1. First of all, tell us about your origins a little, if you don’t mind?. How did you become a follower of Christ?
I grew up in the church. My father is a pastor and I literally grew up living within the church. However, at the age of 16 I decided to do my own thing and wasn’t interested in following God. I knew He was real, but I wanted to do my own thing. I spent three years living a life of self-destruction before finally becoming so lost that the only person I knew to turn to was God. In 2001, I attended Planetshakers conference in Adelaide where I was confronted to change and had a true revelation of God’s love for me. I was healed and delivered in one meeting and have been on a journey with God ever since. I’m never looking back.
2. Is there anything symbolic about the name Genesiz?
Haha...honestly...how do you choose a rap name? I just opened the bible to look at names, and for obvious reasons, that was the first name I saw...haha. But I went with it because it symbolises a new beginning and I felt as though God was giving me a fresh vision and new direction as far as ministry and that changed my life.
3. I understand the latest album is titled “Redemption”; what kind of musical styles and influences can we expect to hear on it?
It has a real west coast feel to it. I grew up in the Death Row Records era and devoured Tupac, Dogg Pound, Ice Cube, Westside Connection, Dr Dre, Warren G etc. So that’s the style I tend to lean towards. But at the same time, it has various influences throughout whether it be R&B, Reggae, Crunk...it has something for everyone. The great thing is, when I was listening to secular west coast stuff, I also listened to the Gospel Gangstaz a lot. They were the stand out Christian rap group to me. They were on another level. Now, years later, I have a track with them on my album...so God has really blessed me.
4. You have a ministry that you very openly support called “The Commission”; tell us a little bit about that. i.e. how it works, what kind of target audience you have…
The Commission is an outreach organisation, and music so happens to be our tool. We basically do two things. One, we partner with other groups (youth, church, community) to provide a hip hop event that has a very positive vibe and we present the gospel throughout the event. We believe in building the church as a whole, not necessarily just the churches we attend. That comes from a Kingdom mindset and understanding that we are all one body.
The second thing we do is infiltrate various communities by setting up in a public area and throwing a free hip hop event for the community. In this way we can share the gospel without waiting for our audience to walk into our church. Rather, we take church, hip hop style, to the world. GO is the key word in The Commission. Jesus didn’t command us to “wait” for an opportunity to share the gospel...rather, He commanded us to “go”.
5. How do you see your music career panning out? Is it something that you hope to branch out to a wider market at some stage?
Right now, I know that God has placed me where I am. He has opened amazing doors. And I know that as long as I follow Him, He will take my music exactly where He plans for it to go. I am not making a plan for where I want to be in 10 years as I want to be open to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me into my calling. All I know is if you are faithful with the little that God gives you, He can entrust you with more. That being said, we have doors opening in many countries internationally right now. So wherever God decides to take this is fine with me.
6. A lot of people in the church today would criticise you for attempting to use an inherently “sinful” or “bad” type of music i.e. rap and at the same time evangelise people; in your opinion, how do you make the rap subculture co-exist with your faith?
I have been criticised for that and it’s funny to me that people say rap is sinful? Rap can’t sin...rap is not a person. It’s the creator who chooses how to use the art form. If I choose to use a style of music to speak life, then how can that be sinful?
Rap may be an unorthodox way of evangelism, but Jesus was unorthodox too. He spoke in parables. He hung out with sinners. He could be found with the worst of society...and I find it interesting that whenever you see Jesus angry, it is aimed at religious people.
Christianity is not religion and I refuse to be boxed into religion. To me, saying “look at him...he is trying to live Christlike within a subculture that is sinful” is the same as those who said “look at Jesus...He is always with sinners. How can He be a Holy man?”
I tend to be very vocal about this on my album too because while people point the finger at me and rip me apart in public, we have seen hundreds come to the knowledge of salvation through what we do. Religion warms pews and brings condemnation. You can’t put a price tag on a soul and that’s why I do what I do. I only wanna please the Father...I’m not worried about pleasing religion.
