Pop culture mirrors culture, and, I think, as a rapper, hip-hop in a lot of ways mirrors the things that are happening in urban neighborhoods.
Trip Lee
For me, as a believer, I found myself in between two worlds because I live in this world, this fallen world, and I want to glorify God here, and I want to point to Jesus here, I want to work here and live with my wife here, but I also look forward to the recreation of this world when the Lord Jesus comes back and makes all things new.
I know that everyone has their own ideas about what the good life is, and hip hop has especially strong ideas about it. It's been the same old thing for years and years: a bunch of females around you, nice cars and money. I wanted people to know what the good life actually is and challenge a lot of the lies that we're told.
If I just point out the fact that black people hurt each other, too, then we can ignore the fact that other people harm black people. I think it's an irresponsible argument.
If you look at pop culture as the main picture you see of black men, all these kind of threatening pictures and - I think those of us who are artists and who are in media have to think carefully about what those pictures are.
God created you to honor Him, find joy, and serve others. Don't sleep on that.
My wife, she knows me better than anybody else. She knows what I'm struggling with, and she knows where I'm at. And I have friends, pastors, and it's good not to have my only friends be people who think I'm special. It's really good to have people who think I'm just an ordinary guy.
My dad loved music, and he passed that on to me. I fell in love with hip-hop the first time I heard it. I started writing raps at a young age. I wasn't a Christian at that point. I thought I was, but I don't think I was, looking back on it.
You ain't got to wait on a cab no more; just call your Uber, and it pulls up. But waiting isn't an option: that's just a big part of life.
I would like the secular world to know that the Scriptures are about the things that we wrestle with every day. The Scriptures are not ignorant. Life is really hard. We know that things don't always go well and that our hearts don't naturally obey God.
There are different pastors that are good at different things, but one of the things I love is everything I do as a pastor is centered around helping people to understand what God has said in his word, so I don't have to come up with a bunch of new stuff to say.
Some of us care about this - justice and unity - just because it's in style right now.
Let me continue to try to set the record straight: I never retired.
I always assumed I'd marry a black woman.
I would be down to collaborate with certain people if we were able to do it in a way that, you know, what we're saying in the same song wouldn't contradict.
I put a lot of my studies into my music and my writing. I want to be able to address real life issues in a way that not only takes God into account but takes his perspective as we see in His Word. I have a strong desire to be pastor that - I do think it's in my future, but I'm not sure how soon. I do this as a season of preparation for that.
It was always very clear to me that God was sovereign in salvation.
Before I walk onto the stage, it's about the centrality of Jesus and just really keeping a focus on Jesus as opposed to ourselves.
I wanted to write a book specifically aimed toward young people. I wanted to write a book that anybody can read and enjoy, but I did want to aim it at young people and, even more specifically, urban young people.
I've loved hip-hop all of my life, but there came a time in my life when my entire life had a shift: where, before, I was just kind of going to church every now and then; then, there was an actual change, where I actually understood who Jesus was, actually understood the message of the Gospel, and my entire life changed.
I was about 14 when I became a Christian. I had been going to youth group, and I'd heard the Gospel preached, and then suddenly it all started to click. God opened my eyes to see Jesus for who He really was. After I trusted Christ, the Lord changed my entire perspective on everything.
When people ask me what I call myself, I am not going to say 'Christian rapper,' because what they think of when they hear Christian rap is something very different from what I do.
Every trip I made to Atlanta was crucial because it was so hard to get away from family and church duties.
My favorite artist was probably Jay-Z. He's the one who inspired me to start writing music. He's a wordsmith. He's very clever. He uses a lot of similes and metaphors. He's a beast of a rapper.
We're born spiritually dead, and I'm calling for everyone to become spiritually alive. Secondly, don't wait until later to live the way you were created.
I think about the very truth that changed my life. I want to put good things in my music.
Waiting is a big part of life. We don't like to admit that, especially our generation; we don't like to wait on stuff. We want stuff immediately.
Black art is not some kind of a magic wand: there still has to be a humble heart attached that's listening to it. And I know it's not a wand because plenty of fans love to turn on us as soon as they realize we are actual black people, with black concerns in our black lives.
I know, when I was growing up, a lot of the views I was listening to, it was a worldview that was not helpful. The world even sold me a false idea of what the good life was, and I wish that people would have helped me to think better about how to interact with that worldview.
I think I used to not know if I could be a good pastor because I think I had some things in mind that I thought were part of being a pastor that don't necessarily have to be.
I never want to give people something I've already given them; I wanna give them something new, you know? So the people who've been enjoying my music for years, I hope they continue to enjoy.
The more we make our lives about us, then the more we waste our time. When we get older, we devote our lives to ourselves, and then we wasted it. If we want to devote our lives to something significant, something that matters, then we should devote our lives to the Lord Jesus.
When I meet pastors, I'm not like, 'Hey, you should go out there and be a rapper.' Because for so many of us, I think it would just pull us away from our congregations too much to be able to serve them like we should.
The fact that God is for me, that is huge for me when I am thinking about fighting my own sins, because my art tells me that God is against you.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe, not just old, black grandmothers or not just old, white Republican guys.
The Cross Movement was a group that was a huge encouragement to me. The music was good. The content was good. It really spoke to my soul. It was good to have them around as someone I could learn from and really pattern myself after.
I don't' really have lots of hobbies. I like to read and hang out with my family. I'm a pretty boring person beyond that.
I just never want to do anything that's going to compromise what I do. It would have to be a song where there would be honest discussion about something.
The industry is starting to be more open to what we do. I just don't want us to be boxed in whatever people assume Christian rap should be. We're dudes who love hip hop, and we love Jesus, and that's going to be apparent in our music.
There was a time when I was in my sins and I was God's enemy, but now I have been purchased in Christ, and God is for me. He is not going to do anything or command anything that is not ultimately for my good and for His glory.
I love being an example, that, hey, I'm young, I'm a rapper, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation even for me.
One of my passions is helping people understand the Word. I think the most important thing we should be thinking about is who created us and how we were created to live. So I thought that I want to spend a lot of my time actually studying God's Word.
I'm kind of a boring person. People think I get to travel the world and I rap or whatever, but I'm pretty boring. My life is pretty crazy enough, and when I'm not on the road or doing something, I'm kind of boring.
I actually fell in love with hip-hop before I fell in love with Jesus. I'm a fan of hip-hop, I love hip-hop. I don't even necessarily want to call myself 'Christian rapper.' You know, I don't want to put myself in that little box.
My journey was a very organic journey.
As a black man who doesn't know another black man who hasn't had strange run-ins with police officers, it's impossible for us not to think about whether that could have been us - based on our country, based on our culture, based on our past experiences.
One of the things that I just kind of became very enthusiastic about, and wanted to learn more about it, is how God saves.
It would be really dangerous for us to assume that Christian hip-hop's popularity equals racial unity.
Sometimes, my weakness is where the strength really is, and it leads me to depend in the areas where I really should.
I think if you were to ask me when I was much younger what my definition of the good life was, I think it would have sounded a lot like what most people would say - a life with all the things you want and everything you think you need to make you happy, and these sorts of things.
