Dusty Marshall: The Arizona-based rapper with a story of brokenness and redemption

Tuesday 27th February 2018

Tony Cummings reports on the MC from Phoenix, Arizona, DUSTY MARSHALL

Dusty Marshall
Dusty Marshall

Dusty Marshall may have a name suitable for an old school country and western singer, but his music and cultural background could hardly be more different. Growing up in Los Angeles during the '90s gangsta rap era, by 2004 he had begun to find success in the mainstream underground rap scene of Southern California. He joined up with a crew of rappers and began recording albums and opening up for artists like Too Short, Raekwon, Talib Kweli and Hieroglyphics. But then addiction and crime took the young rapper to his knees, quite literally. After his conversion Dusty turned his rapping skills to God's use and released an EP 'Return Of The Wordsmith' in 2014 and his debut full-length album 'Beauty In The Struggle' in 2017.

Dusty has now released a single "Forever You're Loved" available at all streaming and download outlets. It is an autobiographical track that tells Marshall's story of brokenness and redemption. He shared about his song and his lifer "Underneath the surface of a smiling child that was adopted by loving parents, I dealt with resentment and abandonment issues, especially toward women. I never felt like I was good enough to be loved, because my own mother and father had not even loved me enough to take care of me, and sold me to another family who could. This distorted view of love caused me to build up walls that shielded me from experiencing true intimacy most of my life. With these walls built, I thought I could protect myself from ever being abandoned again by someone who claimed to love me. This further lead me into darkness, depravity and sin. My life seemed hopeless, until one day God showed up in the most unexpected place, a woman.

"God met me right where I was at with this woman, and through her he showed me what his character was like. She introduced me to the Gospel message, she also stood by me through some of the darkest times in my life when there was nothing for her in return. While she was not perfect in herself, God was using her to help draw me closer to him. I realize now it was the Holy Spirit working through her, but at the time I only knew it as her love, devotion and kindness. This woman became my wife, my best friend, and the mother of my two beautiful children. We now travel the country together with our family, sharing God's message of amazing love, a love that is sacrificial and selfless."

Dusty continued, "God's love is one that takes those who have rejected and abandoned him, and saves them from eternal torment in Hell by adopting them into his eternal family. Oh what an amazing love! Believers are adopted into God's eternal loving family, just as I was by earthly parents! Yet this love is so much greater, and there is nothing that can separate us from it once he adopts us as his children. While the world around us may let us down, we can find our peace and assurance of God's unfailing love in his word. Romans 8:38-39 says, 'And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.'" 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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