In this episode of "Church on the Block," Pastor Phil, Pastah J, and DJ Ruckus, along with guests Daryl and Thre from Chicago, explore the intersection of hip hop, the church, and street culture. They discuss how their street experiences shape their ministry and stress the importance of authenticity in Christian hip hop. The conversation also touches on the challenges of creating genuine music that reflects personal struggles and the need to resist industry pressures to conform.
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[00:00:00] Radio Music
[00:00:13] You're on Pastor Phil. Welcome to Church on the Block. Real talk about hip hop, the church and the streets with my great co-host Pastor Jay and Ruck Boy on Holy Culture Radio, Sears XM.
[00:00:25] Radio Music
[00:00:29] What's going on? You are here. That's right Sunday 9 a.m. Central 10 a.m. Eastern Church on the Block. Real talk about hip hop, the church and the streets.
[00:00:40] Man, you got the right channel. Channel 140 Sears XM Holy Culture Radio. You've been listening to us. You've been traveling with us. You've been going through all the different shows.
[00:00:49] We really appreciate that, man. Keep hanging in there with us. But the one thing you haven't done is you haven't found us on Instagram.
[00:00:56] We need you to follow us. We've got some unique things we're doing in 2024. We're talking about more in 24, which is going to come through the door in 44.
[00:01:05] You know what I'm saying? All the oars and everything rhyming. You know what I mean? We're trying to make it.
[00:01:10] Coming in the door waving. Ah! We're coming in in 24, man. We really want to connect with you because we've got some unique things that are coming up.
[00:01:20] We have and want to change our intro to music to our intro. So we've got a little challenge. We're going to send out there if you can get a song ready for that.
[00:01:30] But man, today we've got some great brothers on the show, man. And they both from Chicago.
[00:01:36] Pio, Pio, Pio, Pio, Pio. You guys said great aunties, man. That are good friends, love the Lord, serve the ministry.
[00:01:44] They rhyme as their gifts as well. But they rhyme, I mean, and out of the ministry come from a deeper place in their conviction of who they are in the faith.
[00:01:54] And they cannot not engage in this gift. And Rame, bless so many people and impact so many lives through that as well as their ministry at the local church, man.
[00:02:04] And so we're going to talk about our elements, right? The church. We're going to talk about the streets. We're going to our hip hop with these great artists thinking theologically about that.
[00:02:14] In the meantime, before we get to these cats, we got some other young brothers in the studio with us. What's up, what's up, fellas? What's up? How y'all doing, man? How y'all doing?
[00:02:23] Yo, look, man. Phil, it's passage, y'all. I gotta do this. Phil every week says y'all follow us on Instagram and never gives you our Instagram handle.
[00:02:34] It's just a blog. Just go church on the blog.
[00:02:37] It's not just church on the blog, Phil. It's church underscore on the block. All one word.
[00:02:42] Church underscore on the block. All one word. Right? So follow us there. You want to see our numbers go up, but also why we want to connect with y'all.
[00:02:51] All right, man. It's passage. Hey, you know who else on here? Come on. Tell them who you are.
[00:02:56] Yo, yo, what's up, man? This is Darrell from Chicago. Christian hip hop artist been a part of what Phil has been doing for many years.
[00:03:05] Been an emcee for many years. And I love the Lord. I've been saved for many years and I've been writing rhymes to express that for many years.
[00:03:15] And yeah, man. I love the Lord. I want to see young souls and old souls alike come to Jesus, come to serve and come to love them.
[00:03:22] That's what's up. Hey, man. Hey, man. Darrell from Chicago. Thank you.
[00:03:27] What's up, man? What's your name, bro?
[00:03:30] What's good, man? It's three. And yo, I just followed y'all. I just followed y'all. You know what I'm saying?
[00:03:38] It's that solid button.
[00:03:40] 116.
[00:03:42] Yeah, man. I'm 16 now.
[00:03:44] Oh, man. Chicago native. Young is a three south side, south shore community.
[00:03:52] And man, I just been walking with the Lord for over, I mean, since 2007, you know what I'm saying?
[00:04:01] And the Lord has kept me. And sometimes I mean, I started walking and then I probably fell, started crawling.
[00:04:08] The Lord was still with me, kept me back up, walking again, you know what I'm saying?
[00:04:12] Just going through that walk with the Lord, man. And it's been a blessing just growing and just seeing what he's done in my life.
[00:04:20] It's a blessing. So yeah, still doing what I do through hip hop, serving at the church as a youth director in Woodloin.
[00:04:29] And yeah, man. I appreciate y'all having me on again. I think that's the second time around.
[00:04:35] Yeah, sir.
[00:04:36] Y'all know we got to make it a third time. That's when it really counts. You know what I'm saying?
[00:04:40] Oh, really?
[00:04:41] Exhorting.
[00:04:42] Okay.
[00:04:46] That's true.
[00:04:48] We got DJ Ruckus, man. He's like the ghost in the Matrix, man. He ran it somewhere, man.
[00:04:55] He ran it up somewhere.
[00:04:58] How we got it for Dusa, who came in again?
[00:05:01] Right. What's that word I was talking about?
[00:05:03] He gon' pop into this second, man. He gon' pop into this second, man.
[00:05:07] That's why we call him Ruckus because he calls him a ruckus.
[00:05:10] Lot of ruckus.
[00:05:11] You hear ruckus by himself.
[00:05:13] He could be by himself and be in a ruckus like...
[00:05:18] Well, man, we are on a dialogue today with artists, passage jays and artists, and Marilyn and three about these topics that we are always emphasizing and challenging and thinking differently.
[00:05:38] We're trying to flip them upside down, but through the lens cap of MCs and hip-hop bringing up and then the longevity of ministry that you both and everyone has been at, looking at the church in a funky way.
[00:05:51] We're looking at the streets in a funky way. We're looking at hip-hop in a funky way, man.
[00:05:55] So in your perspective, as artists, we gon' have some music by y'all throughout the show at different times.
[00:06:02] And then maybe a little touch of some, just right now in the show.
[00:06:08] But as an artist, when you think of the church and you think of your own journey as a follower of Christ in the church, what comes up for you by way of what pains you as an artist in that context?
[00:06:25] What is encouraging to you about the church as an artist from that perspective?
