Nate Erickson’s story
Back in grade school (1986), I started listening to mainstream rap. I didn’t take long to get hooked. My addiction to it lasted into college.
I had a period of time after my junior year of high school where God did amazing work in my life, and I rededicated my life to Christ, which led me to get rid of my secular rap albums. But eventually, I was back, listening to it again.
The pull was too strong. I loved rap. I loved music. I had to listen.
At the same time, though, I hated it. The images and thoughts it ingrained in my mind were horrible. Violence. Sex. Hatred. Gangs. Profanity. Whether playing the music on my Walkman, stereo, CD player or in the car, I always felt the same way afterward — dirty … and depressed.
Then, I remember the day in 2002: I was a student at a Christian college, volunteering my free time helping with a junior/senior high youth group. I was talking with the youth pastor, telling her about my love of secular rap. After noticing her raised eyebrows, I explained, “It’s cool, though. I just listen to it on the radio, and they bleep out the cuss words.”
After that conversation, I couldn’t shake the look I saw on the youth pastor’s face. I was convicted. It woke me up to the reality of what I was feeding my brain — day, after day, after day.
I had listened to Christian rap before that, but never really had anything that held my attention like the secular. I started looking, though. I knew they had to be out there.
I had already heard Cross Movement and the Gospel Gangstaz, and that gave me hope. Slowly but surely, I came across artists who rapped about Christ and banged like the secular.
iTunes helped a lot. I’d find one artist who I liked, and iTunes would suggest others who were similar. Over time, my playlist consisted of mostly Christian rap.
I got rid of the garbage. I couldn’t get enough gospel rap. The lyrics encouraged me. They built up my faith. They inspired me.
They showed me that there were real men and women out there, living for Christ and reaching the lost over wicked beats. The more I listened, the more my heart came in line with Christ’s — and less and less like the world’s.
My love of Christian hip hop skyrocketed. Then, somehow (I think it was on Myspace), I came across Rapzilla and was then downloading free gospel rap on the daily! With the growing collection, it quickly became a tool I would use to reach the youth.
I ended up starting a Gospel Rap radio show. I started DJing. I’ll finish by saying, I don’t rap, but I expose others to Christian rap, and it changes lives.
I thank God for Christian hip hop.
If Christian hip hop has played a key role in your testimony and you would like to share it on Rapzilla.com, email your story to david@rapzilla.com. Rapzilla hopes that, through your story, another reader will be impacted.
