I saw a few of my friends playing a game on their Instagram stories today. It required that they answered some random questions about themselves. One such question was ‘when was the last time you cried?’. Before this evening, my answer would have been September 2019 or the last time I was in an intense worship service. But on my ride home, I lost it on the bus and shed a few tears as This’l rapped his verse on the ‘Double Back’ song he was featured on by Flame. This basically typifies my relationship with good Christian art. I am usually lost for words and always in awe of the depth of revelation, the breath of the Spirit and the dexterity of the artist that is always present when I indulge in good Christian art. Feel free to classify this post as my Christian art appreciation post.

I have always been in love with art – especially literary art. From my childhood, I have been a huge fan of music too, especially rap music. I used to pride myself on the fact that there was no trending rap song I couldn’t rap along to from beginning to end. My friends knew this. They would always ask me to rap some popular songs to their hearing and I would oblige. One story I always recall and share with people as a joke is about an exercise we did in my Music and Dance class when I was in Class 5. Everybody was required to come up and sing a song. Most people went up to sing gospel songs or some popular R&B songs. We had this exercise 2 times that term. This was in the year 2000 and I was probably just 10 years old. During the first exercise, I went up to sing Sisqo’s ‘Unleash the dragon’ to the admiration of my friends. With all the controversy surrounding the lyrics of this song and the conspiracy theories, it was still the most popular song that year. During the second exercise, again, I went up with a friend of mine and we sang ‘thong song’ by Sisqo. I tell people that I didn’t even know what a thong was at that age, I only found out some years later. 

Not too long after, I started writing my own raps in jotters and on pieces of paper. Thanks to my guy (Skelly) who had a computer mic and a software that could record, we tried to record a few of those verses. I had a verse that almost all my friends could rap along to from A to Z. This made me very proud. Started rap battling in JHS, the big deal here is I could freestyle under pressure at that tender age. Throughout my Senior High School days, I used to sneak out with some of my friends to radio stations for interviews and then to the studio to record songs and then come back to school. I remember one vacation I recorded a few songs, put them on a CD as a mixtape and took it to school. I lost it when the CD was in circulation amongst my friends. I have been a (mainstream) hip-hop head for as long as I can remember until recent times.

The very moment I set foot in the university I began to take my Christian life more seriously. However, the dramatic change happened during my school’s vacation in 2010. I was bored at home and as if driven by the devil himself I was looking for ‘something’ to watch. I combed through every CD in the house until I discovered a CD that changed my life and taste in the art I consume. It belonged to my elder brother who had just traveled to the U.S to pursue his masters. I inserted the CD into the computer and there it was in all its glory, the stage performance of Hillsong Worship’s ‘Faith Hope and Love’ album. Something happened that day. I am writing 10 years later, and I can state boldly that I haven’t looked back on Hillsong music since then. I was moved by the lyrics. I prayed with the songs. I couldn’t wait to share it with my roommates and friends in school. That was when it all began.

Because of my past relationship with mainstream Hip-hop music, I never really gravitated towards its ‘Christian alternative’. Christian Hip-hop (CHH) was so corny and sounded very wack to me. I concocted biblical arguments against the genre. I even wrote and performed a poem in which I spoke against CHH. I remember having serious arguments with my roommates who were madly in love with it. They played it so much in the room that one day we had a big argument that I thought was going to put a strain on our relationship. But you know how boys are, we fight, and we makeup and become even closer. I hope they read this. During one vacation probably in 2011, the Holy Spirit ministered to me and literally the scales fell from my eyes (it literally happened like that and he spoke to me about it). I went back the following semester a huge fan of CHH. I owe my love for CHH now to my roommates and friends. Whatever blessing I have received from it I pray they receive a double portion of that.

Look at me now. I used to argue against Lecrae now I am a die-hard fan who has written reviews of his albums and songs. I used to think that hymns and worship songs were boring, but look at me now, I can hardly keep my eyes dry during worship. I spend a considerable amount of time during each worship session I’m in fighting back tears. I know it is a poor practice because the bible says we should LOVE God with all our hearts, all our soul, and all our mind. This includes emotions, so when you feel like crying during worship, know that that is probably the manifestation of what is going on in your heart at that moment. I cannot quantify how much God has comforted me through Christian art. I cannot. It wrecks me. It wrecked me this evening and so I came back home to write this. I can literally remember what I was going through at what point in my life and which song helped me through that period. When I had problems with staying pure, lust and my daunting fleshly desires it was songs like ‘Temptation’ by the 116 Clique that helped me. Now picture me last year, walking from Galloway Junction in Koforidua to Jacksons Park, playing this song and rapping aloud to it. It was an amazing experience. Also, it was a powerful song like ‘Murder me’ by Swoope that fed me with the idea that I need to be sadistic towards my flesh in order to awaken my spirit. Swoope sounded cruel in that song. He detailed his ‘evil’ desire to mortify the flesh in a way that I have never heard before. Those 2 rap verses in that song almost made him sound suicidal. He said, ‘ego straight to the guillotine big head gets chopped off’. This line has stayed with me for years. Paul said ‘those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its desires and passions’. You must be intentional about it. Silence the flesh. Be wicked to it. And that is what I learned from that song.