[00:06:31] For me, what was right away, immediate encouragement was just the affirmation that I received from my leaders back in the day when I first came to the Lord.
[00:06:44] I kind of put the gift to the side like, man, I don't know what to do with this gift. The Lord don't love this.
[00:06:51] And I was just affirmed even though I didn't come in and went right to writing for the Lord, I kind of went through a process of dropping the profanity and then just talking positive and then just sitting down like, yo, I really ain't got nothing to say because I don't know him.
[00:07:11] And so I just was disciple and didn't have a desire to even do music anymore.
[00:07:19] And I shared that with those who knew me. And it was like, yo, you crazy.
[00:07:22] Like you can do this for the Lord.
[00:07:24] Like let me show you in the Bible where they say like the gifts and the colors of God come without repentance.
[00:07:29] Like bro, they're invocable. You won't take them from you. You can do this.
[00:07:34] All right. So I just start writing and then I wrote a whole project, never put it out called Crossover.
[00:07:42] You know everybody first project was always Crossover coming from like secular, staker.
[00:07:48] Like you got to talk about Crossover.
[00:07:51] But yeah, man, my leaders just kind of bless me undergirded me with prayer and sent me out.
[00:07:58] You know what I'm saying? And so for me, the encouragement came from having people that affirmed the gift and knew that I had people praying for me.
[00:08:07] Right. So while I was out, you know, performing a minister and I felt covered.
[00:08:12] I felt the prayers. I felt people with me. You know what I'm saying?
[00:08:16] And so in the Lord was with me.
[00:08:17] So I think what pains, what pain me is seeing like brothers come from the streets or come from secular music and right away their platform.
[00:08:32] You know what I'm saying? So not that not for the sake of like, oh, they don't deserve that.
[00:08:38] But it's just a bad setup for them.
[00:08:41] You know, like what?
[00:08:42] Like what?
[00:08:43] Like what's so mean?
[00:08:44] Like what you mean?
[00:08:45] So what I mean is you may have a like hyperbolic, let's just say hypothetically, little Wayne gives his life to the Lord.
[00:08:54] Right. And we want to album from little Wayne now right away.
[00:08:58] And it's like, no, that little Wayne chill and like get to know the Lord and just sit and be discipled.
[00:09:05] You know what I'm saying?
[00:09:06] But instead, what we've seen is because of their notoriety, we allow them to make that crossover right to the stage from secular music just because they got a name.
[00:09:19] And I am that that what pain me most not that again, that they don't deserve it.
[00:09:25] But it's like the character is not there yet.
[00:09:28] You know what I'm saying?
[00:09:29] Like the what they rapping about is not lined up with the word yet.
[00:09:34] They don't have the full understanding of what they even believe.
[00:09:38] And so they just but I mean, there's there's positives and negatives to it.
[00:09:44] But yeah, I've just seen a lot of brothers get hurt that way.
[00:09:49] You know what I'm saying?
[00:09:50] Yeah.
[00:09:51] So yeah.
[00:09:52] Yeah.
[00:09:53] Yeah.
[00:09:54] It's real talk.
[00:09:55] It's real talk.
[00:09:56] Yeah.
[00:09:57] Yeah.
[00:09:58] I guess what pain me most would I got saved?
[00:10:09] I actually wanted to start doing hip hop for the Lord almost right away.
[00:10:16] And I guess the part that pay me the most was so much hate that I got from the church.
[00:10:25] Wow.
[00:10:26] Wow.
[00:10:27] It was like, bro, it was it was it was unbelievable.
[00:10:32] It was like, oh, that's the devil.
[00:10:35] You know, you can't be doing that.
[00:10:37] I've been here.
[00:10:40] And it was it was such a full part.
[00:10:43] It was it was such a taboo thing to do inside the church.
[00:10:49] And I just wanted to, you know, because of my influences at the time was very Chicago Center.
[00:10:56] And so it was like, man, why can't I do this for the Lord?
[00:11:00] Like, I've been writing for so long and I don't want to be like these guys.
[00:11:05] I'm saved.
[00:11:06] I don't want to rap about all the things that they're rapping about.
[00:11:10] There's, you know, I'm the same now.
[00:11:12] How can I make this transition?
[00:11:14] Like three say, you know, the cross offer, you know, and so it was like, how can
[00:11:17] I make this transition?
[00:11:19] And it was so hard for me to to do that in a space where I didn't.
[00:11:27] I thought I got to have any support.
[00:11:29] And so and so, you know, the I would I would listen to, you know, the popular artists at the time.
[00:11:38] And it really got.
[00:11:41] We were like.
[00:11:43] Gourge and I really felt like that was the Holy Spirit telling me not to be discouraged by the things that I was going through at the time, like, man,
[00:11:52] look, you're going through this, but you're doing this on unto unto the Lord, you know, somebody is shunning you like I remember one time, somebody had invited me out to their church to do a performance.
[00:12:07] And it just so happens that, you know, I got up, I did my thing, you know, people clap and the youth gave their life to the Lord.
[00:12:16] It was like, man, it was it was off the hook.
[00:12:18] The pastor gets up.
[00:12:20] He like, all right, y'all settle down, settle down.
[00:12:24] I respect this young man for doing this thing.
[00:12:27] But you know, this is not Godly.
[00:12:29] This is all this kind of stuff.
[00:12:31] And I sat there and was just and I sat there and the brother that I was with, he'd left.
[00:12:38] But I sat there and I was and I listened to him because out of respect, I was like, man, I'm gonna hit his brother out.
[00:12:43] I'm gonna see what he got to say and I'm gonna talk to him.
[00:12:46] That was my heart was like, man, look.
[00:12:48] And so after after he came.
[00:12:51] Bashing me.
[00:12:52] Everything was over with he wind up coming back.
[00:12:56] And I stood up.
[00:12:58] He came back and you know what?
[00:13:01] He came back to me and was like, uh,
[00:13:04] Respect you.
[00:13:05] I respect you because you actually stayed even though I was talking about you, even though all this was going on.
[00:13:10] You stayed to hear what I had to say.
[00:13:12] He was like, man, I really respect you for that.
[00:13:14] Wow.
[00:13:15] And I was like, what is your.
[00:13:18] Hip hop it Christian hip hop like you hear me rhyming about who let me I just fucking so worldly and I was like, it's really.
