In this episode of "Church on the Block," Pastor Phil welcomes CHH rapper VerbPro124 for an in-depth discussion on faith, music and healing. Verb, whose name is inspired by Proverbs 12:4, shares her transition from the secular music industry to Christian hip-hop after finding salvation at age 20. They explore the themes of her song "I Am Not That Light," emphasizing the importance of living out gospel principles and addressing personal trauma with God's help. The conversation also covers the challenges within the Christian hip-hop community, such as clout chasing, and the need for authenticity in faith and discipleship.
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[00:00:02] Radio.
[00:00:03] You're on pastor Phil.
[00:00:14] Welcome to church on the block real talk about hip hop the church and the streets with
[00:00:18] my great co-host pastor J and Rock boy on Holy Culture Radio Sears XM
[00:00:25] Tell them it's crazy, tell them it's crazy
[00:00:28] That's right, you got the right channel,
[00:00:29] channel 140, Holy Culture Radio, SiriusXM.
[00:00:33] We are right here, 9 a.m. Central, 10 a.m. Eastern time.
[00:00:37] I don't really count, but we here right now
[00:00:40] in Chicago rocking this show with you
[00:00:43] on this Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
[00:00:44] and we thank you for listening.
[00:00:45] Remember, you can always go to church underscore
[00:00:48] on the block for our Instagram,
[00:00:51] for our Instagram piece, right?
[00:00:53] We got a good 75 people.
[00:00:56] So on a 75, y'all, another 75 people,
[00:00:58] but let us know how you feel.
[00:01:01] Give us a direct message on there
[00:01:04] and tell us your thoughts about the show,
[00:01:06] ideas you may have about the show.
[00:01:08] We're gonna pull a contest in a couple of weeks
[00:01:11] about rocking a song for the opening of the show.
[00:01:14] Right now we have a young artist from Chicago,
[00:01:17] Jake Quest, of Breathe Easy rocking.
[00:01:20] If you see God, he happened to speak,
[00:01:21] tell him it's crazy in these streets.
[00:01:23] And that's been rocking on our show for a while,
[00:01:25] crazy streets, but we wanna put a contest out there
[00:01:28] to see who can give a bangin' opening for our show.
[00:01:32] There ain't gotta even be church in the block language.
[00:01:34] It could be your song, but it's a hype song
[00:01:36] for the concept of the show.
[00:01:37] I mean, so we've been talking to artists
[00:01:39] and we've been talking about the culture
[00:01:41] and we were talking about their music
[00:01:43] and rocking the culture, representing the culture.
[00:01:45] Where is it going?
[00:01:46] And today is gonna be the same way.
[00:01:47] We have one of the hottest, up-and-coming young
[00:01:51] female rappers in the game right now.
[00:01:53] Her name is Virb, what's up, Virb?
[00:01:56] Going all past the fair, what's going on?
[00:01:58] Thank you for being on the show.
[00:02:00] Thank you for being with us now this Sunday morning.
[00:02:03] I'm saying your name right, right, Virb?
[00:02:07] Cause you have another thing to, okay, Virb, right, right.
[00:02:10] And it's not...
[00:02:11] It's really Virb Pro 124, which is
[00:02:15] a virtuous woman is the crowns of the head of her husband,
[00:02:18] but she then make it the shamelessest rottenness in his bones.
[00:02:21] But for sure, people just call me Virb.
[00:02:24] Yeah, cause that's on your...
[00:02:25] I read that on your email, I'm like,
[00:02:26] oh, I'm probably not saying a whole name.
[00:02:28] I'm looking at that.
[00:02:31] That's hot.
[00:02:32] That's hot, that's hot.
[00:02:34] So we wanna know you.
[00:02:35] I mean, you've been on different shows
[00:02:37] and talking about your story,
[00:02:38] but tell us a little bit about you and your life.
[00:02:43] And you know, even how that name came to be
[00:02:46] and the significance of it in your call or ministry?
[00:02:51] I act like the Lord actually told me to call myself that.
[00:02:55] I've actually been rapping since I was eight years old.
[00:02:58] I look like a baby, but I am 36.
[00:03:01] What was that first song you did?
[00:03:03] What was that one?
[00:03:05] Oh, Dirty Dirty.
[00:03:09] I'm from this place.
[00:03:10] Oh, no.
[00:03:12] I can literally spit any verse from back in the day.
[00:03:16] Why?
[00:03:17] But I got a memory like an...
[00:03:18] That's not...
[00:03:19] But actually at the age of 13, I went into industry.
[00:03:24] Wow.
[00:03:25] So I had a manager.
[00:03:27] Wow.
[00:03:28] We literally, every record label that you can think of,
[00:03:31] you know, Facts of Less Deals,
[00:03:34] just really wanting us to come out,
[00:03:36] wanting to come meet me,
[00:03:37] sending their adverts to throw show cases.
[00:03:41] So from the age of 13 to the age of about 18,
[00:03:45] I did the industry thing.
[00:03:46] Wow.
[00:03:47] Man.
[00:03:49] At the age of 20, I actually ended up getting saved.
[00:03:52] Wow.
[00:03:52] And I would do music again.
[00:03:54] I literally put music down.
[00:03:56] I submitted my life unto the Lord.
[00:03:59] I allowed him to just have his way in my life.
[00:04:02] When you say it, you said at 20,
[00:04:05] as you became a follower of Christ,
[00:04:06] you said, I'm done doing music, right?
[00:04:11] Wasn't me saying that I'm done doing music.
[00:04:13] I was saying I was done doing everything
[00:04:15] that reminded me of my old life.
[00:04:17] Wow, okay, okay.
[00:04:19] Yeah, I didn't know God.
[00:04:21] Like I knew of God, I would pray,
[00:04:23] but I didn't have a relationship with the Lord.
[00:04:26] We didn't, we wasn't,
[00:04:28] my family wasn't church-goer.
[00:04:29] Okay.
[00:04:30] But I knew that at the age of 20,
[00:04:32] when the Lord saved me.
[00:04:35] And I don't know if you want to get into that right now
[00:04:37] about why I was, say, what do you call me?
[00:04:41] Yeah, yeah, say your heart, say your heart.
[00:04:44] From the age of, the reason why I even stopped music,
[00:04:47] because I was a bonafide basketball player too.
[00:04:49] I was a point guard.
[00:04:50] I was supposed to go to the W.
[00:04:51] Howdy, ooh, girl got it, talk, stay in!
[00:04:56] I was wrong?
[00:04:59] So from when I turned 17,
[00:05:02] see, I had been molested as a child.
[00:05:05] I was molested at the age of eight by a man
[00:05:09] and at the age of five by a girl.
[00:05:12] When I turned 17, I went into lesbianism.
[00:05:16] So from the age of 17 to man, when I turned 20,
[00:05:20] it just all went to pieces.
[00:05:24] And I was about to die in my sin.
[00:05:27] And the Lord threw the lady who actually became
[00:05:30] my pastor's wife, my pastor at the time.
[00:05:33] I moved on since, but she was,
[00:05:36] he brought salvation to me through then.
[00:05:38] Yeah, so a few days after my 20th birthday,
[00:05:42] it was all over for me.
[00:05:44] And I gave up everything.
[00:05:47] Wow, so all of that tumultuous abuse, right?
[00:05:52] Led into other pathways where you may not even know
[00:05:57] what the moves of abuse was doing, right?
[00:05:59] In some regards as that wound was there
[00:06:02] and as raw as it was, wow.