Also, that ‘Double Back’ song by Flame ft. This’l I mentioned earlier is what triggered this post this evening. I couldn’t help it. These two rappers preached a sermon on the song about how Christians need to restore each other back to righteousness whenever any of us falls in sin. That’s the word in Galatians 6. One line moved me to tears. Flame said, ‘if my brother is riding on a flat, let me be the spare’. Wow! That is to say that if my brother has a flat tyre and he is still driving let me be his spare tyre. Now he didn’t say let me hand him my spare tyre, he literally meant you need to contort your body till it resembles a car tyre then you coil yourself around your brother’s car rim and be his spare tyre. Amazing! We are not sent to be comfort dispensers to those in sorrow. We are supposed to be their comfort. That’s the logic behind that line.

Somewhere in 2014, I was harboring some resentment against someone for hurting me emotionally. I felt like the most stupid person ever created for allowing my heart to go on a wild goose chase in a desert. I was bitter and hurt. Too embarrassed about it to tell a soul. My friends are probably going to read this and be shocked. In those times, it was Andy Mineo’s song ‘bitter’ that helped me through it. He spoke about failed relationships with women and the sore relationship he had with his dad. I also really went through some hard times in 2018. Scratch that, from 2015 till 2019, life hasn’t been easy for me at all. I pray and the problems disappear like magicians and reappear in new clothes. As if my prayer was part of a magic act to make them vanish and reappear in new apparel to the applause of the audience and to my disdain. One of the songs that got me through that season was KB’s ‘Sing to you’. The highlight of that song is how KB illustrates to his listeners that present in the Godhead at this very moment is a man who experienced the pains we go through in this world. This is Jesus. He gave a command to his followers to go and take up their crosses and follow him, and before we could obey this command, he went ahead to carry his and died on it. As such, when I pray to this God, I know he understands my plight and hears me when I call. I read about Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples after he resurrected. One thing I observed was how he seemed eager to prove to them his humanity although he appeared in his glorified body. Our God can feel our pain when we call out to him because he has felt our pain in the flesh before.

I saw a Lecrae interview by DJ WadeO some years ago in which he was asked whether he listened to worship music often. He said not really, and that was because KB’s songs ‘get him in that (worship) space’. I understood what he meant perfectly and feel the same way about KB’s songs. However, for me, I still go in for worship music. I love worship songs with onion essence that just make me shed tears like I misplaced something valuable. I have no mentor or anybody ‘discipling’ me directly as some people have Spiritual mothers and fathers. I have several friends who are strong in the LORD I can speak to though. But sometimes when I need encouragement, which I tend to need every so often, I get it from worship songs. It is overwhelming, Hillsong’s ‘Seasons’ and ‘Highlands’ have helped me tremendously overcome some tough seasons and mountains in my life in these past 2 years. I just want to send a big shout out to worship songwriters and ministers. They create the soundtrack of our lives every time they step in the studio to record. And for me, they create the soundtrack of my prayer life because I love to pray with some worship music playing in the background unless I get strict instructions from the Holy Spirit not to. When I wake up to pray, I’m usually spoilt for choice as to which album to play. I’m usually like ‘so what’s it gon be today? Joe Mettle’s “Wind of Revival” or Nathaniel Bassey’s “The King is coming”. Hillsong or Bethel Revival choir? Maybe my worship playlist (which has songs from a wide range of gospel artists from different parts of the world)’. I basically go through that train of thought every single time before I pray.

I am a spoken word artist myself, so I binge on good Christian spoken word as well. My favorites are the Poets in Autumn poets. Their skill, message and level of depth in revelation all coupled with impeccable stage performances have impacted my life in a million ways. I started writing spoken word poetry because I saw some of these people do it for the Lord with a high level of excellence and anointing. I desired it earnestly. And worked at it. I love doing spoken word poetry. I am still surprised people are blessed by the stuff I write. It is because the writing process can sometimes feel like a mundane activity devoid of the leading of the Spirit. But hey, your feelings are sometimes the poorest detectors of the move of the Spirit. What I feel has nothing to do with what the Spirit intends to do in the lives of people with this poem I just wrote.