[00:13:25] You know poetry.
[00:13:27] That's in a rhythmic format and I was like, and so anyways, but that was what would pay me at first.
[00:13:33] Yeah.
[00:13:36] The thing that encouraged me the most.
[00:13:39] I would say probably also the church because not not that church, but it was the it was the capital C church, the body of believers.
[00:13:50] Yeah.
[00:13:51] That that saw what I was what my heart was at and they and the people that that saw youth getting saved from it and that saw lives being changed and that saw how hip hop and how it could how it changes a lot and how the culture really is not something that should be left divided.
[00:14:16] You know, it is separate, but it's not divided in that because you can have one.
[00:14:24] You can't have all of them without him.
[00:14:26] You can have something that separated but it's definitely not divided.
[00:14:30] But the body again, the capital C church right.
[00:14:33] Embrace me love me.
[00:14:35] God disciple, you know, and just found myself in a place where God was really huge.
[00:14:41] And I wanted and I wanted I wanted that I wanted to keep that that same type of facet that how the Lord was using me.
[00:14:48] Yo, this church on the block.
[00:14:50] Stay right there.
[00:14:51] We'll be right back.
[00:14:52] Holy culture.
[00:14:53] Channel 140 hold on for me.
[00:14:55] We are back.
[00:14:57] Welcome back.
[00:14:58] We're right here back on the show, man, kicking it off.
[00:15:01] I got some great artists with us right from Chicago.
[00:15:04] A lot of tenure of folks rhyming and doing ministry.
[00:15:07] And we just probing through our topics.
[00:15:10] You know, we talk about church on the block hip hop of the church in the streets.
[00:15:14] And we talked about the church and look at it all this from an artist to a person.
[00:15:18] And looking at it from that legacy of ministry.
[00:15:21] And so now we're talking about the streets.
[00:15:24] You know, when you look at the streets from an artist perspective, right?
[00:15:28] At one point when you look at hip hop, love was in WA, you know, from that contact.
[00:15:32] Well, you know, a ghetto boys and you had on a Christian level, you had O double G's yet T bone.
[00:15:38] You know, you had a lot of people who were like, oh, I'm going to be a Christian.
[00:15:42] I'm going to be a Christian.
[00:15:44] That was you had O double G's yet T bone.
[00:15:47] You know, you had some other cats up in there.
[00:15:50] I can't think of any other cats that was in there.
[00:15:52] There was everyday death sentence group, group, rum brothers.
[00:15:55] So there was sort of a gangsta gangsta kind of match in some regards, right?
[00:15:59] There was something in their heart where they came out of where they came from, but they ministered to now you got different.
[00:16:05] You got a different style of cats rapping, you know, a juice world was just always talking with one of the young guys.
[00:16:12] It was a juice world concert and polo G showed up at the end, right?
[00:16:16] And he keep the whole kind of it turned out.
[00:16:19] And then so does the streets in the context of what's happened on the streets and some people's background or passionate minister on the streets.
[00:16:29] Has that affected your style of ministry in rhyming to awaken cats with on the streets or people who are lured by their lifestyle?
[00:16:41] I'll start, man. I'll definitely say that absolutely beyond the shadow of a doubt.
[00:16:49] I think that when you're talking about hip hop as a whole, it with it being a culture within itself, you need the element of the streets.
[00:17:07] You need the element of what's going on around us, the things that's happening because initially hip hop was about something, right?
[00:17:16] It wasn't just some I would say it's I would say like this hip hop was about something of concern.
[00:17:23] It was about something that was topical of that day.
[00:17:29] And so it wasn't just about being catchy or wasn't just about, you know, stimulating somebody's, you know, thought process or rather their tickle in their ear.
[00:17:42] It was about stimulating the thought process.
[00:17:44] So for me, I would have to say 100% the way that I grew up listening to or listening to a ball and MJG, right?
[00:17:57] Listening to these guys in the South, even though I am from Chicago, I grew up listening to twist the crux of conflict.
[00:18:03] I grew up to listen to these guys.
[00:18:05] So that was really like the style of rapping that I adopted.
[00:18:09] And I made it I made my own type of style from that.
[00:18:14] But that was that's what I gravitated toward and that that's what I found what was in that caught my heart in in in rapping and in hip hop.
[00:18:24] But of course, the streets influence that right because the people that or the demographic, if you will, that's if you know that they're like, hey, this sounds good to me.
[00:18:35] So yes, but the things that were happening in the streets, it wasn't it wasn't righteous, right?
[00:18:41] It wasn't holy, you know, the things that I grew up around is like, I know, Brother three say he, you know, Woodlawn and the you knew in the South side, bro.
[00:18:51] And it's like, when I was on the West side, I was a humble part.
[00:18:55] And so it was like, I'm sure it was on the South side too, it was a lot of things that kids are but that was my age at the time shouldn't have seen shouldn't have been around shouldn't know you know had to go through and stuff like that.
[00:19:06] And so those kinds of things also great into what hip hop is.
[00:19:13] It's the good is the bad is the pretty is the ugly.
[00:19:16] It's all that stuff kind of in between that that makes hip hop.
[00:19:21] What it is now when we introduce Christ into that, it's like well now how do you introduce that into the streets?
[00:19:28] Well, well, I'll say this, that I think that.
[00:19:34] Lever and as a hip hop artist.
[00:19:37] We have to be in the streets.
[00:19:39] I think that we have to be whether it's with a microphone in the stage, whether it's open air preaching, whether it is just talking to a brother at the bus stop.
[00:19:49] Right?
[00:19:50] It's like we have to be things to all men like Paul said as a believer now the same people that I would have listened to back then.
[00:19:58] I'll preach to that person now like I wish I could reach Twista and tell him that Jesus loves them and go and bring that brother church.
[00:20:06] I wish I could go and talk to these other brothers that around make sure that they hear the gospel.
[00:20:14] And so that's kind of the thing that I would say is very impactful and it still is.
[00:20:22] It's still impactful to it impacts my art now even.
[00:20:26] I mean, I use the word of God to mainly impact the lyrics and I use the Bible to as a storyboard almost for me to write to make projects.
[00:20:40] But the things that's happening in the streets, bro, I've got to talk about it.
