Christian hip hop is a subgenre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United States during the 1980s.
Jonah Kirsten Sorrentino, better known by his stage name KJ-52, is a Christian rapper from Tampa, Florida. The "KJ" part of his name refers to his old rap alias, "King J. Mac," a name which he later described in one of his podcasts as "horribly cheesy." "52", which is pronounced "five two", not "fifty-two", is a reference to the Biblical story of Jesus feeding the multitude with five loaves and two fish, which is also sung about in his song "Push Up" from The Yearbook and in the "KJ Five Two" on It's Pronounced 'Five Two. He was awarded the Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year for "Never Look Away" and Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year at the GMA Dove Awards of 2007. On July 28, 2009, KJ-52 released "End of My Rope", which is the first single for his album Five-Two Television.
Lecrae Devaughn Moore, mononymously known as Lecrae, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record and film producer, record executive, actor, and entrepreneur.
Emanuel Lee Lambert, Jr. is a Christian rapper who goes by the stage name Da' T.R.U.T.H.
Marcus Tyrone Gray, known as Flame, is an American Lutheran Christian hip hop rapper with Clear Sight Music. He has released nine albums. Flame has been nominated for several Dove and Stellar Awards. The Our World: Redeemed album was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Rebel is the third studio album by Christian rap artist, Lecrae. The album was released by Reach Records on September 30, 2008. The album was nominated in the best Rap/Hip-Hop Album category at the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards but lost to Group 1 Crew's Ordinary Dreamers.
Mark Julian Felder, more commonly known under simply Bizzle, is an American Christian hip hop recording artist and entrepreneur.
Rehab is the fourth studio album by Christian hip hop artist Lecrae. It was released on September 28, 2010 on Reach Records. According to the Reach Records website, the album's "motto" is "The Christian life is an entrance into rehab." Centered on release and freedoms from inhibiting addictions and habits, Rehab is a highly conceptual album. Rehab is nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. The album was named the Best Album of 2010 in the "Best of 2010: Rapzilla.com's Staff Picks" awards, and Lecrae was also named Artist of the Year. The song "Background" and the album itself were nominated for Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year and Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year, respectively, at the 42nd Annual GMA Dove Awards.
The discography of Lecrae, an American Christian hip hop artist, consists of 10 studio albums, one of which was collaborative; five mixtapes, one of which was collaborative; two extended plays, one of which was collaborative; 110 singles, including 61 as a featured performer; 66 music videos, including 31 as a featured performer; and 86 guest and other appearances. Lecrae debuted with Real Talk in 2004 through Reach Records; the album was re-issued the following year by Cross Movement Records. After the Music Stops followed in 2006 and his third solo album, Rebel, was released in 2008 and reached No. 1 on the Gospel chart, the first Christian hip hop album to do so. Rehab, his fourth solo album, was released in 2010 and reached No. 1 on the Gospel, Christian, and Independent charts, and garnered a nomination at the 53rd Grammy Awards. Rehab: The Overdose, was released on January 11, 2011, and peaked at No. 1 on the Christian and Gospel charts. Lecrae began garnering mainstream attention when he performed at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher, and was featured on the Statik Selektah song "Live and Let Live" from his Population Control album.
Shai Linne is an American East Coast Christian rapper. Linne has been collaborating with other Christian rap artists and releasing studio albums since 2002. As of 2005, Linne has recorded studio albums under the Lamp Mode Records label.
Church Clothes is the first mixtape by Christian hip hop artist Lecrae, released for free on May 10, 2012, and hosted by DJ Don Cannon. It featured No Malice of Clipse on the song "Darkest Hour", and included production work by 9th Wonder, Boi-1da, S1 and Street Symphony. Label-mates Tedashii and Andy Mineo, as well as other fellow Christian hip-hop artists such as Dre Murray, Thi'sl, Swoope, Christon Gray, and Braille, also made appearances on the album. The mixtape was downloaded 100,000 times in 48 hours, and met with critical acclaim. It received controversy in Christian media upon its release due to its condemnation of hypocrisy in the Christian Church and Lecrae's collaboration with the mainstream producer Don Cannon. A shorter, remastered EP version was released on iTunes on June 25, 2012. The EP debuted at number 10 on the Billboard Christian Albums and Gospel Albums charts.
