B-Fade: The rapping ex-convict proclaiming All Things Are Possible

Saturday 29th October 2016

Tony Cummings quizzed the rapper from Oakland, California B-FADE



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B-Fade: Absolutely. Most definitely the spiritual aspect is important but natural needs need to be met as well. I think somebody will want to hear more about Jesus if their stomach is not growling. Maybe they're saying, 'Yes, I believe in Jesus, but I'm hungry right now. Can you help me?' There's a church in my community, and I love what they do. They have a food bank and they give out the food, but you show up, they have a small church service on a Thursday morning and they encourage you, they pray for you, they preach a small message, they have an altar call and then they give you food, which is really good because both needs are being met. You don't want to have one without the other because they're both needed.

Tony: I think the whole set up for Christian radio is a bit strange in the States because for a start there's a colour bar. There's Christian music made by white guys, there's gospel music made by black guys - by and large - but then there's gospel hip-hop which hardly gets any radio. Is that a fair observation?

B-Fade: It sure is. But I will tell you this: it's growing. There's a radio station in New York, a secular station, it's added a Christian hip-hop segment to it. There's one out here, again it's a secular station. Most of the secular stations do a Sunday morning type of thing and I've been getting regular airplay from the biggest secular station in the Bay area right now every Sunday. It's going to take some more entrepreneurs and investors to step up and invest in our own Christian radio stations. In Orlando, Florida there's an FM station which is very popular. I think it's growing. It has grown over the years and I think we're going to see a lot more of it.

Tony: I think we are. One thing I predict also we're going to start seeing is hip-hop integrated a bit more into worship music.

B-Fade: Yes, yes. That's the direction I'm headed into because to be honest a lot of the events I do are like festivals with CCM artists where there's barely any hip-hop. Sometimes I'm the only hip-hop artist. I have something coming up, with Joshua Fest with Crowder and Capital Kings and different CCM artists as well. If you look at the CD I did the song "Take You There" with Sarah Muir from Australia and I definitely want to get into more worship as well.

Tony: Tell me about some of the tracks on 'All Things Are Possible'.

B: So far we have released three singles from the project and one of them is "We Live It" with Brendon P. He just got off tour with Andy Mineo; he's been drumming for him on the Uncomfortable Tour and on the Anomaly Tour as well. There's another one called "Like Him" featuring Pray Area. And then the last one featuring Keno Camp is called "We Got It". All three of those have been receiving a lot of airplay but the last one is going everywhere, it's done the best out of everything. So the message is really, really getting out there and I'm excited about that.

Tony: What inspired the writing of "We Got It"? What was the situation which led to you writing that particular flow?

B-Fade: Well, I wanted to collaborate with some of the artists down south, in Los Angeles. I wanted to catch that West Coast vibe, a new West Coast vibe because if the truth be told a lot of West Coast artists just mimic what the world is doing, the certain sound that everybody is doing now. And I wanted to keep it strictly West Coast. I do a lot of collaborations and sometimes when I collaborate with people from different states and different countries they want to hear where I'm from, they want to hear that type of music. So I wanted to bring an anthem that mixed Los Angeles with the Bay Area, West Coast feel, something very catchy but Scripture based. I always keep the Scripture as my foundation. We just came up with "We Got It" which is simply saying that we have the Gospel, and you can have it too, and that Jesus can save you. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.
About Tony Cummings
Tony CummingsTony Cummings is the music editor for Cross Rhythms website and attends Grace Church in Stoke-on-Trent.


 
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