Interview with Jiggy4Jesus
[From September 13, 2005 at the Lollaparousia Festival. By Fred Hoskins, Zounds YRM Pastor]
Fred: I'm chatting with MC S-Katologee and DJ Imurzhen, rap missionaries of Jiggy4Jesus. Hey guys! great that you can make it...
DJI: Fo' shizzle, Skeezzle. Chuuuch!
S-K: Glad to be here.
Fred: So, what up with you guys?
DJI: We on a mizzle from da Lizzle!
S-K: That and touring and working on our next project. It's gonna be this rap opera concept album, told in multiple chapters with videos, about how God created the world and then sat back and admired His dope work. We're callin' it "On The Seventh Day, He Chillaxed".
Fred: Can't wait! So, for our readers who aren't familiar with you, give us the 411 on Jiggy4Jesus.
S-K: We are representin' the Lord throughout the 'hood. We live in a culture that tells kids to keep their love of Jesus down low, so it's important to get the word out that you don't have to be a praya hata to keep it street. You can be down with the G-O-D and be loud about it, ya feel me?
Fred: ... I feel ya ...
S-K: We want to get everyone excited to get their Faith on.
DJI: We wanna get y'all to praise da roof!
S-K: ...well, not actually praise the roof. We aren't, like, Pagan architects.
DJI: True dat.
S-K: We rap about things above the roof, things that transcend the roof. We want to get rid of the roof entirely and let the Light of the Lord shine in.
DJI: Yah, we're roofless.
Fred: With all the jive in the Secular Media about the gansta rap, lots of people never hear that there are Christian rappers. What do you say to people surprised by your pro-Christ message?
S-K: We're rappers, but we're also straight up Baptists. We call ourselves Raptists. At our shows, we use lyrical flow to conduct Raptisms...
DJI: ...our beats are Raptizzle. Ya'll come see us, ya gonna be Raptized by Imurzhen. Then when Jesus be comin' back, y'all gonna be Raptured...
S-K: ...That's what it's called.
DJI: Yah, right.
Fred: What does the rap community think about your work.
DJI: They coo, they coo. Rappin' fo' Jesus is da new gospizzle...
S-K: ...Or the old Gospel. What most people don't get is that Jesus was a rapper and His apostles were His crew. He starts His Sermon on the Mount with Beatitudes, ya know? He took it to the people and made them listen, which is what rap is all about. In Revelation, He put a righteous smack down on the churches that were frontin', saying "ya best repent or I'll rebuke ya". After He was Risen, His apostle Peter raps about how He'll come back creepin' and crawlin' like a thief in the night. Even before Jesus came down to Earth, rappers were spreadin' the Word. Big King David was gettin' the Middle-East-side jumpin' with his Psalms way back in the day.
DJI: Da P-salms are p-slammin', yo!
S-K: We are carrying on that tradition, takin' rap back to the roots that all the gangstas and playas have fallen away from. Rappin' about God is extreme old school. In fact, God was the first rapper. He created the world with His Words!
DJI: Jus' like it say in Genesizzle... Word to da Father.
Fred: So you're saying He's like some sort of Snoop God?
S-K: Well, yeah... It's like the Universe and everything is a rap concert and He's the opening act and the closing act. The Alpha and the Omega at the Apollo for all Eternity. Hey, we can use that on the album... Yo, write it down Murz...
Fred: Your last single, "You Da Man Now, God!", was da bomb. It's the best song about Christ coming down to Earth in human form since "What It's Like" by downhere.
S-K: Thanks. People have got to know that God came down to Earth, that He isn't just some far off thing or Mary's baby daddy. It's like I rhymed: Yo, up on da cross dis is / Da Big G's hypostasis. Jesus was the O.G. -- Original Gentile. He walked among us and spoke His Wisdom from the streets. He bust up the ballas in the temple and was hassled by the Man. When they assassinated Him, He rose from the dead and took all our Sins away with Him. Jesus was like Tupac, only for real.
Fred: Most rappers nowadays only rap about the "bling-bling" and that sets lots of urban youths up to be Materialists.
S-K: Exactly! Jesus didn't wear no Rolly or Air Jordans. The only Jordan He wore was the River Jordan when He was Baptized. No, He wore a crown of thorns and nails through His hands, that's how hardcore He was.
DJI: Yo, He's straight up Mezzizzle! Ain't no tricked-out punk mark.
S-K: Yeah. Like I rhymed in "All The Glitters Ain't Bling": Soon'ah drive a hoopty through da hole of a mouse / 'Fore ya get all that bling-bling-bling up to Hizzouse. When the Rapture comes, the Saved will be leavin' their Timbs empty on the ground, while all the wack unsaveds are quakin' in theirs.
Fred: Speaking of fashion... Imurzhen, you always wear a large clock around your neck, like Flavor Flav, but yours doesn't have any hands on it. I bet lots of our readers want to know the dealio with that.
DJI: A'ight. Ya see it's like this... da clock, it represent Jesus be comin' back at any mo' but when it be we don't know. I wear it so da people know they don't know what His time is, so they best holla to God an' get themselves Saved wit a proper baptizzle, lickity-splizzle.
Fred: That's fabulous! Maybe I should start wearing one. Hey, I know you guys got to get going for your set. Any last things you want to add?
DJI: Yah, Skeezzle, I wanna give a praise out to da Lord an' all my homies down in prayer group eight. Chuuch!
S-K: I would just like remind all our fans to get out there and represent for the Lord, 'cause when it comes to Jesus, do believe the hype.
Fred: Thanks guys! Have a great show!