[00:06:04] Yeah, because I mean, I tell people all the time,
[00:06:07] man, I literally used to go to bed feeling
[00:06:10] like I had a ton of bricks in my stomach.
[00:06:12] And I was feeling like I had a ton of bricks in my stomach,
[00:06:15] not knowing what that feeling was, but hindsight, 2020,
[00:06:19] the Lord speaking to me and my growth and maturity in him,
[00:06:22] I now know that there was a guilt and shame
[00:06:24] that I was carrying around.
[00:06:25] Wow, wow, or being abused or being abused
[00:06:28] or allowing the actions of that abuse kick off.
[00:06:32] Was it true?
[00:06:33] Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:33] You know, just the fact of being abused
[00:06:35] and then your decisions, you begin to make decisions
[00:06:38] through the lens of that trauma.
[00:06:40] So yeah, it was just bad decision
[00:06:42] compound upon bad decision.
[00:06:44] And then of course the worst decision
[00:06:46] would be going into lesbianism.
[00:06:48] And yeah, just living that life
[00:06:51] and not really understanding the ramifications
[00:06:53] of my actions.
[00:06:55] You know, we say in our work, like if you're not seeking
[00:06:59] or transform your wounds, right?
[00:07:01] You'll transfer that, right?
[00:07:03] You'll transfer them on somebody else.
[00:07:04] And some of the transference is on you
[00:07:07] in light of your movements or that.
[00:07:09] Man, that's a good word.
[00:07:11] That's a powerful word.
[00:07:13] How, you know, everything is going on today.
[00:07:16] We pause for, I want you to come back and break everything.
[00:07:18] I don't wanna keep cutting your story down, cutting it up.
[00:07:20] But how deep was that?
[00:07:24] Like you said, this is your world
[00:07:26] would kind of torn apart in that space.
[00:07:29] But like, that's a bold move.
[00:07:31] Like to trust God in that way, in that space.
[00:07:35] And that's a new space.
[00:07:36] That's a new space.
[00:07:39] Like all the variables in this.
[00:07:41] Like what was going on in your head?
[00:07:44] During like the whole transformation of it,
[00:07:47] it was extremely new to me.
[00:07:49] I literally didn't have any preconceived notions
[00:07:53] of about what to expect.
[00:07:54] I didn't have anyone to guide me at the time.
[00:07:56] And this was back in 2006.
[00:07:59] So it was, and this was like when
[00:08:01] lesbianism and homosexuality was really like pumping itself up.
[00:08:05] And I was like stepping back.
[00:08:08] I didn't have anyone who was like,
[00:08:10] hey, I came out of it, I can help you.
[00:08:12] I was in for lack of better words, God's guinea pig.
[00:08:17] Okay, okay, okay.
[00:08:18] Wow.
[00:08:19] All I knew is that everything that I did
[00:08:22] and I tell everybody that everything that I ever did
[00:08:25] everything that I do, I always went a hundred at it.
[00:08:28] So I wasn't going to go a hundred for everything else.
[00:08:31] And then when I came to the king of kings,
[00:08:34] oh yeah, 9%.
[00:08:36] Now I was like, now I'm gonna give him 110.
[00:08:40] Oh, young, but I want to know him.
[00:08:41] And it's my hunger and thirst after righteousness.
[00:08:46] Cause since I was a kid, I was like that I was like,
[00:08:48] if you tell me that I was doing something the wrong way,
[00:08:50] this is how you supposed to do it.
[00:08:52] I was going to gravitate towards the right way
[00:08:55] by that woman bringing,
[00:08:57] this is why lesbianism is wrong to me.
[00:09:00] And I was like, this one plus one equals two.
[00:09:03] Wow.
[00:09:04] Oh wow.
[00:09:05] I can't be at this no more.
[00:09:06] Well yeah, what was some of the,
[00:09:08] like cause there's a lot of folks who have,
[00:09:12] you know, a different view if you will,
[00:09:18] you know what I mean?
[00:09:19] In different perspective on it.
[00:09:20] Cause my belief is everybody's human.
[00:09:23] If you had two heads and you're spinning around,
[00:09:26] I probably wouldn't want to talk to you
[00:09:28] cause I don't know what that is, but you're a human being
[00:09:31] and you're human being this,
[00:09:35] I don't believe that's guys best for you,
[00:09:37] but I'm gonna walk with you in that space
[00:09:41] because you're a human being
[00:09:42] and walk with you in the pronouns and the verbs
[00:09:45] and everything else that isn't there.
[00:09:47] But I wanna walk with you to be that light
[00:09:50] in light of how God would have us to be in that connection.
[00:09:55] But what was it that brought about,
[00:09:59] cause sometimes even talking with folks in that space
[00:10:03] may bring about a level of judgment
[00:10:06] that I don't wanna talk with you any further
[00:10:08] because I may like you said shame,
[00:10:10] I may already feel a certain way in the year.
[00:10:13] So there was a gift and a grace,
[00:10:15] I'm sure that the pastor brought
[00:10:19] to meet you right where you are, right?
[00:10:20] To take you with God happy to be.
[00:10:23] And it was more so because God knows all of us, right?
[00:10:26] It was more so when God came to me,
[00:10:29] he didn't come to me as the lamb
[00:10:32] and he came to me as the lion.
[00:10:34] That's what I needed, that's what I needed.
[00:10:37] So I'm a soldier, I'm a warrior and God knows that.
[00:10:40] So I have to speak to you like a warrior.
[00:10:43] I can't talk to you like be okay type of situation
[00:10:47] like the Bible tells us some save in that way
[00:10:50] but some say with fear, hating the very garment
[00:10:53] that is stained with their seed.
[00:10:56] So when he came to me,
[00:10:58] it was as simple as explaining it as
[00:11:03] everything is about my glory, right?
[00:11:06] Two women can't bring me glory,
[00:11:08] two men can't bring me glory because children
[00:11:10] are my heritage and the food of the wounded is my reward.
[00:11:13] You're not producing there's no glory for me in them.
[00:11:18] And I'm like, I never heard it.
[00:11:20] I had never heard it that way.
[00:11:23] I don't was loving somebody, that was it.
[00:11:26] But it wasn't so good.
[00:11:28] I also know that like I mentor a lot of women
[00:11:33] that have come out of that
[00:11:34] or trying to come out of lesbianism.
[00:11:36] And one thing is for sure
[00:11:38] and I know what I see widespread is that
[00:11:41] when you come out of that they don't deal with their trauma.
[00:11:44] You can't skip over God's process.
[00:11:47] True, true.
[00:11:48] If you have an audit against your brother,
[00:11:50] your brother had an audit against you
[00:11:51] then you need to go your way and be wrecked out
[00:11:53] with your brother and then come back
[00:11:55] and offer your gift at the altar.
[00:11:56] Well, the first thing he had me do
[00:11:58] from saving me was to go and forgive the man
[00:12:01] face to face that molested me.
[00:12:03] Wow.
[00:12:04] Yeah.
[00:12:05] Lady, now how old were you?
[00:12:08] With that you just came to faith in Christ is 20.
[00:12:11] You were at 20?
[00:12:13] I was 20.
[00:12:14] That was my first week of salvation.
[00:12:17] Me too, yeah.
[00:12:19] I am a warrior.
[00:12:20] Wow.
[00:12:21] I pray.
[00:12:23] But yeah, so I mean I'm calling around looking for him.
[00:12:27] I mind you, I have to search for these people.
[00:12:31] I look and I saw the weight lifted off this man's shoulder.
[00:12:35] His shoulders were like this high.
[00:12:37] And I said thank you.
