just simply sitting there, growing fat with knowledge and not applying it. It's a mixed tape that's really aimed and geared toward hip hop culture.
I've always done music to push people to get them to get uncomfortable in their seat so they could wrestle with things. Not to become pew potatoes, just simply sitting there, growing fat with knowledge and not applying it.
I like to have people around and an environment with constant feedback on what I'm doing.
When you care about the culture, you can stop, pause, and say, "Okay, where do I stand in the midst of this all?"
The whole time we're traveling the world. You really mature. You're not just learning truth. The truth is changing you and maturing you.
For me, Christianity is not a genre. It's faith. The Gospel is not a genre either. It's faith. I definitely understand the semantics of naming things to give them some kind of distinction but I think my faith is pretty distinct. If you want to call it hip hop, essentially it is. That's the art form.