[00:20:45] I've got to be able to talk about it.
[00:20:47] And either one of you guys, three or J2, like is Christian hip hop hard enough in such a way as the gospel is hard to awaken cats to hear?
[00:21:02] I mean, does it need to be grimy or such?
[00:21:08] What?
[00:21:09] Like we're ready.
[00:21:10] We're ready.
[00:21:11] You know, what is this going to shake that up?
[00:21:14] I'm just asking sort of rhetorical would get sort of questioning in that.
[00:21:18] Yeah.
[00:21:22] Now, I think I mean what we know right?
[00:21:25] Our image takes life.
[00:21:27] So when we look at it from that way, I think it's the individual, the heart behind the music, right?
[00:21:37] That kind of brings that, that that stolen desk off in it.
[00:21:43] You know, like me having a street background.
[00:21:46] A lot of people will hear my music and I've heard it from the streets to be like, yo, I didn't even know you was a Christian artist, bro.
[00:21:54] Like this is just hard.
[00:21:56] And now when they start to listen like, I ain't bro, you ain't cursed once.
[00:22:02] And they, I mean, in eight, they'll go over just embellishing you the greatest.
[00:22:05] You ain't never cursed.
[00:22:07] That's crazy.
[00:22:08] But it's like, have they listened into the message?
[00:22:11] It's like, yo, like that really pulled me in and I come from like in Chicago.
[00:22:18] Like I'm just my upbringing music, the locks big L and you know, right?
[00:22:25] Like Daryl said, twister and all it, you know what I'm saying?
[00:22:28] So it's like, I'm a story to let heart.
[00:22:31] And so I'm telling the stories, my stories that's relatable to those who's gone through it.
[00:22:38] Like we all mostly have grown up fatherless, right?
[00:22:43] Most of us have gone through something that has brought us to our knees and tears, but the difference is now that now it's a solution.
[00:22:52] You know, so I think some people gravitate to the beats.
[00:22:57] Others gravitate to the words.
[00:22:59] Some need both, but just to end it where I started it, I think it's the heart of the person behind them.
[00:23:08] Like what's real about them?
[00:23:10] That's what bleeds through.
[00:23:12] You really can't hide that no matter what beat you on, no matter like you just connect with authenticity and you know like, yo, that brother went through something.
[00:23:20] You know what I'm saying?
[00:23:21] Yeah.
[00:23:22] I'm glad I'm glad you said that three.
[00:23:25] Like, I think as I even heard Phil's question like that was the number one thing that was kind of on my.
[00:23:30] Because I want to, you said in a much better way than I want to sound preachy, but like, you know, like, I don't know if you need to say stuff like the music needs to be grime or or or anything like that.
[00:23:41] I just think that we need to be authentic.
[00:23:43] Like, and to me, I tell y'all and this might open the can of words to me.
[00:23:49] That's the biggest issue with Christian emphies to me is we follow trends rather than just being authentically who we are.
[00:24:00] And you know, like one of the things that I want, I don't want to do like, I'm not, I'm not 20.
[00:24:07] Like, I don't, I don't have the same concerns as a 20 year old.
[00:24:11] The gospel has set me free.
[00:24:13] I love the Lord, but I'm a father of a 20 year old.
[00:24:16] You know what I'm saying?
[00:24:17] I'm a pastor for the church.
[00:24:18] I'm trying to understand like my, the things I would rhyme about now are completely different than what I would around about 20 years ago.
[00:24:27] And sometimes I feel like that's my issue with with in the Christian realm.
[00:24:32] I can't do nothing about sacred cast.
[00:24:34] They trying to stay relevant.
[00:24:35] I get it all of this stuff, but I feel like us over here, we ought to just be authentic to who we are and where we are.
[00:24:41] And what comes from the heart will go to the heart.
[00:24:44] Yeah.
[00:24:45] That's the way I feel.
[00:24:47] I think some cast are chasing what the industry has already gotten.
[00:24:52] Right. And that's just that faint.
[00:24:54] And so you look, they look at for that hit record.
[00:24:56] They looking for that catchy hook and all in their missing the outline.
[00:25:01] I feel like I tell some, I told somebody like, bro, when you got the opportunity to have someone here to hear you and like, what are you going to say?
[00:25:11] Like, what are you going to tell them?
[00:25:14] And that's what it is.
[00:25:15] When someone hit play on your music and start streaming you, like you're introducing them to your world, like who you are.
[00:25:21] And everything that's surrounding you from God, the streets and everything else, that's going to be a part of it.
[00:25:28] But what are you telling them?
[00:25:30] Is it just something catchy for the moment trend that's going past?
[00:25:36] Well, can I listen to this today?
[00:25:38] January 31st, 2024 and then pick it up.
[00:25:43] January 31st, 2034 and still feel the same about it.
[00:25:49] Or will it die?
[00:25:51] Like people are not making timeless music.
[00:25:53] And I think the only way you get timeless music is when you are authentic giving it from the heart.
[00:25:59] Right.
[00:26:00] When you look at the streets change, things are different from the street.
[00:26:05] You know what I mean?
[00:26:06] Well, I was making as much money as we were on the street.
[00:26:09] Now I must get paid to be shooters.
[00:26:11] You know what I mean?
[00:26:12] And I'm the handle of it.
[00:26:14] Yeah.
[00:26:15] Oh my God.
[00:26:16] Cracking cars.
[00:26:18] You know what I'm saying?
[00:26:20] So the culture, even that dynamic change, even cats who run hard about the streets are changing.
[00:26:27] They're changing about running hard about the street.
[00:26:29] You know what I'm saying?
[00:26:31] Yeah.
[00:26:32] They singing hard about the streets.
[00:26:35] Yeah, so there's a lot of drinks out there.
[00:26:37] Drake got a lot of kids out there.
[00:26:44] There's a lot of cats now coming clean about how they was rapping about the streets but was faking.
[00:26:51] Yeah, that's bad.
[00:26:53] Yeah.
[00:26:54] Because they was getting that check to sell that poison.
[00:26:59] Yeah.
[00:27:00] Yeah.
[00:27:01] That's what I appreciate what D1 is doing.
[00:27:04] We can circle back around that.
[00:27:07] Yeah.
[00:27:08] But being able to be bold about what our witness is yet speaking the truth and love
[00:27:16] and yet doing something about it.