[00:12:38] He said I don't know why nobody
[00:12:39] wouldn't tell you where I was.
[00:12:41] But yeah, I mean I saw that piece of freedom for him
[00:12:45] and then because of I did what God wanted me to do right there,
[00:12:48] God was trusting me more and more.
[00:12:51] Okay, now I need you to go forgive this person.
[00:12:53] Now I need you to go get forgiveness
[00:12:55] for what you did to this person.
[00:12:57] And so everybody I did until there was no people left.
[00:13:01] And then back in 2013, I had just gotten married
[00:13:05] and it was I must I'm like maybe a couple of months
[00:13:09] fresh into my marriage.
[00:13:10] I've been looking for the girl that molested me
[00:13:12] for five years.
[00:13:13] Being my husband, we saw cable was going door to door
[00:13:17] knocking on doors.
[00:13:18] And I wasn't supposed to even knock on this door
[00:13:20] because it's not my area, it's my husband's area.
[00:13:23] Knock on the door, don't worry about it.
[00:13:24] Just mindlessly she didn't come out the door.
[00:13:29] I'm like, I've been looking for you.
[00:13:31] Like where you been?
[00:13:33] Wow.
[00:13:34] And this is in, this is in Texas.
[00:13:36] This is in an area in Texas.
[00:13:38] Man, wow.
[00:13:40] It's a moving to another city in Texas and then moving back.
[00:13:44] And she was all wrapped, she's wrapped up in lesbianism.
[00:13:47] But when she come out, I'm like,
[00:13:50] me I just wanna let you know that I forgive you
[00:13:52] for molesting me kids.
[00:13:54] And she tried to deny it.
[00:13:55] I say, I was like, April, you molested me?
[00:13:57] She's like, okay.
[00:13:58] She said, but be molested me and be with her uncle
[00:14:02] her mama's brother and poor baby.
[00:14:05] So I pray for her as well.
[00:14:07] But it's just they, I forget the name of this movie,
[00:14:12] but it's a Denzel movie.
[00:14:14] And you remember they go around and if you get,
[00:14:17] if they touch you, the demon jumps into you.
[00:14:19] Oh yeah.
[00:14:20] I could watch the rest of that movie.
[00:14:22] I had to go.
[00:14:22] I knew that movie, I'm like, yeah.
[00:14:25] That's the back of the day.
[00:14:26] But that's how it is.
[00:14:28] Like that's what these, the demons wanna do.
[00:14:30] Like I need to corrupt you
[00:14:32] so I can have you to go and corrupt life.
[00:14:35] I need to corrupt other life.
[00:14:37] And it just keeps going until somebody stops and says,
[00:14:40] hey, the book stops at me.
[00:14:42] I'm no longer going to allow that to continue.
[00:14:46] In my, I'm not gonna allow molestation or rape
[00:14:49] to trickle down to my babies or my baby space.
[00:14:52] Right.
[00:14:53] And you said it before that Shane,
[00:14:57] in some experience that I've had in all these years
[00:14:59] of ministry to folks have told me that,
[00:15:04] you know, Shane will, shame is I'm no good.
[00:15:06] Right?
[00:15:07] Shame is I'm no good.
[00:15:08] You know, conviction is, you know, I did it.
[00:15:10] I didn't do a good thing.
[00:15:11] And I failed to do so wrong.
[00:15:13] But that guilt around that I'm no good
[00:15:16] creates a sense of, like you said,
[00:15:20] I'm gonna continue to move in this space
[00:15:24] and molesting and hurting other people
[00:15:27] because of this guilt, I must be no good.
[00:15:30] So this must be the best I'm gonna do.
[00:15:32] Allowing that to continue to perpetuate themselves
[00:15:35] in this space.
[00:15:36] Yeah.
[00:15:36] That and the fact that it's just,
[00:15:41] you kind of feel like you can't help yourself.
[00:15:43] Right, right.
[00:15:44] That's the thing.
[00:15:45] And that's where that guilt is driving you too.
[00:15:47] And a lot of it comes from the deep traumatic stuff
[00:15:50] that happens in a brain.
[00:15:51] Yo, this is church on the block
[00:15:52] where we would burbs, burbs in the building.
[00:15:55] We had a deep, good rich conversation man with burbs,
[00:15:59] burbs in the building all the way from Texas.
[00:16:04] But you were just saying as you confronted the person
[00:16:06] who had molested you, the woman,
[00:16:09] as you deal with the man who like you saw this wig
[00:16:12] coming off, how did that feel?
[00:16:14] Or how did you see her since then happen with her
[00:16:16] or did it or did it?
[00:16:17] I didn't see it happen with her
[00:16:21] because she was still living in that life.
[00:16:23] It's a nile program so that,
[00:16:25] but first she can be married a little bit
[00:16:27] in some way though.
[00:16:27] Right.
[00:16:29] She had ever admitted that her uncle molested her.
[00:16:33] It admitted that to me.
[00:16:35] So I guess she in a sense, you can't say
[00:16:37] something like was shown in that dark place.
[00:16:40] But for me, I got addicted to forgiveness.
[00:16:46] And I'm so serious because every time you do it,
[00:16:51] you just get lighter and lighter and lighter.
[00:16:53] Like where I was feeling like I was walking around
[00:16:55] with a ton of bricks on my stomach.
[00:16:57] I no longer put a bed and wake up with that feeling.
[00:17:00] So I'm like, this is the bomb.
[00:17:02] Who else locked who's next?
[00:17:04] Who's somewhere else getting it?
[00:17:05] Who wants to wear it?
[00:17:07] And like, and it didn't matter to me
[00:17:09] whether it was something I did and I needed to go
[00:17:12] and ask people to forgive me for something that I did
[00:17:15] or if it was something to me.
[00:17:17] I just didn't have any shame anymore.
[00:17:20] I tell, I literally feel like I walk on sunshine.
[00:17:24] The joy of the Lord is truly my strength.
[00:17:26] I know who he is and I know what he can do.
[00:17:28] That is my joy.
[00:17:29] That gives me strength and noise.
[00:17:32] I saw who he is and I know what he can do.
[00:17:34] Oh, pass me the ball.
[00:17:36] You know what I can do?
[00:17:38] Yeah.
[00:17:40] And exactly.
[00:17:42] So, I walk in that sunshine,
[00:17:46] well it's just bar, you just,
[00:17:48] like those are free, those are just free.
[00:17:50] You just driven with me.
[00:17:52] That's a call.
[00:17:53] Now, in the midst of that,
[00:17:56] I don't want to hear about the song you're about to drop,
[00:17:58] but like in the midst of that,
[00:18:00] like what family and other person
[00:18:06] would do with this and other things like
[00:18:08] recognizing this new person of who you were
[00:18:10] or was there some kind of pushback or how was that?
[00:18:14] With my family it definitely was pushback at first.
[00:18:17] Everybody kind of thought it was a fan.
[00:18:20] I mean, especially my family,
[00:18:22] we had never seen anyone truly be saved,
[00:18:24] truly walking in God's love and His mercy
[00:18:27] and just be a new creature.
[00:18:29] So, I mean they were like,
[00:18:31] I think you are Jehovah's Witness.
[00:18:33] Well, I think you're his.
[00:18:34] Like they didn't understand until understood.
[00:18:37] And now I'm the person they call,
[00:18:39] can you pray for me?
[00:18:41] Get here, don't let me.
[00:18:43] They go like after 16 years of walking with the Lord,
[00:18:47] they know, okay, this is not a plan.
[00:18:48] Right.
