S.O.M. talks about the "Next Chapter" of their group and Houston's Christian hip hop scene

I recently caught up with Raymond “Chizzell” Steward of the group S.O.M. (Soldiers On a Mission) via e-mail to discuss their new album how they’ve witnessed changes in both the group and the Houston Christian hip hop scene.

Sketch: Your new album is titled The Next Chapter and the cover art features one less group member than before and you guys wearing coats and ties in a large library. I’m guessing those things aren’t a coincidence. Can you share a little bit more about those choices?

Chizzell: The choice on the outfits and library was actually made over a year ago. We were going through some transitions in our lives and in our group and we knew that it was time to turn the page – hence the The Next Chapter theme. The look that we wear is "us.” We wanted to reveal who we truly are and what we stand for. Everyone goes through seasons in their lives and an album cover with baggy clothes and t-shirts in front of a car we don't own doesn't represent us. In regards to having one less member that is part of The Next Chapter as well. The Next Chapter and library represents a place of much thought, planning, and prayer.

Sketch: You guy were part of what might be considered the “second generation” of Houston’s Christian hip hop scene. What sort of changes (both positive and negative) have you witnessed in our city’s gospel rap community during your time in it?

Chizzell: Positive changes would have to be the quality in beats, talent, videos, and overall presentation of the genre. It is weird that people look up to us the same way that we looked up to Nuwine and Lil Raskull back in the day. I am impressed by the reduction of "corny" Christian rappers. A lot of these guys are very great at their craft.

The negative side of Christian rap is the same struggle that those had before us and those will have after us which is support and unity! I think that the small market for Christian rap has artists focused more on competition than the call. There is definitely a spirit of "hoarding" in Christian rap that causes people to keep their talent, gifts, and connections for their crew.

Sketch: Two of your group members are twin brothers. How has that impacted group dynamics throughout the years?

Chizzell: The funny thing about that is it is a trademark of S.O.M. It allows people who may forget the name to always say "You're in that Christian group with the twins right?" Just like all brothers they give each other a hard time. However, they are in synch with ministry and that helps when it comes to the unity of the group and our decade of servanthood.

The Lord works in mysterious ways because he gave each of the twins a son and blessed me with twin boys. So, in several years you will be able to ask the next generation of S.O.M. this same question.

Sketch: What are you most proud of about your Christian hip hop ministry efforts so far?

Chizzell: The ability for people to learn from all of our mistakes. The ability to re-invent ourselves based of what God is trying to do. There is nothing great about us so I am proud/honored that the Lord has allowed us to see and do so much with this gift.

Sketch: In your opinion and experience, is Christian hip hop mostly a tool/movement of the youth or is it something that can grow with its audience? Why?

Chizzell: I think that Christian hip hop can grow with its audience. However, growth is, and I believe will continue, to be very slow. We promote an unpopular message and are competing against a formidable foe (media). People have spoken and the majority chooses to support the "popular message" (drugs, sex, alcohol, violence).

I guess the best way for me to put it is all our seeds will pay off (eventually) but I am thinking more like a 401k.

S.O.M.’s The Next Chapter can be purchased online via iTunes, Amazon.com, and other digital distribution outlets.

Recap: Holy Hip Hop 4 Hunger (9/11/09)

I was going through my notes recently and realized I'm behind on a few photo recaps.

So here are some pics and details from the Holy Hip Hop 4 Hunger event organized by Von Won that took place on 9/11/09 at the prestigious Rice University in Houston, Texas.


SXE's Trevor Lee started things off with his brand of acoustic rap and worship.


DJ Wiz from Praise 92.1 FM held down the mixing board.


The Holy Hot Boyz brought some (gulp) "Crunk & Praise."


S.O.M. fought sound problems to perform "Fiyah Starter" and Chizzle reminded us that this event was meant to combat both physical and spiritual hunger.


Tre9 rocked out with the band Southerland and did a couple of live throwback joints like "The Godfather."


Yessir, Bushwick Bill was in the house and somewhat freestyled his set with the band. He spit "Takin' It Back" and "Spiritual Warfare" from his Testimony of Redemption Christian rap album (available now here) and kicked a verse acapella.


Von presented a "Local Servant" award to Pastor Sam Harris (aka J Xavier's father/manager.)


J Xavier brought some of his Christian remakes to mainstream songs like "Always Strapped," "Best I Ever Had" and "Rhythm Nation."


Tre9 was spotted with a custom Ginosko tee.