[00:27:18] But I think you're right.
[00:27:20] What comes from the heart connects with the heart, right?
[00:27:23] Real recognition is real.
[00:27:25] And yet what you've experienced on the block, you can be real about it and talk about it in such a way where if somebody knows,
[00:27:31] he knows where I'm coming from.
[00:27:33] She understands where I've been.
[00:27:35] Even if it ain't to the extreme, people know what it might be to be broke,
[00:27:39] to have more money, you know, to have a struggle or a job to not feel like life means anything.
[00:27:49] Even though you're in the church and you follow God,
[00:27:52] rapping about real hurt, real pain, real struggle that way, man.
[00:27:56] I think Pastor Jay, you know, you said the other day when they was asking Andre 3000 about rhyming or some shows,
[00:28:03] he said, I'm older now, which I want me to rhyme about prostate.
[00:28:07] Prostate exam?
[00:28:09] And I'm like, yes, yes.
[00:28:12] Exactly.
[00:28:16] Right? That's what people want you to be talking about.
[00:28:19] Right, right.
[00:28:21] Black folk, men dying at rates twice the rate of any other population,
[00:28:27] life expectancy is 20 inch shorter.
[00:28:30] Like, yes, be rapping about that.
[00:28:33] That's what I'm saying.
[00:28:34] But like, yeah, some minds like that's not relevant or that's,
[00:28:37] I'm like, yo, it is relevant to your fan base.
[00:28:40] I'm your fan, bro.
[00:28:42] I mean, you know, you could rhyme about it in a story format.
[00:28:47] You know what I mean?
[00:28:48] Yes.
[00:28:49] And cats is like hip hop is in that spot.
[00:28:51] But like having to, I only mentioned that, like we talked about church and rock,
[00:28:57] we'll talk about hip hop and church and streets and looking at the streets.
[00:29:01] Sometimes the church will make a new genre or quote unquote new genre of whatever might be,
[00:29:10] be relevant because of whatever thing is trying to keep them in, right?
[00:29:14] And then the genre is not trying to go too far to be deluded.
[00:29:19] And now I'm caught up in that spot.
[00:29:20] But the underlying piece has been that authentic space, man.
[00:29:24] And there's not enough music out there that's even just rounding about the struggle to be faithful,
[00:29:32] you know, the struggle to stay in there and the struggle to want to leave and not deal with this tension in that space.
[00:29:44] Like for folks to hear that, right?
[00:29:46] And to know that there's some hope in the midst of that.
[00:29:49] In the midst of that.
[00:29:50] So I continue to forge on, man, for doing it.
[00:29:53] I know my first album is a new kind of rapper, man.
[00:29:56] That's what we was all, it was out there like that.
[00:29:58] It was out there hard.
[00:29:59] You try to get all of us to get up off this camera.
[00:30:04] All of you.
[00:30:05] It keeps up and like that.
[00:30:08] All of our listeners out there, Phil is the king of new kind of rapper none of his mess.
[00:30:17] Yes.
[00:30:18] All right.
[00:30:19] So don't fall for the okie doke.
[00:30:20] He's gonna why them hurt him.
[00:30:22] Dr. Ryan.
[00:30:23] Because Google me, Joe.
[00:30:24] You can Google me if you want.
[00:30:26] Man.
[00:30:28] So.
[00:30:30] That's hilarious.
[00:30:32] So we want to hear something from y'all, man.
[00:30:35] And in light of the top, you know, so we've been talking about what song would y'all,
[00:30:41] it's all about, you know, we're going to play some of your music, man.
[00:30:47] But what song would be right that you would want to, how do you do that?
[00:30:53] Right that you would want to have rocking with us here on the show that would talk about
[00:31:01] the streets or be that authentic space and challenge believers in that space.
[00:31:07] What's all what's all I have a song called go.
[00:31:13] And it is about doing just that but making disciples with Jesus did Jesus hit the
[00:31:20] streets.
[00:31:22] Jesus made disciples.
[00:31:24] Jesus wasn't afraid to be, you know, what he needed to be to get his point across.
[00:31:30] Gotcha.
[00:31:31] And so, yes, kind of like it's a less of a storyline and more of just points in which
[00:31:43] we ought to hit the streets.
[00:31:45] Did you rock that at the house?
[00:31:49] Like this past summer or something like that?
[00:31:51] Or I did.
[00:31:52] Yeah, I did.
[00:31:53] Yeah.
[00:31:54] I remember that.
[00:31:55] Psycho.
[00:31:56] So left an impression on.
[00:31:59] Yeah, he remembered that with that.
[00:32:02] So I three what you thinking because we're going to play this stuff at the next
[00:32:07] after the next cut.
[00:32:08] But what's you thinking about?
[00:32:09] You're going to drop a song.
[00:32:11] You're going to drop first.
[00:32:12] What you want to sing first?
[00:32:13] I spit it first.
[00:32:14] I will not sing.
[00:32:15] We just talked about Drake little baby.
[00:32:19] I'm not one of them.
[00:32:20] Oh, but no, I mean, it's good.
[00:32:25] I will sing.
[00:32:27] Drop a February night call.
[00:32:30] I don't care.
[00:32:31] Um, feature a mouthpiece.
[00:32:35] But right now that's what's up.
[00:32:37] Yeah.
[00:32:38] But right now I just I just spit something.
[00:32:40] This is the bed.
[00:32:42] This is the intro.
[00:32:44] No, hold on.
[00:32:45] Don't do that because we got to have.
[00:32:46] We got to give them something to come back for.
[00:32:47] Oh, man.
[00:32:48] Okay.
[00:32:49] Okay.
[00:32:50] Don't give it all to that to the next up because you know, I got the big box on you.
[00:32:55] I'm saying I got.
[00:32:56] No, you're right there.
[00:32:58] Yeah, we'll be right back church on the block real talk about hip hop and church
[00:33:02] and street channel 140.
[00:33:04] My pain is so deep that making hard to sleep.
[00:33:08] This crazy in these streets.
[00:33:11] You see how you have to speak to the best.
[00:33:14] Welcome back to church on the block real talk about hip hop, the church in the streets,
[00:33:18] man channel 140 Holy Culture radio serious XM we a year with some great leaders, great
[00:33:24] friends, great artists, man.