[00:18:50] Her lifestyle now, this is what she's chosen,
[00:18:53] the life that she's chosen to live.
[00:18:56] Yeah, even for myself I didn't,
[00:18:57] I don't recognize that new person.
[00:19:00] I still walk past the mirror where I was,
[00:19:03] because of the guilt and shame,
[00:19:04] I could look in the mirror.
[00:19:05] Now I walk past the mirror like, man, I love who I see.
[00:19:08] Oh, well, praise God.
[00:19:09] Yeah, yeah, that's so beautiful.
[00:19:11] I mean the reality of the shift of that guilt,
[00:19:16] the release of that guilt to see who God's always seen
[00:19:19] from the jumps, see.
[00:19:21] That's beautiful, that's beautiful.
[00:19:24] So beautiful, like that being not conformed
[00:19:27] to this world would be transformed
[00:19:29] by the renewing of your mind.
[00:19:30] That's so real.
[00:19:31] Yeah, that's real, it's real.
[00:19:33] Transform me, because not only was I reading,
[00:19:35] but I was applying it.
[00:19:37] Mm, you were.
[00:19:38] I just, to this day.
[00:19:39] So you're not only reading, but you were reminded?
[00:19:42] I was applying Lord of God, not,
[00:19:44] I was applying.
[00:19:45] That's God, really.
[00:19:47] Yeah, that's right.
[00:19:48] That's where the rubber meets the road at,
[00:19:49] like it's cool, it's great to know it,
[00:19:52] it's good to understand.
[00:19:54] But when you apply that, that's when it's like,
[00:19:57] oh, this is really real, this is really real.
[00:20:00] Tell us a song that you're gonna play in a little bit.
[00:20:03] And then we'll give you some,
[00:20:05] acapello piece of the song?
[00:20:08] Okay, so actually the song that you guys
[00:20:11] are actually spending your song right now
[00:20:12] is called I Am Not That Light.
[00:20:14] That's the light that I have.
[00:20:16] You got a video on that?
[00:20:18] I'm about to, yeah, you guys.
[00:20:20] Go ahead.
[00:20:22] Okay, well you gotta snippet of something,
[00:20:24] or like I saw something, yeah, I'm not,
[00:20:27] okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:20:30] So that just comes from like,
[00:20:32] any song that I ever write,
[00:20:34] it comes straight from the bite.
[00:20:35] Right.
[00:20:36] I mean, I, it comes from what John the Baptist
[00:20:39] was telling the Pharisees when they came to him,
[00:20:42] like for you and he just,
[00:20:43] so it's a play on this word.
[00:20:44] He was like, I am not that,
[00:20:46] I am not that he's coming
[00:20:47] and he likes every man that's coming into the world.
[00:20:51] So coming from me, how people,
[00:20:55] when you have a talent,
[00:20:55] people tend to wanna lift you up.
[00:20:57] True.
[00:20:58] I don't wanna be lifted.
[00:20:59] I can do, I don't want my butt kicked
[00:21:01] for what I can do.
[00:21:02] Well, I am a human
[00:21:05] and I'm walking out my salvation with fear and tribulation.
[00:21:07] Well, as you, I am not that
[00:21:11] I'm gonna point you to that light.
[00:21:12] Yeah.
[00:21:13] As soon as I heard this song,
[00:21:14] I'm like, I know exactly what you talking about.
[00:21:16] I never,
[00:21:17] but a dude in the Bible who said,
[00:21:19] I am not the Christ.
[00:21:20] So I do exactly what he was talking about.
[00:21:24] So even with the first verse,
[00:21:27] which is my verse,
[00:21:27] cause it's featuring Christina with a K from Bruce Water.
[00:21:31] But my verse just says,
[00:21:32] they say, say, I'm cool.
[00:21:34] I say Ben, pipe down,
[00:21:36] which means like,
[00:21:37] Ben know who I am.
[00:21:38] You may just be finding this out,
[00:21:40] but yeah,
[00:21:41] but they say, say, I'm cool.
[00:21:43] I say Ben pipe down.
[00:21:45] They say show me, they don't know me,
[00:21:47] but they like my staff.
[00:21:48] They say Groovy.
[00:21:49] I say Hoonry.
[00:21:50] They say yeah, house.
[00:21:52] They say show out.
[00:21:53] I say right here.
[00:21:53] They say yeah, right now.
[00:21:55] I say he never been a guy like this.
[00:21:57] Wanna stretch his arms wide and die like this.
[00:21:59] One who rolls a roll the way they rock like this.
[00:22:01] Well, I keep a cannon.
[00:22:02] I keep a cock like this.
[00:22:03] He gave us fire in the night is like this.
[00:22:05] Cause he is the true light.
[00:22:06] In the night is like this.
[00:22:07] Wanna spit fries like this.
[00:22:08] On where did it set to shoes?
[00:22:09] But sit to witness.
[00:22:10] They wanna know who I am.
[00:22:12] So they can't promote me Elijah.
[00:22:14] That frothy just to lift me up and then to mope me nut.
[00:22:17] I keep on telling them that I am not that light.
[00:22:20] I'm the voice in the wilderness testifying of Christ.
[00:22:24] All right.
[00:22:25] Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:27] That's cold.
[00:22:28] That's cold.
[00:22:28] Let's go.
[00:22:29] And how's your style before rock the song in a second
[00:22:33] changed from, I mean, of course we grow mature,
[00:22:35] but like from when you were in the industry, right?
[00:22:40] Has it shifted differently?
[00:22:42] I know the content and the language
[00:22:44] and like you swapped out from like, you know, Paul
[00:22:47] like killing Christians, you know, from Saul
[00:22:49] killing Christian Paul to making believers.
[00:22:53] But like, or is it just, or is it refined
[00:22:56] or is it the same?
[00:22:59] It's refined.
[00:23:00] It's refined.
[00:23:01] I've always been a worse myth.
[00:23:02] I was always ahead of my time.
[00:23:05] It told me I was always ahead of my time.
[00:23:09] But the double time flow, like I always have spoken fast
[00:23:13] but the double time flow came when God said
[00:23:15] I want you to do this.
[00:23:16] It just came out.
[00:23:17] It was, it was, it just, wow.
[00:23:21] It's how I can flip like it ain't nobody's business
[00:23:24] but I wasn't able to do that before.
[00:23:26] Oh, hey, that's cool.
[00:23:28] Cause you always wonder like, that's incredible.
[00:23:32] Cause I could be, I could talk like this
[00:23:33] with a canine saying the word
[00:23:35] but it was my mom's be saying it
[00:23:37] and cadence with making sense.
[00:23:39] That's a gift.
[00:23:40] That's a gift.
[00:23:41] Who made the beat?
[00:23:42] So that beat was actually made by Cyrus and I.
[00:23:46] Okay.
[00:23:47] Now, is there like a network
[00:23:50] you've been in the game in industry
[00:23:52] and now in this Christian move thing
[00:23:55] are there like a network that you lean on
[00:23:56] and rely on when it comes to musical beats
[00:23:59] or you create your own beats or produce your own beats?
[00:24:02] I rely on my never ever team.
[00:24:04] So man, God is just amazing.
[00:24:06] He gave me a T.
[00:24:07] I didn't know how any of this is gonna come about.
[00:24:11] And he gave me, cause I refuse to work
[00:24:15] with people that I don't know.
[00:24:16] I want to know who you are
[00:24:18] because the Bible tells us to know those
[00:24:20] who labor a month.
[00:24:21] So I need to know you.
[00:24:23] But so I rely on a producer who is my also my brother.