I want to also send a special shout out to Christian authors and novelists. I have read several authors from whom I have learned deep Christian lessons. I also learn a lot from their writing skills and incorporate all of that into my own writing. I was once at an event where one of the Chronicles of Narnia stories was being staged. As Aslan returned from the dead, half of the audience had their hands in the air like it was a worship concert. My heart almost exploded in worship as well. All because, a master writer (C.S Lewis), recrafted the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection in a way that lays emphasis on Jesus’ ability to avoid the cross or refuse to go through with it yet his willingness to be sacrificed like a lamb. I caught this when I saw Aslan willingly lay down his life for a very stubborn boy.

Big shout outs to the Bible Project for all that they do to make the bible simpler to understand and the stories easier to relate to. There are so many Christian artists who have impacted my life positively, but time and space are not my best allies at this moment. God bless all Christian artists who are doing the work of God with a high level of dedication, perseverance and discipline. God bless you. The Spirit is truly working through all of you. I am an artist and my desire is to see people blessed by my work. I just want to thank the many who appreciate those poems that I write, I wish to improve and even impact the world like my heroes in the Christian Arts ministry have done. 

The album begins with the title track ‘uncomfortable’. Mostly, when artists name their album after a track on it, it is usually a disaster putting the entire album into perspective. In the sense that, you realize the artist clumsily puts songs together on that project and loosely selected his favorite and named the entire album after it. That is nasty. With Andy’s ‘uncomfortable’, the message resonates throughout all the songs and not just the title track. Even the album cover depicts the state of being uncomfortable. Time and space won’t allow me to do an in depth explication of each song, but I will try to do so for most of them.

As Andy himself rightly said, ‘the album will disturb comfortable people and comfort disturbed people’. It does that, actually. The first verse of the uncomfortable track begins with the following lines. ‘Lord prepare me for the war/ Comfort be the thing that would make a king fall/Eyes on the Lord/ Gotta grip the blade of the sword…’. Of course comfort fills you with complacency and serves as a hindrance to progress. Kings are amongst the most comfortable people in the world. Their status affords them all the pomp and pageantry that your sophisticated imagination may never be able to conceive. So of course, Andy was talking about a king here…or so I thought. In his interview on the ‘Sway in the morning’ radio show, he stated that he was specifically talking about King David. These lines are an allusion to the time when David stayed behind and didn’t go to war. He ended up sleeping with Uriah’s wife and killing Uriah as a result of his intentions to cover up the mess. Had David chosen war (discomfort) over the comfort of staying back in his palace and strolling on his porch, he wouldn’t have fallen into such an abominable sin. The message is clear here, “comfort is not always a good enough reason to take a decision”. Sometimes the road to success is like a thorny park and the road leading nowhere is as comforting as carpet grass. Choose ye this day your destination but don’t do so with the path leading to it in mind.

Another amazing message in those few lines is the part where he says ‘gotta grip the blade of the sword’. According to him, he used that imagery to depict the need for Christians to judge themselves by the standards of the bible before they judge others. Let me explain this. So the Word of God is described as being ‘sharper than a two-edged sword’ in the bible, therefore when we judge people, we point the sword in their face while gripping the handle. But God didn’t intend for us to grip the handle of the sword but the blade. We must do this on a daily basis: grip the sword by the blade, cut yourself and bleed! Bleed till you are drained of every bit of ‘your  self-righteous self’ then you can go out there and correct others and help rid their lives of any impurities. Let them grip the sword by the blade too, don’t point the sword at them. **Deep!**

Uncomfortable is followed closely by ‘uptown’. In Uptown, Andy tries to capture and retell the lifestyle of people living in his hometown, New York city. Just as I stated earlier, every song screams the need to let go of a comfortable lifestyle and choose that which is beneficial though it may appear unpleasant now… so does ‘uptown’. In the first verse Andy says, ‘Baby, how you gon complete your life’s checklist/Spending every night watching netflix?/ Time is precious, gotta invest it when you spend it/ If we are prisoners to comfort, we judge our own sentences…’. This is self explanatory. We see the theme of ‘disturbing comfortable people’ live and coloured here. Instead of spending countless hours engaging in that which merely gives you pleasure, it would be a better investment to spend time doing profitable things.