[00:33:26] We've been breaking down their perspective.
[00:33:28] The lens cap of artists from artist lens cap about the church and about the streets.
[00:33:34] And now we're about to hit a music.
[00:33:36] We talked about hip hop.
[00:33:37] So Daryl give us the intro of this song and the song you got to drop on us.
[00:33:43] So the song is about going out into the streets and how we should go out into the streets and preach the gospel, make disciples.
[00:33:50] And the verse that the song is about is Matthew 28 19 where Jesus is talking to his disciples and he's like, hey,
[00:34:00] therefore go and make disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:05] Right.
[00:34:06] So he's telling his disciples to go and make disciple.
[00:34:10] Yeah.
[00:34:11] And he's telling his disciples to go and baptize people.
[00:34:13] And so, yeah, man.
[00:34:14] And so the song essentially is just telling believers to do that.
[00:34:19] It's an encouraging song.
[00:34:21] It's a reminder to the body to do that, to go out and be fishes of men.
[00:34:26] Yeah, yeah.
[00:34:27] Get it started.
[00:34:28] Let's just get it started.
[00:34:29] If I walk up in your party then the spirit come regardless.
[00:34:32] Yeah, you better move.
[00:34:34] You said you better move because when I get the goal and I'm an aqua fool, I said it.
[00:34:38] I'm gonna go.
[00:34:39] Yeah.
[00:34:40] I'm gonna go.
[00:34:41] That's hot, man.
[00:34:42] That's hot, man.
[00:34:43] I am.
[00:34:44] So when you look at that song and in verse, man, just real quick, what was going on when
[00:34:50] you talk through that?
[00:34:51] Like, was it about the church hitting the block?
[00:34:53] The church is not inspired to be making disciples.
[00:34:58] Was there something that caused that to be that way?
[00:35:01] Or maybe the church where you were serving was and you were trying to prompt more
[00:35:06] of it.
[00:35:07] I don't know.
[00:35:08] Just real quick.
[00:35:09] Real quick is actually all of that.
[00:35:11] Yeah, it was all of that.
[00:35:12] There's like so many brothers that I encounter on the street because I go out
[00:35:17] in the streets and I preach a lot and we do discipleship.
[00:35:21] I do a lot of discipleship with the youth and it was just so it's kind of all of that.
[00:35:26] Seeing brothers in the street that are believers, that's like, man, how can I start preaching
[00:35:30] in the street?
[00:35:31] How can I start doing discipleship?
[00:35:32] How can I start doing that?
[00:35:33] And it's like, let me show you.
[00:35:35] Right?
[00:35:36] And then also as an encouragement to the body as an encouragement, especially putting you
[00:35:40] there like, man, I want to go and do this too.
[00:35:42] And that's like, man, let's go and do it.
[00:35:44] So go like Jesus said to go.
[00:35:46] Yeah, yeah, just do it.
[00:35:47] Just go.
[00:35:48] Man, I love that.
[00:35:49] Thank you.
[00:35:50] Thank you for that.
[00:35:51] Amen.
[00:35:52] Yeah.
[00:35:53] Hot wasn't cheesy.
[00:35:54] It was real.
[00:35:55] It was real, man.
[00:35:56] It's prompting the church to be in the streets.
[00:35:58] Doree, what were we about to listen to?
[00:36:02] This is my new single off the upcoming album called I Don't Care.
[00:36:11] It's a single feature of Malfece.
[00:36:13] I don't care.
[00:36:14] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:36:16] That's just a space on me right now.
[00:36:19] Okay.
[00:36:20] It's amazing how Christian they seem if we ain't the same.
[00:36:24] If he ain't the main thing, we ain't the same team.
[00:36:27] You all know the cost he paid the price.
[00:36:29] He did it like a boss he gave his life.
[00:36:32] He penned them to the cross they gave him strikes.
[00:36:34] They graved his life three days was taking flight.
[00:36:37] Yeah, man.
[00:36:38] Yeah.
[00:36:39] So when you think about that and even what you talk about, like the space that you are in right now, right?
[00:36:46] About not caring.
[00:36:48] Break that there.
[00:36:49] Yeah, it's like so many people are just in your ear or in our ear.
[00:36:56] You know, you need to do this type of music.
[00:36:58] I don't care.
[00:36:59] Hey, bro, why are you why are you not you're not going to this conference?
[00:37:02] I don't I don't care, bro.
[00:37:05] Like why are you rapping about God?
[00:37:07] You ain't gonna let go money.
[00:37:08] I don't care, bro.
[00:37:09] Like none of that matters.
[00:37:11] I'm just in that I don't care space and like I'm a rep guy no matter what you try to do.
[00:37:16] I ain't knocking what you door.
[00:37:18] Like I'm not caring about what you doing in that way while I'm trying to get you off of it.
[00:37:23] I don't care to really listen to those voices that stand do this.
[00:37:27] Don't do that.
[00:37:29] You should be doing this.
[00:37:31] But yeah, but then all but then also it's like I'm not I don't I'm not bending my knee.
[00:37:36] You know what I'm saying?
[00:37:37] Like I'm not surrendering to those voices at all and here's why you should consider what I do care about.
[00:37:45] You know what I'm saying?
[00:37:46] Because at one day I say I say in there like I know that I cannot make you believe, but this ain't no make believe soon you go take a knee break a knee.
[00:37:58] You know what I'm saying?
[00:37:59] And so it's real like either you go willily being your knee or that knee go get your fucking foot.
[00:38:08] You know what I'm saying?
[00:38:10] And as you say that and the whole thing I don't care like what you really care about is what's the main thing.
[00:38:17] So all his other things don't make these other things the main thing.
[00:38:21] You know what I'm saying?
[00:38:22] It's like it's like I don't care about that.
[00:38:26] What I care about is the substance of what it is that we are about.
[00:38:32] And too many times it's been a distraction because those things have seemed to be what folks thought the main thing was about.
[00:38:41] You know, and that part begins to be deluding the fate deluding the gospel.
[00:38:47] You know, if the gift or the preaching or the pastor or his or her role becomes that thing where I think then the gospel is flipped upside this mess up because it's or people are making it to be that right.
[00:39:06] That I don't care what I care about is this so that's clever.