7. You don’t exactly represent the typical Christian musician or artist; you seem to base your music around your ministry, The Commission. Is this sort of change in priority intentional? Or do you actually balance both your music and your ministry on equal terms?
The thing about The Commission is, I believe my calling is to go into the world and share the gospel...music is just the way God wants me to minister at this point in time. I love doing the music thing, but if God leads me to minister in a different way, that’s what I’ll do. God may use music as a stepping stone into my future calling. So rather than focus on building up my music business, I focus on being about kingdom business. I feel honoured that God allows me to minister through something I love...but music shouldn’t define me. A man walking in Gods will should define me.
8. What are some of the more creative techniques you’ve used when performing on stage? i.e. lights, skits, choreography, props, etc.
Three stand out to me.
One night we did a performance which was based around a track of mine “Behind Enemy Linez” which is a militant war type song. We had soldiers, a war scene during the song, thousands of bullets all over the floor...this was during a church service. The whole thing was crazy.
During another church service, we did a track called “Prison Break”...complete with prison uniforms, chains, jail cells on stage which we broke out of...that was crazy too.
And during a performance at a youth group, we had a crucifixion scene acted out to my track “Redemption Song”. We had Roman soldiers complete with roman uniforms, spears, swords etc...They dragged Jesus in during the song, flogged him, put a crown of thorns on his head and nailed Him to the cross. So we definitely like to take performance to another level.
9. Rap music tends to be more difficult for many people to relate with as opposed to conventional pop-rock instrumentation (i.e. guitar, bass, drums, etc.). How do you get the crowd involved with your performances, especially when you’re doing something that is an explicit praise or worship song?
That’s Protégé’s job...haha...he is my hype man. Nah, we basically need to bring an intense energy to our performance. Energy is infectious. If a crowd sees you go crazy while praising God, they are more likely to get involved. If you aint feeling your music, the crowd wont. We had the album launch on February 6th and I had so many people come up to me afterwards and say they don’t normally like rap, but the energy was so raw that they loved it. They then went out and got the CD for no other reason than they connected with us during our live performance.
10. You must have seen God work powerfully in many of the places that you’ve ministered in; can you name a couple that really stand out for you?
Well the main one that stands out its still fresh in my mind...my album launch earlier this month was amazing. God turned a concert into an intimate meeting place between Him and the audience. At one point, I felt God’s presence so strong in the room and I knew He was moving.
It was in the days afterwards that I heard testimonies of healings while we rapped, people being set free from struggles and addictions...and then the best thing was the salvations...people connecting with God.
Another one was during an outreach we did with a youth group. We did our thing then God did His. There was such a large response of people wanting to make a commitment to God that no one was prepared for it. The invitation was given and it seemed like most of the crowd moved forward in response...amazing.
It’s moments like those where I feel so honoured that God chooses to use me. I have always spoken about legacy at our events...because I believe we can make a legacy out of our lives...by devoting our lives to reaching others. There is nothing that God cannot do, and yet He chooses to use us to do His will...what a privilege.
FAST QUESTIONS. FAVOURITE
Movie..? Training Day
Food spot in the AUS? If I'm on the run, KFC for sure. Otherwise you can catch me at Lone Star...hahaha
Song..? Man that’s hard…just one? Right now I’m vibin' off “Rather Die” by Sevin…that’s one of the realest tracks I’ve ever heard. But I can’t pick an absolute fave.
Ninja or Pirates..? Pirate by day, ninja by night
Well I think that about wraps it up. Thank you so much for your time, it’s been a pleasure. We wish you all the best with the album launch and with your ministry; God will continue to use you mightily and we’ll be praying for you. Take care and God bless.
Thanks. Appreciate the support. Everybody go get my album “Redemption” and support aussie hip hop artists. Godbleshya.
MORE INFO ABOUT GENESIZ @ www.myspace.com/genesizmusiq
This has been an interview from thirdmile.com, Australia’s #1 Christian music website.
Interview by Josh Y