Desperados is my favorite song on the album: the music; the instrumentation; Mali Music’s hook coupled with Andy’s versatile rap style makes it a delicious meal to my ears. A desperado is a violent criminal who is not afraid of getting hurt or caught (Merriam Webster Dictionary). In the song, both Andy and Mali proclaim that they are desperados who are wanted dead or alive. ‘Desperados’ inspires a positive rebellious spirit in me. Where I don’t want to conform to the standards society sets – even on social media. So if they want my life for the truth I stand for, well, I would gladly be a desperado. It is not about the number of people who like you, it is about how many people you impact positively: that is the real essence of this life. Andy states this categorically, ‘I ain’t trying to be liked, I’m trying to be a light’. Do not conform. Be a light wherever you are even if they criminalize you because of it.

Any Andy Mineo fan would notice that he has a knack for getting personal on some of his songs just to help people deal with the same issues. He does so in the song ‘Hear my heart’. It is a song for his big sister Grace, who was born deaf. In this song, Andy apologizes for never learning sign language which minimized communication between him and his sister. Andy ends the only verse of the song by saying ‘My big sister Grace, I’m sorry I never learnt the signs/ I know that you were born deaf, but forgive me for the years that I lived blind’.

We see Andy get more personal in two more songs: Ghost and Love. In Ghost he speaks about losing touch with one of his closest friends. And in ‘Love’ he seeks to redefine love. He does this by dispelling the popular definition people give to love. While at it, he made mention of the fact that some people – men especially – think they are too tough to love. It is a ‘guy thing’: we assume it is a sign of weakness to be vulnerable to someone emotionally. But no, Andy says it is cool to be like that, especially with the one you love. It is both therapeutic and beneficial to the growth of the relationship. Andy personifies love in the entire song and tells love that ‘when I think about God, you are the definition’. Indeed, God doesn’t merely love, GOD IS LOVE!.

In ‘Rat race’ Andy attacks people who expend all their energies in criticizing artists like it was a sport. He raises some very important issues too. Somewhere in the chorus it says ‘tell them we don’t wanna play/ we’re so okay with last place’. Now, who on earth would be okay with being the last in a race? *points finger at Andy* What he is trying to say is, we are all running a race in life – that is our individual calling. So if people judge you by how much you are losing in their race, please take a seat and be okay with the last position in their race. For all they know, you are leading in your race by being last in theirs. This definitely has to do with Andy’s position in the rap game in America. It may appear that he isn’t mainstream yet… but so what? He is so okay with last place. Since to him this is ministry and not a game to be won, he concludes each verse by saying ‘roof your ball, I don’t wanna play’. Ouch! That ought to leave the owner of the ball in a whirlwind of embarrassment.

I like it when Andy sounds tough on a track. When he sounds almost angry and delivers his verses with an almost hoarse voice, I love it *giggles*. In ‘Vendetta’ We see Andy Mineo taking the pulpit and pitching it on the stage of a political rally to address some political issues. The song is centered on one point: the artist is more influential than the politician. According to him most politicians have the right ideas and mindset for the job until they enter office then there is a visible decay of purpose witnessed by all. One line in the chorus captures this point: Pac did a lot more for me than Barack. Yep, he means 2 pac (the rapper) did a lot more for him than Barack Obama. In the second verse, Andy admits to his overindulgence in unnecessary things too. He says he has excess of things that are needed by others, referring to the 100 sneakers he has, which are meant for his two feet. It is all vanity and a chasing after wind.

On ‘Know that’s right’ Andy takes a few shots at the negativity of some hip hop songs. The truth about how most of these artists lie about the lives they live while they live in debt. He also said, “My home girl started stripping/ I said ‘chill, get a degree’/ She told me, ‘Andy you’re trippin/ ‘Cause you don’t make more money than me”. And that’s true. People could be earning a living from doing things that are either criminal or degrading and if you find yourself desiring their lifestyle, know that it isn’t worth it. Persevere through the hardship you are in and sooner or later you will be in a better position in life. Also in ‘strange motions’ he touches on dealing with addictions. In ‘Now I know’ he touches on the enlightenment he has received over the years dispelling some of the myths he used to believe while a child. He stated that he even ‘thought that Jesus was white’. The Album ends with ‘make me a believer’ and there is one musical interlude on the album: David’s roof. I state this again, it is a masterpiece.

Together, all these songs trouble you. They ruffle the branches of the palm tree you are resting under to wake you up from your sleep. Human beings will do anything to have a comfortable life but so far as we are on this earth we will always have problems. It is better for us to decide to suffer discomfort for a worthy cause. Let us not be caught  up in the mundane. Be worried. Be disturbed about the evil around you and in the world at large. Do not be complacent. Comfort can kill you. As G.K Chesterton said ‘Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain. Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure”. And Andy said ‘Nobody told us we could die like this; Nobody told us we could die from BLISS’. Be uncomfortable.