Gravity is the sixth studio album by American Christian hip hop artist Lecrae, released on September 4, 2012. The album features appearances from Big K.R.I.T., Mathai, Ashthon Jones, Sho Baraka and Mali Music, along with labelmates Trip Lee, Andy Mineo, Derek Minor, who was formerly known as PRo, and Tedashii. Producers on the album include DJ Khalil, Street Symphony's Heat Academy, and The Watchmen. The first single off the album, "I Know", was released on July 24, 2012, and was followed by "Tell the World" featuring Mali Music on August 15, 2012, and "Mayday" featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones on August 30, 2012. Reach Records released five music videos for the album: "Lord Have Mercy", featuring Tedashii along with No Malice of Clipse, on August 1, 2012, "Tell the World", featuring Mali Music, on October 19, 2012, "Mayday", featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones, on December 13, 2012, "Fakin'", featuring Thi'sl, on February 1, 2013, and "Confe$$ions", featuring David Banner, on April 30, 2013.
The discography of American Christian hip hop artist Andy Mineo, formerly known as C-Lite, consists of three studio albums, three mixtapes, one compilation album, twenty-one singles, including seven as a featured performer, fourteen music videos, including six as a featured artist, and fifteen guest appearances on various albums. Originally from Syracuse, Mineo initially achieved success as a producer in Upstate New York, and was a member of the hip hop group Fat Camp, signed to Syracuse University's Marshall Street Records. After moving to New York City where he re-dedicated his life to Christ, he closed down his production studio and restarted his career. He released his first mixtape Sin is Wack Vol. 1 in 2009. After providing sung vocals for the song "Background" by Lecrae from the album Rehab, he experienced a surge in popularity and became highly sought after for collaborations. His 2011 single "In My City" featuring Efrain from Doubledge also garnered attention, as did his appearance on the song "Reverse" by Tedashii from Blacklight. He signed to Reach Records in 2011 and dropped his stage name "C-Lite" in favor of his legal name. Under this name he released another mixtape, Formerly Known, in 2011. In May 2012 he debuted a four episode web series entitled Saturday Morning Car-Tunez in which he remixed classic hip hop songs. The four songs were subsequently released for free as a compilation album. His debut full-length studio album, Heroes for Sale, was released April 2013.
Derek Johnson, Jr., better known by his stage name Derek Minor and former stage name PRo, is an American Christian hip hop artist, record producer, entrepreneur, actor, and screenwriter. He co-founded the hip-hop record label Reflection Music Group (RMG) with Doc Watson, and signed to Reach Records in a joint venture between the two labels in 2011. In 2012, Johnson announced that he had changed his stage name from Pro to Derek Minor. In 2014, he announced that as his two-album contract with Reach was complete, he would no longer be publishing releases through that label.
Reach Records is an American independent record label specializing in Christian hip hop. The label was founded in 2004 by Ben Washer and the hip-hop artist Lecrae. In addition to Lecrae, the Reach Records roster contains artists like Tedashii, Trip Lee, Andy Mineo, 1K Phew, WHATUPRG, Wande, Hulvey, and Limoblaze. The hip-hop collective 116 operates under the label and consists primarily of the label's solo acts. The artists Sho Baraka, Derek Minor, Aha Gazelle, KB and Gawvi were formerly signed to the label, and DJ Official was under the label until his death.
Social Club Misfits, known as Social Club from 2012 until 2016, is a Christian hip hop duo from Miami, Florida made up of rappers FERN and Marty Mar. They formed their musical partnership in 2011 and released their first free album, entitled Misfits, on November 27, 2012. Then, the duo released two EPs entitled Misfits-EP, released on March 26, 2013, and Rejects. on April 2, 2013. The latter garnering some charting success. The third free album from the duo came out on September 13, 2013 entitled Summer of George. Their breakthrough album, Misfits 2, was self-released on April 29, 2014, and Us was released on March 24, 2015.
Vienna Rose Dare, is better known by her stage name V. Rose, is an American Christian electronic dance music singer. Formerly signed to Clear Sight Music, she released two studio albums under that label, V. Rose in 2011 and Forever After in 2014, the latter of which charted at No. 28 on the Billboard Top Christian chart, and No. 16 on the Heatseekers. V. Rose was re-released with a bonus disc in 2013 and titled The Electro-Pop Deluxe. She currently is signed to Inpop Records, where they released, Young Dangerous Heart, on April 22, 2016.
Nathan John Feuerstein, known by his initials NF, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has released two EPs, I'm Free (2012), and a self-titled EP in 2014 with Capitol CMG. His first major-label album, Mansion, was released on March 31, 2015. His second studio album, Therapy Session, was released on April 22, 2016, and peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard 200. His albums have earned several accolades, some of which include: the Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year.
Christopher Michael Hulvey, known professionally by his surname Hulvey, is an American Christian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His debut studio album Christopher debuted and peaked at no.8 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart.
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