[00:24:27] He's my label, Dara JT.
[00:24:31] I'll go to Cyrus for beats cause I know him
[00:24:34] and also deal with a DJ LC,
[00:24:37] but I deal with it with a few producers.
[00:24:39] I know, I don't know what I like.
[00:24:41] Right.
[00:24:42] That's cool.
[00:24:43] So like you said the scripture
[00:24:45] and related to how John was with that passage
[00:24:49] as an artist, and I'm just gonna look at
[00:24:51] where our concept church on the block
[00:24:54] looking at a real talk about hip hop
[00:24:56] of the church in the streets.
[00:24:58] When you look at hip hop
[00:24:59] and we're looking at Christian hip hop
[00:25:00] and we're looking at just,
[00:25:03] hip hop to me is hip hop.
[00:25:04] I don't like when people say,
[00:25:05] this is black gospel.
[00:25:07] This is gospel.
[00:25:08] It's all gospel.
[00:25:09] It's the gospel.
[00:25:09] So hip hop is hip hop in that same context.
[00:25:11] Now when you look at the industry
[00:25:13] and I'm just saying,
[00:25:15] put it on a lens cap.
[00:25:16] How this message, real talk about hip hop
[00:25:19] how this message nor the industry
[00:25:21] from where you come from, right?
[00:25:23] Permiace that what messages are you trying
[00:25:25] to create in that?
[00:25:27] And I mean, the other one message is just saying
[00:25:30] but like when you think through the industry
[00:25:31] you think about the Christian industry
[00:25:33] and secular if you will,
[00:25:37] what are you trying to permeate in the midst of this?
[00:25:39] I really want people to be able to understand the gospel.
[00:25:43] Right?
[00:25:44] The word of God.
[00:25:46] There's one thing to be able to read it
[00:25:47] but I just hear so many times that
[00:25:51] I don't understand it.
[00:25:52] I don't understand what apply it.
[00:25:54] Yeah.
[00:25:55] So the Bible tells us that they won't know
[00:25:59] unless I send a pastor to teach to them
[00:26:01] or minister of the gospel.
[00:26:03] But I minister the word of God in my music.
[00:26:06] If you can, I may rap fast
[00:26:08] but when I slow it down and you hear me
[00:26:11] I'm speaking scripture.
[00:26:12] Yeah.
[00:26:13] Man because I just believe that
[00:26:15] whatever you listen to you become, right?
[00:26:19] You're listening to secular music.
[00:26:21] You become what you listen to
[00:26:24] regardless of what anybody may think
[00:26:25] you are the sum of whatever you listen to
[00:26:28] or whatever you're doing.
[00:26:30] I just lived that life and I know.
[00:26:33] So I really want people to be engulfed
[00:26:35] in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:26:37] And to really just live that.
[00:26:39] You know what I'm saying?
[00:26:40] Yeah, so this song as somebody who
[00:26:44] whether they're believe or not
[00:26:45] they're like, now I just don't understand the gospel.
[00:26:47] I don't understand the message.
[00:26:48] That's the emphasis of that.
[00:26:49] Oh, as you put on my writing hand
[00:26:53] or you put on your thinking cap
[00:26:55] of how that's gonna go forth.
[00:26:57] That's the clarity you're trying to bring.
[00:27:01] And the style that you think God is gifted you with
[00:27:04] so people can catch it in that context.
[00:27:06] I want people to know what God is saying
[00:27:08] and it's so catchy because you're like,
[00:27:10] wait a minute, first of all, that's a female.
[00:27:12] Secondly, that's a time where it's irresistible.
[00:27:16] So you're like, I wanna listen to what she say.
[00:27:18] Right, right, right.
[00:27:24] The reality of the culture right now
[00:27:28] and your experience like Christian MCs,
[00:27:30] what are you seeing are,
[00:27:33] I mean we know the song you just mentioned
[00:27:35] as a dominant message to bring clarity.
[00:27:37] But just overall, what are you seeing
[00:27:39] in the Christian hip hop culture right now?
[00:27:45] It's really tough to say, I'm gonna say it
[00:27:48] but it's tough from what I'm seeing.
[00:27:52] I see a lot of cloud chasing.
[00:27:55] I see a lot of, man, I want to,
[00:27:59] I want to resonate more with the world
[00:28:01] than with the church.
[00:28:03] And I kind of feel like everybody is trying to be like,
[00:28:05] I'll make my music for this and that.
[00:28:08] And I'm like, man, yeah,
[00:28:09] but y'all forgetting about the church.
[00:28:12] And I'll make my music for the church.
[00:28:15] When God told Ezekiel that,
[00:28:18] don't worry about them people over there.
[00:28:21] I need you to go tell this to my church
[00:28:23] because if I send you to them unbelievers,
[00:28:26] they're gonna repent and come to me.
[00:28:28] They're easy.
[00:28:30] It's the people in the church that are hardheaded.
[00:28:33] It's the people in the church
[00:28:35] that needs to understand what they've been hearing
[00:28:37] and listening, I mean, reading all these many years.
[00:28:40] It's the first that really need to know my process
[00:28:43] on how they get to the next level
[00:28:45] and stop being on this roller coaster all life.
[00:28:47] Wow. Wow.
[00:28:48] They need to know how to live,
[00:28:50] how your joy remains.
[00:28:51] You know what I'm saying?
[00:28:52] That's what he wants.
[00:28:53] So that's what he said
[00:28:54] and needs your joy to remain.
[00:28:56] And I'm not gonna say this
[00:28:58] because you have been winning repentant.
[00:28:59] Truly, you haven't turned away from your sin
[00:29:02] because you have, you know,
[00:29:03] when it forgiven, forgiven your forgiveness
[00:29:06] and God forgiveness for what you've done.
[00:29:09] Because too is it, if Ezekiel goes to witness
[00:29:12] and they come to faith in God
[00:29:15] and they go to what the church,
[00:29:17] they go to the body is like, oh, these folks.
[00:29:19] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:29:20] So they'll be like, this is what?
[00:29:23] Man, this is good.
[00:29:24] This is good.
[00:29:25] Yeah. We are here with Verge, Church on the Block.
[00:29:27] Real talk about hip-hop, The Church of the Streets Man.
[00:29:30] We are here talking to Verge
[00:29:31] and he said, don't know now you know.
[00:29:33] You heard a smidler folk.
[00:29:34] So there's no way to rewind on this whole little thing
[00:29:37] but I hope you can pause it and do something.
[00:29:40] It'll be on the podcast soon enough
[00:29:41] but right now live, Verge is with us
[00:29:44] and rock that song powerful,
[00:29:47] I'm not the light, complimenting John.
[00:29:50] I'm not the grace.
[00:29:51] All that kind of play out words.
[00:29:52] You talk about a wordsmith.
[00:29:53] I caught her from the job like, okay, okay.
[00:29:57] And I love what you said about the church.
[00:30:01] What do you see like your generation
[00:30:03] and the generation you're rhyming to?
[00:30:04] What do you see that generation seeing the church as?
[00:30:08] Like do they, I mean, again, nothing new under the sun.
[00:30:10] Each generation has a different reiteration
[00:30:12] of what the last generation struggled with.
[00:30:14] I believe it may look a little faster
[00:30:16] because of technology, it may look a little harder.
[00:30:18] What are the cases but where are you,
[00:30:19] what are you seeing as you out doing concerts
[00:30:21] or as you're on the street
[00:30:22] or as you're rhyming in different spaces and ministry?
[00:30:29] I really feel people to really get back
[00:30:32] to the basis of it, right?