[00:39:10] That's clever man.
[00:39:11] That whole thing both of y'all man with the clever insights with that piece right?
[00:39:16] And the barge all just spit right here complimenting the song you have man.
[00:39:20] Just thinking through the culture you're speaking to the passion of Christ, the word of God.
[00:39:30] All that to me forces us to if we're aware of it and the gift that God has in that space to be to be relevant to always be relevant in this space.
[00:39:42] Right?
[00:39:43] No, I think I think it you know it takes it takes work to do that.
[00:39:48] It takes work to take a text and really break it down to be relevant as a generation and each culture is changing on a regular basis.
[00:39:56] You know, indeed.
[00:39:57] Indeed.
[00:39:58] Tony Evans talked about having a senior citizen in front of you, a married couple, a single mom, a single dad, a teenager and then charter takes this text out of Thessalonians and make it make sense.
[00:40:10] That's it.
[00:40:11] Make the scriptures simple as a fifth grade.
[00:40:16] You can understand it and maybe you really grapple with it enough to make it make it that plane.
[00:40:22] Yeah.
[00:40:23] Yeah.
[00:40:24] Consider it in the audience.
[00:40:26] Yeah.
[00:40:27] Where do you see Christian hip hop going?
[00:40:31] In your own experience as artists performing, hearing, listening, seeing patterns and certain inconsistencies or inconsistencies just we're not going to try to put it on blast but just the culture in and of itself.
[00:40:45] Where do you see it going?
[00:40:47] You know that's a great question.
[00:40:49] Yeah.
[00:40:50] You go ahead brother.
[00:40:51] Three.
[00:40:52] Yeah, man.
[00:40:53] I think it's hard to say where is going like in my opinion because there's the mission isn't clear for every, you know, everyone that's doing something.
[00:41:10] You know what I'm saying?
[00:41:11] Like I feel like we're all over the place.
[00:41:13] You have you have artists that are committed to just the fact that, hey, yo, this is a vehicle.
[00:41:22] And if the law put its hands on it with that, then you have people that's pushing further notoriety, pure hearted, but just want to get that to the highest point, the pinnacle of the industry so that God can be made known in that space.
[00:41:40] And then you got those that's just here because they didn't, you know, as mouthpiece say because you couldn't compete with Ross.
[00:41:46] So you came to Christian hip hop because you couldn't really make it.
[00:41:51] You know what I'm saying?
[00:41:53] And so I think if we're not careful to make Christian the capital of the hip hop Christian hip hop capital C, lowcase HH and we don't do that.
[00:42:08] Yeah.
[00:42:09] Then we're not careful when the Lord will take his hands off of it.
[00:42:13] You don't need this.
[00:42:16] You know what I'm saying?
[00:42:17] Like you don't need us to rack to get this word out.
[00:42:20] You don't need us to hit stages to make his name known like he's the most famous person in this, you know what I'm saying?
[00:42:29] We're not in the world.
[00:42:30] We will read and teach him the highest, the book that sold the most copies ever.
[00:42:38] You know what I'm saying?
[00:42:39] Like this isn't something that's needed.
[00:42:42] My hope is that the people that's doing the Christian hip hop, like that our hearts is really aligned with the Lord.
[00:42:49] That we want to serve him for the sake of winning souls to Christ and seeing him when he returns.
[00:42:57] You know what I'm saying?
[00:42:58] Yeah.
[00:42:59] And like living with him for an eternity.
[00:43:01] And so if Christian hip hop goes wherever it goes, my hope is that the artists are grounded and prepared for that.
[00:43:09] You know what I'm saying?
[00:43:10] So yeah.
[00:43:11] And to me, that's where you need maybe someone, some community of folks gathering that are outside of an artist who can pastor, shepherd, artist in that space that way for real.
[00:43:26] You know what you think, Jay?
[00:43:28] I feel like we talked about this a little bit when we was talking at the fire tonight.
[00:43:33] This idea of needing community is really the biggest need for, I mean, for those of us in the faith that's going to be rapping about the Lord.
[00:43:47] Like how could we do that without community?
[00:43:49] You know what I mean?
[00:43:50] There's an inherent part of hip hop that we all have to fight again because it is just part of being a part of the culture.
[00:43:59] And then there's this need to lift yourself up, this boastfulness, this arrogance, pridefulness that comes with being a part of hip hop culture, right?
[00:44:11] Because it comes from a space of feeling marginalized and pushed out and not noticed.
[00:44:17] You know what I mean?
[00:44:18] And so anybody that's a part of this culture has that pridefulness in them and it needs to be rooted out continually because it's a part of who we are.
[00:44:27] And you need community for that.
[00:44:29] You need crews for that.
[00:44:30] That's what I was saying, man.
[00:44:31] Like, you know, the fact that you don't see crews anymore, right?
[00:44:37] Like you don't even see people rolling in the crew no more.
[00:44:39] It's just individual rapper doing their thing and then moving over or at the best you're on a record label or something like that.
[00:44:46] Other label mates, right?
[00:44:47] Like stuff like that.
[00:44:48] Man, I'm hoping that we'll get back to, you know, what we see in scripture.
[00:44:53] You know, Jesus rolled in a pack.
[00:44:55] You know what I mean?
[00:44:56] Like, you know, 12 news will take together everywhere they go.
[00:44:59] You know what I mean?
[00:45:00] You know, Paul, he's doing this missionary journey.
[00:45:02] He got people with him, right?
[00:45:03] Like it's always, you know, so I just, I hope that we can get back to that.
[00:45:07] And I think that will lead to what you were just talking about three like this, this need, this need for having people to hold us accountable to walk with us.
[00:45:15] To make sure that we don't grab the mic too soon.
[00:45:18] And that somebody's always here to check us when, you know, the easiest spirit I think that comes out of us as hip hoppers.
[00:45:26] I know why I just can trust myself man.
[00:45:28] Like I'm an MC and when I hear another MC that's cold, I don't be like, oh, that's what's up.
[00:45:33] You know what I'm saying?
[00:45:34] No, the MC and maybe like, yo, I'm awesome.
[00:45:37] You know what I mean?
[00:45:38] Like, I'm a hip hopper.
[00:45:39] You don't say that's the Lord.
[00:45:41] I got to what do we hope, you know?
