Episode 051 - God Body
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
info_outline
Episode 050 - Legin
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Nigel "Legin" Anderson, a hip-hop and spoken-word artist, speaker, and entrepreneur operates the gospel hip hop label Renaissance Music with fellow artists Sinai and Focus. As an artist, Legin performs at concerts, conferences, and churches, attracting excited followers through his energy and authenticity. Motivated and inspired by his father’s battle with addiction, he speaks at schools and churches on the topics of living with hope, overcoming obstacles, and pursuing dreams in the face of fear. His messages are grounded in apologetics and promote Christian living and racial reconciliation...
info_outline
Episode 049 - Focus
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
info_outline
Episode 048 - Sinai
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Sinai, born Jermaine Morris, grew up in the projects of New Haven, Connecticut. His mother was single raising him and his 2 older siblings for much of his childhood and she worked extremely hard to keep her children from the streets. He experienced the pain and rejection that many teens lacking the love and acceptance of a strong father figure go through. Years after nearly losing his life on three separate occasions, he began to realize that God had protected him. As God began to show Sinai the gifts he gave him, He gave Sinai a longing to reach others and show them a better way of life....
info_outline
Episode 047 - Illtalian
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Illtalian is an Italian/Filipino, award-winning rapper from Kauai, Hawaii, who is currently nominated for a Na Hoku Hanohano Award, also known as the Hawaiian Grammy, in the Best Rap Album of the Year category. Illtalian strives to deliver the Gospel in a unique fashion without compromising his message, while representing his home in Hawaii. His Nā Hōkū nominated album, “Makana,” features some of the biggest names in Christian Rap, including 1k Phew, Swift, Je’kob and Gemstones, and his new EP drops this summer.
info_outline
Episode 046 - Shep the Shepherd
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Shep the Shepherd is the proverbial leader of the Christian Hip-Hop (CHH) flock. His hope is to be transparent, to change the illusion that he would be a perfect Christian leading the perfect life. His hope is for others to be able to identify with his music and to find hope in Christ, the only perfect one.
info_outline
Episode 045 - King Chav
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
King Chav is an emerging hip-hop artist from Jacksonville, FL originally from Bridgeport, CT. He uses his music as a way to connect and communicate with his generation. King Chav mixes substance with style in his delivery. He boldly talks about his faith, experiences, social and political issues within his music. His released his debut project, Time Will Tell, in July 2017. His music has been featured on publications such as HipHopDX, Rapzilla, newH20 and Sphere of Hip-Hop. He is also a host of The WkNd Radio Show.
info_outline
Episode 044 - Stovetop
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
During his college years, Stovetop wrote raps and experimented with production, but never really felt comfortable publicly displaying his skills until he started making music catered directly to his dorm mates at Northwestern in Orange City, IA. Describing it as a fraternity like atmosphere, Stover said his dorm mates took a shining to his ability to use his talent to drop bars filled with inside jokes and familiar stories. After graduating from Northwestern in 2010 with a degree in public relations, Stovetop decided to take his desire to rap a little more seriously and began investing himself...
info_outline
Episode 043 - Professor Crow
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Professor Crow is a broken-hearted artist campaigning for change. His bold message reaches a broad and diverse audience. From people who've been to Princeton and even people who've been to Prison! People who go to church and people who go to the club! In a genre flooded with copycats, Professor Crow stands out like a sore thumb. With many supporters proclaiming “He sounds like no one I’ve ever heard.” Professor Crow could very well be what Hip-hop is praying for. After listening to his music it’s evident he is driven by a deep compassion and a past full of trying times. He seems to...
info_outline
Episode 042 - Yung Titan
Chris Chicago's Artist Spotlight
Yung Titan was born and raised in Memphis, Tn. There he witnessed ups and downs throughout his teenage life but developed a love for writing hip-hop songs. Once Titan was introduced to Jesus at his local church he started to pursue Youth ministry to help influence young people towards a Christian lifestyle. He uses Christian hip-hop to reach people and change lives.
info_outlineDuring his college years, Stovetop wrote raps and experimented with production, but never really felt comfortable publicly displaying his skills until he started making music catered directly to his dorm mates at Northwestern in Orange City, IA. Describing it as a fraternity like atmosphere, Stover said his dorm mates took a shining to his ability to use his talent to drop bars filled with inside jokes and familiar stories.
After graduating from Northwestern in 2010 with a degree in public relations, Stovetop decided to take his desire to rap a little more seriously and began investing himself financially and by consistently writing rhymes in his downtime, something he still does today.
He released his debut album, “Work in Progress,” featuring lead single, “A.I.” in January.
The 11-track project has been in development for five years and features all original music and composition. “Work in Progress” is the culmination of Stovetop’s desire to spread not only his music to the masses but to promote positivity and spirituality as well.
“I like to have fun in my music,” said Stovetop, who built his following through his SoundCloud account, which has accumulated more than 200,000 streams. “I want it to be upbeat but at the same time have a decent message; that's the point of this project. I want to make music that I wouldn’t be ashamed to have my parents hear or that I wouldn’t have to turn off if my two-year-old walks in the room.”
“It’s easy to write club-bangers about women or getting crazy or whatever, but I wanted this project to be a little more encouraging mean something a little more than what rap is typically associated with. I love Jesus, I love hip-hop, and I love putting them together.”
Another theme behind “Work in Progress” is to show that no matter who you are and what you have accomplished, there is always more that can be done.
“No matter what you do in life, as a person — and I don’t just mean spiritually, physically, career-wise, you name it — you’re always a work in progress,” Stovetop said.
Over the 38-minute runtime, Stovetop encourages people to live their life to the fullest (“Bananas”), explains how to have fun on the dance floor without being provocative (“Feet Work”), never giving up (“Fighter”), rallying against secular materialism (“A.I.”), and more.
Stylewise, Stovetop has a hard time describing his musical style, but the lyricist is heavily influenced by both secular and Christian artists such as Andy Mineo, Drake, Lecrae, NF and tobyMac, a trait reflected by the extreme versatility on display in his burgeoning catalog.
While he has difficulty narrowing down a way to describe himself as an artist, he is adamant that Christianity, positivity, and encouragement are standard pillars of his music.
In addition to that, Stovetop works his day job at a non-profit ministry and runs a growing DJ business. He also loves to spend time with his expectant wife and 2-year-old son.