Rappers Switch to Positive Tune With Gospel Rap

Rappers switch to positive tune with Gospel Rap

For some people who enter the Christian rap music arena, their agenda is to make music. Ministry is not a priority. God has to deal with their heart. Christian Rapper, David McKissic knew he had to make a choice.

Before he and the other members of the Christian hip-hop group Spit Unity devoted themselves to making Christian music, he says, they were serving two masters. In 2005. McKissic was a member of Triple G, a Christian group that combines mimicry and hip-hop dance.

He also was a member of a secular dance group, and McKissic says, even as he performed with Triple G, he was being drawn into the street life. It’s hard to live for Christ when you’re heavily involved in secular activities.

Being involved in a worldly lifestyle, McKissic says that he also saw many of his friends fall victim to the dangers of the streets. “A lot of the guys who have been caught up in some of the stuff that’s happened, we knew them,” he says.

By 2006, McKissic says, he realized he couldn’t continue to perform with Triple G unless he stopped getting in trouble. He had to change his life, and cutting his ties to the secular dance group had to be a part of that change.

Two years later, Spit Unity will release its first CD on its own record label with a release party at New Horizons Outreach Ministries, a local church. The CD included music by Spit Unity and two singers the group has signed to the label.

Some people might wonder why McKissic felt the need to change his tune, but fellow Spit Unity member Devon Middleton provides the answer. “When I was listening to secular music, it kind of influenced me to look at and talk to girls in the way the music was presented on the record,” Middleton says.

McKissic says he watched members of other Christian groups performing at a church event and drinking alcohol at a night club later in the week. Seeing those kinds of incidents prompted David to question the performers’ sincerity. He also started to evaluate and change his own life. He switched his artistic focus to gospel hip-hop, and he dedicated his life to Christ.

When you rap for Jesus, David learned that people hold you to a different standard David says he did not want their ministry to be affected. Starting the group Spit Unity and the record label of the same name, McKissic says, are part of that change.

“A lot of the music that is out now is negative,” he says, “so we thought that we wanted to put out music that had a positive message.” The Spit Unity label consists of the hip-hop group, which includes McKissic, Middleton, Andrue Farmer and Tyrome Payne, and two solo singers, William Briggs and Leanna Potts.

The group has ministered with other gospel hip-hop artist B-Phraze, the group G.O.P. and Cincinnati based K-Drama. McKissic says he believes his life shows how music can provide the soundtrack for the good and bad decisions that young people make.

Spit Unity are not members of Gospel Elevations yet, and maybe one day they will. To hear and see how God is using other Christian Rappers around the world visit the free exposure site for Gospel Rappers, Holy Hip Hop Rappers, or Christian Rappers visit http://wwww.gospelelevations.net.