[00:30:34] Yeah.
[00:30:35] We've been living the last day since Jesus was on the crops.
[00:30:40] It's really important that we get back
[00:30:42] to how things are supposed to be done
[00:30:45] because at the end the music ain't gonna matter.
[00:30:47] When the music stops, none of it's gonna matter.
[00:30:50] We don't wanna stand before the Lord and say,
[00:30:51] well, Lord did not prophesy your name,
[00:30:53] did not do music and your name did not put your name
[00:30:57] and then he say get away from me.
[00:30:59] I never work her iniquity.
[00:31:02] So it's that people are putting all of their works
[00:31:05] before the basis of it.
[00:31:08] And that all comes from like I said,
[00:31:11] just not really going in allowing God to heal you
[00:31:15] from whatever your trauma was
[00:31:17] because we all have dealt with drama
[00:31:19] and there's not a person on earth
[00:31:21] that did not deal with some sort of trauma in their lives.
[00:31:25] But go and allow God to heal you, go and deal with that.
[00:31:28] Go do what he said to do,
[00:31:29] go be reconciled with these people
[00:31:31] so that he can give you whatever it is
[00:31:34] that he has for you to do.
[00:31:36] Maybe you're not supposed to be in a certain space.
[00:31:38] Maybe you're not supposed to be a rapper.
[00:31:40] Maybe you're not supposed to be,
[00:31:41] but you won't know that if you continue
[00:31:44] to compel whatever you want on your trauma.
[00:31:49] I should be a rapper
[00:31:51] because I can just rom cat and hat.
[00:31:53] Ah, I can't on that beat.
[00:31:57] Calm down.
[00:31:58] It took 16 years for me to get here.
[00:32:00] All right.
[00:32:01] Here's old and man, you know,
[00:32:04] I'm like, well, I'm in my 20s.
[00:32:06] You weren't ready.
[00:32:07] You still here.
[00:32:09] You was having babies.
[00:32:10] You was getting married.
[00:32:12] Yeah, really?
[00:32:12] Well, what I'm seeing is that people think
[00:32:16] that Jesus is over there with Jesus is right here.
[00:32:19] All the shows that I'm going to,
[00:32:21] like we don't deal with the main thing
[00:32:24] and what's going on in people's lives.
[00:32:25] And that's their trauma.
[00:32:26] We're not rightly discipling people anymore.
[00:32:29] Like these disciples walked with Jesus three years
[00:32:32] before they were able to have their own men's sharing
[00:32:35] and be called a rapper.
[00:32:37] But we get saved 30 days and we, yeah.
[00:32:39] And Jesus is this and that.
[00:32:41] And it's like you have nothing in you.
[00:32:43] You have no, you're that seat that was sewn among,
[00:32:48] you know, the ground.
[00:32:49] Many years of this world happened,
[00:32:52] the devil gonna pluck it out of you.
[00:32:54] Go fruits, you know?
[00:32:56] To get calf fruit, meat for a pit.
[00:32:58] Right, exactly, exactly.
[00:33:00] And it's almost as if you gotta make it work for God.
[00:33:05] You're trying to do it on my hand.
[00:33:07] Like when he fixes for God and being patient enough
[00:33:12] and even if you're passionate,
[00:33:15] it's coming from a sincere space.
[00:33:17] Being patient with that,
[00:33:19] because you know, you use a marathon, right?
[00:33:21] I always say, your faith is a long walk
[00:33:24] in the same direction.
[00:33:25] Long walk in the same direction.
[00:33:27] And as you grow in that,
[00:33:30] as you grow in that space,
[00:33:31] you give yourself some grace
[00:33:33] and allow yourself to mature in that space.
[00:33:36] And not like you say, compile on there.
[00:33:39] And not run away from the things
[00:33:41] that you gotta really face.
[00:33:43] That's right, because that's what is at the end of the day,
[00:33:45] that's what this is about.
[00:33:47] But we have one example, a good example in the Bible of that
[00:33:50] and that's Cain and Abe.
[00:33:52] Cain was getting out with he wanted God to have.
[00:33:54] Abel gave God, I'd ask for it.
[00:33:57] We like to get out with we want God to have
[00:33:59] and God is like, I'm not pleased with you.
[00:34:02] With your awful.
[00:34:03] Go with everybody else that I'm pleased with did.
[00:34:06] And then I will be pleased with your offering as well.
[00:34:09] No, yeah.
[00:34:11] God is looking for us our surrender and all that I've been
[00:34:15] talking about this whole time is surrender.
[00:34:16] He wants us to surrender so that he can live in us.
[00:34:19] Remember the Bible says that it is not I that live
[00:34:22] but Christ that live within me.
[00:34:23] So we're allowing God to live through us
[00:34:27] through his Holy Spirit and not us, you know, say,
[00:34:29] yeah, you all want to do this or God, I'm gonna do that.
[00:34:32] It's like, you know, slow down,
[00:34:33] slow your roll, walking.
[00:34:36] Right, right.
[00:34:38] So you got another song for us?
[00:34:40] I do, I do.
[00:34:42] It's called Salt and Light.
[00:34:44] But so I'm gonna let y'all play that one.
[00:34:46] But I really want to spit this verse for this song
[00:34:48] is about to come out.
[00:34:49] OK, so the song are no fear.
[00:34:52] And I'm actually a feature on the song is ban.
[00:34:55] Oh, it's bad.
[00:34:57] But the song really just comes from
[00:35:00] if the basis of the song is talking about how we
[00:35:04] we're not afraid, we're not afraid of what the devil
[00:35:07] is trying to do or, you know, like we're not punks
[00:35:11] just because we're in the church.
[00:35:12] When I put I heard this thing, all these scary gold church.
[00:35:14] This ain't where punks go.
[00:35:15] The church is not where the church is.
[00:35:18] The world is.
[00:35:21] Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:23] But this verse says,
[00:35:25] the devil let me get my heart beat fast.
[00:35:27] He's stupid. No one fearless.
[00:35:28] Seattle sent him to the Lord that he is my refuge
[00:35:31] and my fortress.
[00:35:31] You know that there will be this.
[00:35:33] But then the Lord told me he can be that way.
[00:35:34] The trade on surface is coping.
[00:35:35] He's been told me to give me the spirit of fear,
[00:35:38] but a power of love in the sound mind.
[00:35:39] I'm a worry and I heard this.
[00:35:41] I'm gonna say this real risk.
[00:35:42] Gonna be a thousand out of my side.
[00:35:43] 10 thousand by my right hand.
[00:35:45] Tell him come try selling me wolf tickets,
[00:35:47] but they never come night.
[00:35:48] I'm gonna see that reward, but only with my eyes.
[00:35:50] How would I be afraid for the terror by night?
[00:35:52] Know the arrows by day.
[00:35:53] You can go let them fly.
[00:35:54] Who is to spill a sign that he should defy?
[00:35:56] Come and watch what I do to this uncircumcised.
[00:35:59] By the spirit and the power of the Lord.
[00:36:01] Ruktu was four head to head with the sword.
[00:36:03] Feast, carcass to the burst of the feet and in George.
[00:36:05] After I'm done with him, I'm a going to this boy.
[00:36:07] I do not feed them that only can kill his form.
[00:36:09] I feel the one that can keep me through my soul in the void.
[00:36:11] I know you repite your steel keel in this shawing.
[00:36:13] Can't have nothing of her, but you can't get a noise
[00:36:15] because I'm fearless.
[00:36:19] You got the whole wrap up with the dirty south in there.
[00:36:22] You hear it?
