A higher hip-hop calling

By Dalia Wheatt
Published December 21, 2007

Tampa Bay's Annual Gospel Rap Festival

Catch the first annual holy hip-hop showcase from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Centro Asturiano de Tampa, 1913 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa. Tickets are $10. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Alpha House of Tampa. Food and drink will be for sale. For details, go to www.psalm150entertainment.com

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It was a rare sound - East Coast rap coming from a car in the dirty South.

In 2002, Greg Thomas was walking down Hillsborough Avenue when he noticed a car pumping a Philly-style beat. The New Jersey native's ears perked up. This rap was more akin to the stuff Thomas had grown up hearing - Public Enemy, Naughty by Nature, Queen Latifah - than the Southern crunk he'd become accustomed to in the 813.

"I heard this car coming across Nebraska with the music. He stopped at the light. That's when I asked," said Thomas, 45, of Tampa. "I didn't know what it was, but I heard them pumping Christ at certain points. The beats were so live. It was a Northern sound."

The group was Cross Movement, a Philadelphia foursome who are arguably the best-known rappers in the Christian hip-hop scene. Thomas became a fan and soon discovered local Christian rappers he enjoyed, including artists from Crossover Church and Revealing Truth Ministries, both in Tampa

"The sound is the same as secular (rap), the beat is the same as secular, but it's the beat that makes the difference," Thomas said.

On Saturday, Thomas will combine his love of rap with his love of Jesus Christ by organizing a gospel rap showcase at Centro Asturiano de Tampa.

Locked up

Growing up in East Orange, NJ, Thomas had attended church with his parents. But into adulthood, he wasn't exactly holier than thou. He sold and used marijuana, cocaine, "the whole shebang," Thomas said. When he moved to Tampa in 2002, his sins caught up with him.

Thomas spent the next three years in prison on drug charges. A cell mate told him about Christ, and he became a born-again Christian. With support from a prison ministry, Thomas began watching video tapes of Bishop T.D. Jakes and studying Scriptures.

"When I started reading the Bible, it started making sense," Thomas said. "I thank God for prison because it taught me patience, it taught me to know how to love those who don't want to show me love, and it taught me to help my fellow man, my brother."

Keep ya head up

Released from prison in 2006, Thomas attends Revealing Truth Ministries in Tampa and works as a waiter at Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse in Brandon. He also started Psalm150Entertainment Inc., whose name references the biblical passage "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Saturday's gospel rap festival will be Psalm150Entertainment's first event. Thomas, who used to rap, now prefers to stay behind the scenes.

The festival will feature about a dozen local rap acts, including Seckond Chaynce, known for his lightening lyrics; Young Jonah, who raps in laid-back Southern style; Jah-vix, who spits in English and Spanish; and husband-and-wife duo Frontline. Singing and spoken-word poetry will also be sprinkled in. There will also be an audience dance contest and iPod giveaway. Local rapper L.O.K.O., a.k.a. Jessi James Johnson, will host the event.

Thomas chose to hold the rap festival at Centro Asturiano rather than a church in order to give it mass appeal.

"Those who would be apprehensive in going to a church to hear gospel rap may not be as apprehensive to go to a secular place that they've heard of," Thomas said.

That doesn't mean the event won't kick off with a prayer, though.

"It's a festival second and it's a ministry first," Thomas said. "If one person gives their life over to Christ after coming to this event, I will measure it a success."

[Last modified December 20, 2007, 13:35:48]