Last year, we hosted Will Thomas on Community During Chaos. Thomas is a filmmaker veteran who has worked with Reach Records and on many music videos we see today. During the conversation, he told us why he joined the Christian Rap space.
Before he became a filmmaker, the majority of Christian Rap music videos to Thomas were unoriginal. Over a decade ago, Thomas said most of the music videos involved an artist dealing drugs on a street corner, someone come up to them to minister, then suddenly disappear revealing they were angel, and the artist becoming saved.
“I was sick and tired of these videos because, while I’m pretty sure there are some people who could say that’s their testimony, for 99.9% I knew, that was not their testimony. Their story was they got born again, and their life went to hell.”
Their lives became worse because these new Christians had to deal with their old lifestyles. Some had addictions. Others had social problems. They needed to learn the word of God so they could deal with their problems, but at the beginning of their faith they did not have the tools to deal with them.
“Some of them would get born again, go to church, didn’t get discipled, and then get back on the streets in three or four weeks. So I wanted to tell the story of the real Jesus that I knew. The one that would walk me through the situation. The one I came to, dirty as I was with filthy rags, but He was the one who cleaned me.”
This process inspired most of Thomas’ videos when he started out. He also had the drive to bring more creativity and immersive story-telling to CHH.
“I grew up in the Hype Williams era. I knew I couldn’t do those kinds of videos based on the budgets I had when I started, but I knew I could get the heart, the feeling, the emotion, and the real of those videos. That’s what I really wanted to do.”