[00:36:24] It's in there.
[00:36:25] Oh, that's.
[00:36:26] That's.
[00:36:27] That's not.
[00:36:30] So that's the song that's coming up,
[00:36:31] but that's not the song we're about to listen to.
[00:36:33] And I'm saying.
[00:36:34] The song light is a song we're going to listen to
[00:36:36] and I love that song, but it's biblical.
[00:36:41] Where Jesus given, he was given this sermon.
[00:36:43] He was talking about we are the salt of earth.
[00:36:46] You are the light of the world.
[00:36:47] A city that is set on the hill cannot be here.
[00:36:50] You even talk about in the song,
[00:36:53] when I remember like if a song loses its salt,
[00:36:55] it's right.
[00:36:56] And you say that in the song.
[00:36:57] Yeah. Yeah. You're right.
[00:36:58] You're right.
[00:36:59] Yo.
[00:36:59] You want me to read it real quick?
[00:37:01] Oh, I'm sorry.
[00:37:02] I still got no fear in my brain, but we will make the shine.
[00:37:09] I might still hide in there.
[00:37:10] The city said on the hill can't get seen up with the map.
[00:37:12] With your map, neither do you like the candle.
[00:37:14] We put it under respect.
[00:37:15] We don't like so the world got to put us on the red.
[00:37:17] I we always chose to be instructed by God.
[00:37:19] It's coming to read what we did with our lives.
[00:37:21] Don't hide the talent.
[00:37:23] He sent us to multiply.
[00:37:25] We stopped the positive in our flight.
[00:37:26] Don't our compensation this season like before.
[00:37:28] We don't like to lose your savings and salt, salt, bro.
[00:37:30] Before you pick up nothing, then be thrown to the floor.
[00:37:33] Then be thrown to the floor.
[00:37:34] Oh, question.
[00:37:34] We will come out the king.
[00:37:35] Remember that is a blessing.
[00:37:36] So let your light shine.
[00:37:37] Let people look, watch, glorify the Father with his in head.
[00:37:42] It's free scripture.
[00:37:43] I wanted to say it about you.
[00:37:46] Who you are.
[00:37:47] I wonder what you mean.
[00:37:50] Who you are.
[00:37:51] Eddie.
[00:37:52] That's dope.
[00:37:53] That's dope.
[00:37:53] Again, sort of like, right?
[00:37:56] The two major components of our own life in general.
[00:37:59] Like we want salt to preserve stuff.
[00:38:01] We want salt to bring that flavor out.
[00:38:04] We want light to see in the room, right?
[00:38:05] When light comes on, darkness is checked.
[00:38:07] It's checked right away.
[00:38:08] Darkness ain't thinking about like, oh no, I ain't afraid to go.
[00:38:11] Right?
[00:38:11] So as believers, that's a call on our heart
[00:38:16] to be constantly aware that when that bus driver says
[00:38:19] something foul to you, you remember you saw the light.
[00:38:22] You got to sit your butt down and then maybe they had a bad day.
[00:38:24] Like, my bad.
[00:38:25] But if you were to bug that, if you were to bug that,
[00:38:28] it would have been like, oh, that's how it's going to be.
[00:38:30] So like, how do you see that song?
[00:38:33] How has that song been with the community of people
[00:38:37] where you rocketed at events or concerts?
[00:38:40] How does it resonate?
[00:38:41] That people love that song.
[00:38:44] I remember I went-
[00:38:46] I love it too.
[00:38:47] At a church for like a youth group and the kids were like,
[00:38:52] can you do it again?
[00:38:53] And can you finish doing whatever song you're playlist?
[00:38:56] So I ended up doing all of my songs for that youth group.
[00:39:00] Yeah, but they love that song.
[00:39:03] Wow, wow, wow.
[00:39:05] So that's good.
[00:39:06] And that just shows to me the hunger that's still there,
[00:39:11] especially for what's clear, what's pure.
[00:39:14] You know, it's not even drinking out of a bogus fossil,
[00:39:16] but it's only why they got a drink.
[00:39:17] They just make it taste good even though-
[00:39:20] Yeah.
[00:39:21] I'm saying it right.
[00:39:24] So as we talked about, you know, the church,
[00:39:26] the church on the block,
[00:39:26] we're talking about hip hop, the church in the streets.
[00:39:29] Your style and the way in which you deliver,
[00:39:31] do you- how do you see it resonating with the streets?
[00:39:35] I definitely see people rocking with it.
[00:39:38] And I'm very happy because nobody want to create art
[00:39:42] and don't nobody like your art.
[00:39:44] Like you got this big-
[00:39:46] That and then show-
[00:39:47] take show art and then nobody comes
[00:39:49] because they like your stuff is ugly or something.
[00:39:51] But it's just real heartwarming.
[00:39:56] It's just dope to have people like-
[00:39:58] I mean, recognize your store.
[00:40:00] I've only been doing this since 2023.
[00:40:04] So to have people-
[00:40:06] Oh man, okay.
[00:40:07] Well, I'm in the stores.
[00:40:08] Am I like, yo, I know you.
[00:40:10] I know you.
[00:40:11] Or they bring their phones to me and be like,
[00:40:13] ain't this you?
[00:40:14] Yeah, that's me.
[00:40:16] So I really see-
[00:40:17] And I'm not a forgettable person.
[00:40:19] You know, you have those people that-
[00:40:22] you just when-
[00:40:23] on time you know them for every time I see you.
[00:40:27] But yeah, the streets have definitely been rocking with it.
[00:40:31] And for me, I'm just-
[00:40:33] I'm glad to see it
[00:40:34] because nobody really got to hear my music
[00:40:37] when I was in the secular industry.
[00:40:39] Nothing ever dropped.
[00:40:40] I wish I always shop in my music.
[00:40:42] But yeah, this is dope.
[00:40:44] Yeah.
[00:40:47] Yeah.
[00:40:48] I mean, the reality is
[00:40:49] that with the streets,
[00:40:50] real recognize real.
[00:40:51] So if it's real,
[00:40:53] just do like, okay, she's saying something, Joe.
[00:40:56] That's hot.
[00:40:57] That's hot.
[00:40:58] You know what I mean?
[00:40:58] I ain't no Christian rabbi.
[00:40:59] That's hot.
[00:41:00] That's hot.
[00:41:01] The-
[00:41:02] I was like, hey, you know.
[00:41:05] I like that.
[00:41:06] I like that.
[00:41:08] Do you have an EP coming out?
[00:41:09] The EP is going to be called Love Letters to God.
[00:41:13] So I have like my-
[00:41:15] Any album or series,
[00:41:16] I mean any album or EP
[00:41:17] that I drop is gonna be called Love Letters to God,
[00:41:20] part one, part two.
[00:41:21] Because that's real.
[00:41:23] That I'm doing I write Love Letters to God via song.
[00:41:27] But yes, it's gonna have six or seven songs on it.
[00:41:31] I am not that light as one of those songs.
[00:41:33] And man, I got some heat for the rest of the-
[00:41:35] That's good.
[00:41:40] That's good.
[00:41:41] Do you have an idea
[00:41:42] when you're gonna have a come out
[00:41:43] or that nobody know I know?
[00:41:45] Yeah, no.
[00:41:45] I already told you that.
[00:41:46] You mean like the songs that are gonna be on there?
[00:41:49] Well, no, no.
[00:41:50] Like when the EP will be out?
[00:41:51] Like you having a-
[00:41:52] That's the summer of this year.
[00:41:55] Yeah, probably drop it late summer.
