By the time 19-year-old Eshon Burgundy had become a Christian in 1999, another hip-hop act that preached Christ crucified had grown to prominence in his hometown of Philadelphia, The Cross Movement.
Eshon knew members of Cross Movement individually from seeing them around town, but he knew little about the group. What he thought he knew about it, though, he disliked.
“I initially thought their approach was corny,” Eshon told Rapzilla at Legacy Conference 2016. “Not that they were corny. They could rap. I mean, they could still rap now. They’re dope emcees. But I felt because they were going to the church, I felt like it was preaching to the choir…
“When I started, from 19 on, we were in the streets giving the Gospel, and we were in nightclubs all throughout Philly. We were that Christian group of individuals that people knew, and we carried the banner proudly. We would talk about the Lord and even share our faith with people in those circles. We somehow felt like that was better than what they were doing.”
Eshon didn’t respect Cross Movement’s approach until something dramatic happened in 2007.
One day, Eshon was on Myspace. More specifically, he was on his soon-to-be wife’s Myspace page. And to his dismay, he wasn’t her No. 1 friend in her top eight.
“Who’s this guy Lecrae?” Eshon said. “Why is he number one?”
Then Eshon clicked on Lecrae’s Myspace page.
“And the whole window to CHH just opened,” Eshon marveled. “I said, ‘Wow.’ I seen he was signed to Cross Movement Records, and I didn’t know Cross Movement had a record label. I just knew these guys. I didn’t know it was that big. Come to find out, these guys had been nominated for Grammys … mind was blown. I started seeing other artists who I knew just from in Philly — J. Johnson, R-Swift, a few other people. I discovered people like FLAME and few other artists at that time. And I was like, ‘Yo, Christian hip hop is a thing. That’s crazy.’”
In 2008, Eshon wrote a song called “Straight Down No Chaser,” in which he apologized to Cross Movement for his previous thoughts on their approach.
“I saw what Christian hip hop had become because of their labor,” he said. “Not them alone, but they were at the head of it, so seeing their labor, what it produced, it was undeniable that I was really wrong back then, thinking that they were wrong for going to churches. And I look at my own life, and I’m like, ‘Man, what have I produced going to these clubs? Only thing I’ve produced was a whole bunch of people who still didn’t know God.’”
Rapzilla interviewed Cross Movement member Phanatik just hours before Eshon at Legacy, and when asked which Christian hip-hop artist he would co-sign today, the first emcee who Phanatik named was Eshon.
“To me, he’s infallible on the mic,” Phanatik said.
“To be where I am in my faith now and my commitment to CHH,” Eshon said, “I feel like I’m carrying the banner for [Cross Movement] now. To have [Phanatik] say that, I’m honored.”
Buy Eshon’s new album The Passover on iTunes.
