“Life is not just a big sermon,” said double-threat Pro. Via telephone, the rapper/producer related that his vision of Christianity is of a “regular person” who has Christ at the center of his life. His music is for the common man who needs God-focused encouragement and entertainment.
Pro is a soldier for Christ, with hip-hop as the main weapon in his arsenal. Having been raised by a preacher mother in the church, “I always knew about God,” he said. His faith strengthened following a time during college when he strayed from the spiritual things he knew. The message that he got from God during this wilderness period was, “If you do right by my people, I’ll do right by you.”
One way he strives to do right by his people is by warning them of the negatives of drug culture, as several songs from his recent mixtape, My Name Is Pro, do. Growing up with a father and stepfather who were addicted to drugs, he knows that “it’s a terrible end from both perspectives,” dealers and users alike.
“A lot of cats think they’re just selling a product,” he noted. “You’re ruining people’s lives.” Plus, there’s no retirement package, as he pointed out, either death or incarceration. “That should be motivation for anyone to change their life.”
Users fare no better. He recalled his stepfather pawning furniture and stealing cars to support his addiction, trapped in a vicious cycle of pain. But there is a way out—through the Lord, Pro stated. “I want to give solutions. If you try to move forward, God will move you forward and increase what you lack.”
For those wary of giving their lives to the Lord, Pro’s simple advice is to just try it. “Most likely, you know you’re not happy. Just go to church and follow the principles of God and see if your life changes,” he said. As is often said, insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting to see different results. Non-Christians may keep trying drugs, alcohol, sexual relationships, excessive shopping and other diversions to find solace, with none ever found. “Try something different,” Pro encouraged.
Though it’s certainly life altering to give Jesus a chance, discipline is required for the transformation, he said. “You have to say you really want to [change]; you can’t relapse every time things go bad.”
Pro is saying the same thing with his music and his life that a Christian gospel singer or rocker would say, but there are those who see no value in using hip-hop to uplift the downtrodden. “Your opinion doesn’t matter,” he says to those with an axe to grind against holy hip-hop. “God is the ultimate creator. Whether you like it or not, he created hip-hop. You can’t argue with the results. People are getting saved [through holy hip-hop]; people’s lives are changing.”
He realizes some feel that gospel music is the genre God prefers to use to save souls, but Pro points out that like hip-hop, gospel did not exist at the time of Christ. If anyone denounces hip-hop for not being authentic praise music, they must also take the same approach with any modern-day genre of worship music. “Hip-hop is the music of today,” Pro concluded, “the only music that touches everyone. We’d be stupid not to use it.”
He compared denying the value of holy hip-hop to someone digging a ditch that stubbornly decides to use his bare hands rather than a shovel someone has offered. God has given holy rappers a gift in the form of a genre that is readily intriguing to a large number of people who need to hear His message.
Holy rappers can attract ears and souls through a musical style that’s familiar to sinners and the saved alike, but they still have an uphill battle, as do rank-and-file Christians. When asked why, as Kanye West once famously complained, “you can rap about anything except for Jesus,” Pro thought this reflected apprehension toward Christianity in urban communities. “We set the wrong expectations. People mean well, but they set up a false image of what Christianity is.” He observed that nonbelievers often think Christianity is about being perfect, a goal they may feel they can’t attain. Then, they feel vindicated when they see some Christians sinning. “They see problems when [Christians] fall, and say, ‘Christianity ain’t about nothing.’”
Rather than present an all-perfect, all the time image, he recommends that Christians strive to be Christ-like, but admit that though the rewards are excellent, there are challenges to living holy.
This is where Pro’s everyday people vision comes in, and why his messages resonate. On My Name Is Pro, among the songs that implore people to turn away from sin and find solace in the Lord, he raps about almost being hindered in working on a beat because his roommate didn’t pay the electric bill on “Turn out the Lights,” and also asks fans to “Pray for Me.”
“Hip-hop in general has been watered down by fantasy,” Pro said, opting to offer a dose of realism in his music. “What made hip-hop effective in the beginning was it was a voice of the people. If you want to move forward, you have to focus on community.” He plans to focus on moving people forward with The Blackout, scheduled for release on November 6. He describes the album as “a big gumbo pot,” with music to take you through the whole range of emotions. Among things he will discuss include love from a Christian perspective. “I’m just like you. I get real personal on the album.” His primary message on The Blackout is, “As long as you focus on the center, which is Christ, everything will be fine.” A simple message for everyday people.
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