The W.A.R.R.I.O.R.S. came down from Austin to push their "For Christ I live / For Christ I die" anthem.


Gifted da Flamethrowa did a stellar rendition of "Want Some/Get Some" with punk rockers The Shiny Darks.


Von Won's set with The Shiny Darks even brought out some masked krump dancers.


Big Al got us all clappin' to hits like "Get Low," "Get High," and "Rest of My Days."


Al showing off his "Big Boy Dance."


That night, Von debuted the video for and performed his touching "I Missed That Day" song. Watch the final version here.


Afterward, everyone headed downstairs for meet-n-greets and to turn in their canned food donations.


Holy Hip Hop 4 Hunger brought in the goods for the needy.

This was Von's 3rd HHH4H event. It looked to be a success and something he'll organize again in 2010.

UPDATE: I just found this video of Still Trill Christians performing their "No Sex" anthem (you might have seen on BET's 106 & Park). Enjoy.

Recap: D@South.com Benefit (07/29/07)

Man how I wish all the folks that bemoan the lack of unity within holy hip hop (HHH) could've been at this event. They would have been blown away. How? Let me count the ways:

a) The true sense of community, familiarity, and joy between hip hop artists
b) The number of selfless artists involved
c) The "bigger-than-me" goal of the night
d) The quality of performances
e) The length of the show (3 hours)
f) The price of the show (Free admission)
g) The blessed end result (Over $1,500 raised / 12 souls saved)

But first, a little background…

Da South Site

7 years ago in 2000 my man s/ave had an idea to turn his successful HHH magazine web presence ( http://www.om95.com/) into a local community-driven hip hop ministry site, re-built to serve and expose gospel rap cats residing predominantly on the Third Coast.

DaSouth.com was intended to be a unified destination where artists and labels waived their claim to an individual, specific web address URL (example: http://www.christianrapnetwork.com/) for an umbrella domain (http://www.dasouth.com/) that would drive increased traffic and allow for multiple artists to market and promote a single site.

The vision was that Rapper X pushes his website as DaSouth.com wherever he goes, while Rapper Y and Rapper Z both do the same. Then, when Li'll Johnny Newfan logs on to check it out he'll find out about Rapper X, Y and Rapper Z and everybody wins.

Although MySpace and other sites eventually cannibalized this vision, the site (mainly through its vibrant message board) continued to foster community between local HHH rap heads and went on to gain a rep as THE location for Jesus Christ's Southern urban music movement.

Da Mission

A few months ago s/ave stepped away from the game to be led in a new, unchartered direction in his life. Desiring his rap network to be cared for, he willfully transferred ownership of DaSouth.com to one of HHH's most faithful and steadfast leader stewards: Tre9.

As anyone who knows or has worked with Tre can attest, he always puts others before himself. Not content to use such a valuable and marketable domain name for his own gain, Tre9 continued to carry the torch and will use the URL to serve all music ministers who share his geographical location.

Understanding that the site could use a facelift, but not wanting (or needing) to bear the full financial burden of such an endeavor, Tre9 organized a benefit concert to raise the money needed to revamp D@South.



Da Big Show

On a night unlike any night in late July 007, Holy Hip Hop in Houston Texas experienced a cornerstone event. Although this benefit concert would be free to fans, artists wanting to perform were asked to contribute a $50 stage fee and help with general promotion.

Just about everyone who was asked came up with the cash (or more) and got up on the bill. Champions Covenant Church in northwest Houston -home to one of the Texas Holy Hip Hop Achievement Awards Show- was gracious to host it, and that thing got kicked off right, sometime around 6:30 pm til late with AFC and J-Chill as emcees.

NOTES:

I summarized the show at the jump and this blog is already longer than I expected, so from here on out I'll just drop in some flix and comments and let the pictures save me a thousand words.

The show went pretty much in the order I have described below.



Lil Lite (J-Chill’s daughter) kicked things off.



Ace and his boy Duece were next. Bruh was brave sporting the Michael Vick jersey. (To be fair, this was before The Running Man’s boys rolled on him and Ookie copped a plea.)



Von Won, Sypreme (of ABF), and Bless’t were in the house.



This photo doesn’t show it but J Harrison is a dancin’ fool. Dude even put on a dance contest for a fan to win CY’s (not his) last album.



DJ D-Lite (my man's got more job titles than that West Indian family from In Living Color) came in from Austin to man the wheels of steel.



Madd Apostle spit some super-fast and heady rhymes.



Still Trill Christians were in the building.



