My first love of hip-hop was born out of the Christian rap songs of the deceased Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez. (Check out his first album at http://posafebeats.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Supper)
It was actually his second album that I heard first. The title alone was enough to grab my attention. The Lyrical Strength of One Street Poet. D-Boy was the first rapper that I had heard who was talking about God. His message was so positive and powerful. I was blown away. It didn't take long before his music inspired me to start rapping.
So I started doing my thing with my best friend at the time, Patrick Clough. Pat's parents, Greg and Patty Deaner, were musicians. They had this nice little home studio in their upstairs bedroom and would let Pat and I go in there and make music. For me, it was amazing. Pat already knew how to work Cakewalk on the computer and also knew how to use the Alesis HR-16 drum machine. We started writing Christian rap songs. We played a few shows in Pat's church, my church, (Once at my church. Then I was told I could never rap there again.) and several other churches. We did a town fair, pep ralley at school, etc. The Christian music industry was putting out some DOPE Christian rap. If you want a sample just to go my homie Jay Money's blog for the Sunday Supper. Each Sunday Money posts a different Christian rap album for people to listen to. So check that out at the link I listed above for D-Boy. Anyway, I was listening to all this Christian rap and I was writing and performing Christian rap. That was what I felt my "calling" in life was. Then came Greenville College.
Pat and I both wound up going to Greenville College. Greenville is a Christian liberal arts college. Christian and liberal are kinda oppisite in a lot of ways, don't ya think? In high school I was pretty much an outcast. I didn't drink or party and I was trying to live my life the way I thought a "Christian" was supposed to live. I didn't curse, have sex, tried to be positive and respectful, etc. Well, that life philosophy combined with the rap thing didn't go over too well in Mason City, IL. When I signed up to go to Greenville I thought it was the answer to all my prayers. Don't get me wrong. It was in a lot of ways. It just wasn't what I expected. I really truely thought that things were going to be so much easier. I though I'd be able to make lots of friends. I thought people would accept me for who I was. No more judging or persecution because I was going to be around other Christians. Looking back, I was so young and naive. It's like I was expecting a Utopia or some shit.
I found out very quickly that people are people. And people fear what they don't understand. I remember one of my first days at Greenville I was wearing a Gospel Gangstas t-shirt, a bandana, and some jeans that probably didn't fit very snug. I remember people looking at me with wide eyes for a moment and then turning away. I was feeling it already. Rejection. I didn't take it too well. It hurt me pretty deeply to think I was in yet another place where I wouldn't "fit in". That same year Pat started drifting off into his own world. He pretty much stopped doing rap with me. I made things worse by having a little bit of a mental or nervous breakdown during a choir tour. Pat and I were roommates that year as well. After I was acting all crazy during that choir tour he pretty much distanced himself from me. In case anyone is reading this that knows Pat please understand this is not intended to shame him or speak of ill of him in any way whatsoever. We were 19-year old kids at the time. The way I was acting was pretty out there and I can understand if it freaked him or anyone else out. The problem for me at the time was I didn't understand any of it. I didn't really remember a lot of what I was saying, doing or how I was acting.
Now I had really alienated myself from a lot of people who knew me. I'm sure that people who were on that choir tour with me spread the news about my behavior around the entire college student body. I felt it. I was still steadfast in my stance on Christian rap though. I just knew it was what God had "called" me to do. Without Pat in the studio though, I was kind of lost. I had always focused on the song writing aspect of what we were doing in music. I never really tried to learn much of the actual studio recording process. I had no idea how to make a beat! I mean, I played drums....but I didn't know how to make a rap beat on a computer, MPC, or whatever. I had to learn fast if I wanted to make a demo for these Christian labels.
Part II coming soon........
Fletch
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