[00:41:58] And before it drops,
[00:41:59] I probably have one more single that comes off of it.
[00:42:02] And most likely it'll be a song called
[00:42:03] They Don't Hear Me Though.
[00:42:05] But-
[00:42:06] This is-
[00:42:06] I like that.
[00:42:09] That's good.
[00:42:10] That's good.
[00:42:11] So where can people catch up with that?
[00:42:13] What ways do they connect with you?
[00:42:16] I'm on IG.
[00:42:18] If you type in Burr Pro 124, I will pop up.
[00:42:21] I'm the only one on there.
[00:42:23] Big talk.
[00:42:24] If you type in that same name, Burr Pro 124,
[00:42:27] I will pop up.
[00:42:28] I'm the only one on there as well.
[00:42:30] But those are my two social media accounts
[00:42:33] and you can follow me on there
[00:42:35] and catch up with me, see what's going on,
[00:42:36] see what's dropping.
[00:42:38] Good, good.
[00:42:39] You have some-
[00:42:39] Are you traveling after the EP drops?
[00:42:42] Or you already got some travel dates
[00:42:43] you got going on now?
[00:42:45] Yeah, with the shows,
[00:42:47] I just let the Lord lead me.
[00:42:49] And people just call me out of the blue.
[00:42:52] Someone called me,
[00:42:55] they found me on TikTok
[00:42:56] and she wants me to come to California
[00:42:57] and tears me to come to LA
[00:43:00] with Hope.
[00:43:02] So,
[00:43:03] can you just-
[00:43:04] Yeah.
[00:43:05] They catch you and-
[00:43:06] I hope so.
[00:43:08] Hopey.
[00:43:09] Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:10] He's a, yeah, they're bringing him
[00:43:12] and they're able to open up for him.
[00:43:15] So, man, you just never know.
[00:43:17] I just, I'm diligent at what I do.
[00:43:19] I'm just here and allowing God to direct my past.
[00:43:23] Exactly.
[00:43:24] That's how it's gotta be.
[00:43:25] And that comes a lot more authentic, right?
[00:43:27] And organic at the same time
[00:43:29] and it sticks.
[00:43:31] Yo, Vervis, good to bless you, man.
[00:43:32] A pleasure to have you on our show.
[00:43:34] We wanna have you back.
[00:43:35] And we wanna have you back
[00:43:36] with other women MCs on the show
[00:43:40] and we may just do a little imprompt battle against
[00:43:44] the situations in life.
[00:43:46] We do a battle at our Firefest Hip Hop Block Party
[00:43:50] and the battle is not against flesh and blood.
[00:43:52] So we pull out of a hat, topics.
[00:43:55] So the topic is bogus education, political system,
[00:43:59] bogus lunches in the cafeteria at school, right?
[00:44:01] So mugs pull it out of there
[00:44:02] and they gotta rap about that.
[00:44:04] That'll test your skills
[00:44:05] cause we don't route.
[00:44:06] And then the last battle
[00:44:07] is build up and esteem your partner
[00:44:10] when you battle with it.
[00:44:11] I love it.
[00:44:12] Right?
[00:44:12] So now you gotta think,
[00:44:13] look at you with your rocks.
[00:44:15] Oh, no, no, no.
[00:44:16] So it's all about elevating each other,
[00:44:20] elevating God and the rest of that peace.
[00:44:21] So we're gonna stay in touch with you,
[00:44:23] but we wanna have you back again
[00:44:25] by yourself and some ladies
[00:44:26] and especially as the EP drops
[00:44:28] we wanna be able to support that
[00:44:30] and pump that up as well.
[00:44:31] So thank you so much.
[00:44:33] We're gonna stay in tune
[00:44:34] and we look for the movement
[00:44:37] of what God is already doing
[00:44:38] what God is gonna do in your life.
[00:44:39] So thank you.
[00:44:40] Thank you for being able to show us.
[00:44:42] And let me drop these bars on you, man.
[00:44:45] There was a dude who got a job at a zoo
[00:44:51] and just do a regular zoo stuff.
[00:44:53] Whatever you do, work at the zoo.
[00:44:56] One man came who was like the manager guy
[00:44:59] of the zoo said, look,
[00:45:01] you just gotta start to hear your kind of a big guy.
[00:45:03] Look, this can be a weird request
[00:45:05] but we're gonna pay a lot of money
[00:45:06] like $1,000 a week.
[00:45:08] The gorillas that are supposed to be here
[00:45:11] are gonna be two weeks late.
[00:45:11] Man, we need you to put on these gorillas.
[00:45:13] We got people coming in and pay tickets
[00:45:15] to see this gorilla coming from Africa.
[00:45:17] Will you do it?
[00:45:18] He said, yeah, you know, look,
[00:45:19] you don't gotta do nothing.
[00:45:20] Just walk around the cage.
[00:45:21] She's like, cool, I can do that.
[00:45:22] I can do that.
[00:45:24] Man goes in the cage and he's dead chilling
[00:45:27] walking out every once in a while
[00:45:29] doing this thing, getting hot in that thing
[00:45:30] or getting some water or whatever.
[00:45:32] People laughing, looking at him
[00:45:33] and they throwin' stuff, he catching it
[00:45:36] and they're like, okay, okay.
[00:45:37] But by the second week, man,
[00:45:39] the dude who got straight bored
[00:45:40] he started swinging on the vines
[00:45:41] and everything, he said like, oh,
[00:45:43] snap, swing into a flips.
[00:45:44] He's kind of athletic or whatever.
[00:45:46] People started hearing about this gorilla at the zoo, man.
[00:45:48] They were like, yo, we gotta check this dude out.
[00:45:50] They started coming in one night.
[00:45:52] The people around the zoo cage were,
[00:45:55] and they was calling Gorilla, Gorilla.
[00:45:58] They was just hyping him up
[00:45:59] because he was so hyped
[00:46:01] and jumping around on these things
[00:46:02] everybody was like, we gotta come see this cat.
[00:46:04] So he gets ramped up.
[00:46:06] He's running, he jumps on the vines, he's swing.
[00:46:09] He jumps on another vines, he swings on that.
[00:46:10] He jumps on another vines, he swings on that boy
[00:46:12] and that bad boy flies in the sky
[00:46:14] but the vines snaps
[00:46:16] and he rolls into the dagum lion's den.
[00:46:21] He's sitting there rolling the lions dead.
[00:46:23] He's like, yo, help me, help me.
[00:46:25] I'm a man in the monkey suit.
[00:46:26] I'm a man in the monkey suit.
[00:46:27] The lion runs over and jumps on top of him
[00:46:30] and says, man, if you don't shut up
[00:46:32] you're gonna get us both fired.
[00:46:35] There was a man in the monkey suit
[00:46:36] and a man in the dagum lion suit.
[00:46:40] Yo, how many monkey suits do you got on?
[00:46:42] How many monkey suits have you been wearing
[00:46:45] that have just made you feel comfortable?
[00:46:48] And this is how life is gonna be.
[00:46:50] God says, don't have to wait until you get into a lion's den
[00:46:54] to take the monkey suits off.
[00:46:56] Trust in the Lord, see and taste and see.
[00:47:00] The Lord is good
[00:47:02] and you can come real and authentic with all your mess.
[00:47:05] Maybe you got 10, 12 monkeys to show him
[00:47:07] but God says I'm here for all the smoke.
[00:47:11] Trust in the Lord with all your heart
[00:47:13] and lean not to your own mistake.
[00:47:15] All your ways acknowledge him
[00:47:17] and Christ will make him flesh.