[00:45:43] So, you know, it's just the way it is.
[00:45:45] And I think we need each other to remind ourselves of that.
[00:45:48] And so I hope we'll get back to that and see some of that happen again.
[00:45:52] I think in all hip hop, I just miss, I just miss crews.
[00:45:57] I just miss crew.
[00:45:58] Yeah.
[00:45:59] Yeah.
[00:46:00] Yeah.
[00:46:01] Yeah.
[00:46:02] Yeah.
[00:46:03] You got me sad over here, just thinking about that, you know, because as y'all know, like I was with infantry.
[00:46:10] Infantry is no more, right?
[00:46:13] But when we work together, like as a crew, like you just know, like, man, my brother's with me.
[00:46:20] You know what I'm saying?
[00:46:21] We meet now.
[00:46:22] We getting in the scriptures together.
[00:46:24] We praying for each other.
[00:46:25] We hold them accountable and then came to me.
[00:46:29] You know what I'm saying?
[00:46:30] So having that camaraderie was, was dope.
[00:46:34] You know what I'm saying?
[00:46:35] So I definitely know that feeling.
[00:46:37] And yeah, I think, I think that's needed.
[00:46:41] That's needed.
[00:46:42] But we need music.
[00:46:43] We need music that says that is music.
[00:46:46] The reality of real grown folk hip hop that's able to lift people up, have folks have a self-check in a way where it's not super church and condemning condemnation and all that kind of stuff.
[00:47:03] And I think the gifts that you're popping in the body of Christ can really, can really do.
[00:47:07] So man, we thank you.
[00:47:10] I mean, where can people find y'all?
[00:47:12] Man, where can people hunch out down?
[00:47:14] IG, Facebook, Twitter, 777-THRE, 777-THR.
[00:47:24] Give me a follow, man.
[00:47:25] All my pickpages got snatched.
[00:47:27] You know what I'm saying?
[00:47:28] I'm not gonna start over, but I think the Lord was humbling me and doing that.
[00:47:33] You know what I'm saying?
[00:47:34] So now I really don't care about the numbers or anything.
[00:47:38] Life for real is...
[00:47:40] I don't care.
[00:47:42] So now man, the Lord has built up a 777-THRE on everything.
[00:47:47] 3 with 1.
[00:47:48] He got snatched.
[00:47:49] He got snatched up by 312.
[00:47:51] All right, girl.
[00:47:53] Now I got beat with 312.
[00:47:57] Where you at, man?
[00:48:00] Hey, hey.
[00:48:02] You can find me, man, on your 677-THRE.
[00:48:10] Where can they reach you at?
[00:48:12] All right.
[00:48:13] Darryl from Chicago.
[00:48:15] And so a D-A-R-Y-L-F-R-O-M-C-H-I-C-A-G-O.
[00:48:20] That's on Facebook, Instagram, pre-instagram, whatever you use,
[00:48:26] take pride.
[00:48:27] It's all Darryl from Chicago.
[00:48:29] Ben, let me drop these bars on y'all real quick.
[00:48:31] We have first P-5-7 in the Amplify version, which I really like at time.
[00:48:35] It says, casting all your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries,
[00:48:39] all your concerns once and for all on him.
[00:48:43] But he cared for you with deepest affection and watches over you carefully.
[00:48:50] Man, there was a group of people about to walk Kilimanjaro Mountain in Kenya.
[00:48:54] I think it was in Kenya.
[00:48:55] And the guide said, hey, you're going to walk this mountain.
[00:48:59] Do not carry anything else other than what you need.
[00:49:02] Two bottles of water, whatever.
[00:49:04] This one young dude came in.
[00:49:05] This dude had a block of cheese.
[00:49:07] He had two bottles of wine.
[00:49:08] He had lenses for camera.
[00:49:10] He had a blind kid.
[00:49:11] He had some other drink kids and other things like that.
[00:49:14] He's young.
[00:49:15] He's hearing a guy.
[00:49:16] He takes off walking up this mountain when they're in a panacea.
[00:49:21] They up in the mountain about a mile.
[00:49:23] They start seeing some cheese.
[00:49:25] There's a bottle of wine.
[00:49:26] They keep going up a little bit more.
[00:49:28] Oh, there's another bottle of wine.
[00:49:29] Oh, there's some glasses.
[00:49:30] He's going to use your drink to wine.
[00:49:31] Then by the time they got to the top of the mountain, he was just there.
[00:49:36] Nothing else.
[00:49:37] Just at the top of the mountain, right?
[00:49:40] You can't carry it all with you.
[00:49:44] The guide says that stuff you're anxious about,
[00:49:47] the stuff that you're holding on to with the grip,
[00:49:50] let it go.
[00:49:52] Trust in me.
[00:49:53] Let the worries and the concerns that are drowning out your faith be
[00:49:58] given over to me.
[00:50:00] One trigger to do that, Scripture says, is rejoice.
[00:50:03] I say again, rejoice when that stuff is coming.
[00:50:06] Praise God.
[00:50:07] It is the most ridiculous thing in our human existence to praise and sing
[00:50:11] when we're going through stuff.
[00:50:12] A guy said, that's the button that says, you ain't in control.
[00:50:16] Cast all your cares upon him for he is wildly crazy to care for you
[00:50:21] because if you don't, you're going to find yourself having to be
[00:50:24] forced to take that stuff off of you because you can't make it
[00:50:28] to where God would have you to be.
[00:50:29] You're a special field man.
[00:50:31] Hold it down.
[00:50:32] Be with us next week.
[00:50:34] We got some more stuff coming in.
[00:50:35] Some more conversation with great artists, man.
[00:50:37] We got some other things we're about to let you know,
[00:50:39] but only on the ground.
[00:50:40] Check us out.
[00:50:41] Church on the Block.
[00:50:42] DJ Ruckus will see you one day in the Lord.
[00:50:46] Pastor Jay, thank you.
[00:50:48] We out, Joe.
[00:50:49] We out.
[00:50:50] Thank you for listening to Church on the Block.
[00:50:52] We'll talk about hip hop, the church and the streets.
[00:50:54] Back here next week, same time, same channel,
[00:50:57] Holy Culture Radio, Sears XM Channel 154.
[00:51:00] Come with us.