Narrowmind did s/ave’s favorite Slow Lane Chronicles cut: “Thou Art God” and a new one called “Who Loves You?” that reminded us that Christ even has a heart for “the 9/11 terrorists, the rich, and the snitch.”

Dude is also running a Christian musicians fellowship every 2nd Sunday of the month at his crib for the purposes of prayer, discipleship, networking, and breaking bread. If y’all are close hit him up.



R Lopez (a big fan/supporter you might recognize from the message board) was in attendance with his wifey and other fam.



LOCs (he also performed) was in the crowd with S.O.M.’s Goldenchild (who also moderates DaSouth’s message board.)



Icece got the crowd to put their H’s up.



Tre made some announcements about some events that will continue to raise the profile of HHH in our area.

1. The first ever Holy Hip Hop Cruise will commence the week after the 2008 Texas Holy Hip Hop Achievement Awards. Book your room now.
2. The Gospel Announcers Guild will have their awards this Thanksgiving in Austin, TX and have a rap division for the first time this year.





Bless’t & Gangsta Loc represented Eternal Hu$tle and reminded us to pump “That Jesus.”



DJ D-Lite and CY. Wait, ain’t Mr. Smiles supposed to be behind the boards? !? Who's manning the turntables?





Chase Austin and them T.I.C. boys “bet us a $100,000 that our heads wouldn’t stop bobbin.” I think we lost.



Suge White (aka The Farmer aka The White White Man aka Bobby Ray aka Tre9) and Narrowmind take a breather.



Truvine and his podna Lil Flea were there to shine their light.





Austin’s B.L.U.E absolutely killed it with some acapellas and my man is probably the best in the biz when it comes to facial expressions that emphasize his words and hooks. It definitely adds to the show.



Anotha big announcement: Lil Bleezie is now part of Lil Raskull’s Javo Records family. Be looking for a re-release of his award winning “Times Change” disc and new version of “The Good News Bad Boys” with the Color Man and Ras.



These boys tag teamed a nice set and really set it off. Ras told us to “Man Up!” and reminded us that if he says that Christ is the King we can “Bank On That.”









Y’all shoulda seen Ras’ kids go wild for Daddy. They’ve got some fly dance moves and were fully supporting their pops. That’s E-Man throwing up the rockstar horns with a lift from his big sis.



D-Rock and Yunek were in the place to be.







“Y’all Didn’t Know” that S.O.M.’s got “Faith” and are some “Fiyah Starters”?



What about when Denzil added a reggae remix of “This Is Why I’m Hot” to “You Don’t Know Me Like Dat”? It was heat!



Ace/Deuce in the area.



Young Disciple banged it like it was “King Kong.” His song “One Faith” was very appropriate for the night with its “If I make it, you make” theme for HHH unity.



S.O.M.’s Boyce and Twin kick it with Sypreme



CY once again brought the “Circus World Event” and rocked it. Still with the top hat, but no red tails. This was a black and white affair.

Man, this CD is gonna be nice and deep. Lots of metaphors and stories to uncode and apply to your life. It’s not a typical Dirty South sound, but we got love for real art.

During the set Ras leaned over and told me “That’s my heart right there,” referring to CY’s more East Coast underground delivery. “I’m a b-boy from the old school,” he said.



J Harrison and his youngest fan.



Anotha big announcement: Von Won is now with Much Luvv Records! “What’s Up H-Town?” Did you know He can “clean you up and use you?”



The blessing bucket was passed around by promoter/booking agent Jimmy McDowel. (You may also recognize him as the cop from S.O.M.’s video.) God loves a cheerful giver.



Finally, Tre9 hit the stage and took us to the farm.





Then thangs got real cool as Tre invited all of the artists onto the stage for a final family jam of “I Be Comin’ Thru.”



He also led us in a prayer for all of the HHH guys in the city and region and country. We prayed that God would bless them with the resources and staff that will make them more effective ministers. We asked for forgiveness for our selfishness. We thanked Him for the host church for the night. We prayed for the website and how it will be used. It was pretty dope.



Pastor Victor Pena also held an alter call. About 12 people made decisions that night to become followers of Jesus the Christ.



The Still Trill Christians were one of several groups offering to pray with people for their various needs.

So overall, it was a stellar, very memorable night. It reminded me of a classic Houston HHH concert from the late 90’s where everyone was chillin’, supporting, having fun, and winning souls.

There were different styles and crews represented but it was all under one purpose and one banner.



I really hope we keep this going.