Artist Devo: Red Box Encounters, Part I (Bobby Bishop)

About the Author (Author Profile)

Standing firm in your belief system can be trying. When the world around you is succumbing to a revolving door of trends, it takes dedication to stick to your guns and keep your feet planted. Bobby Bishop fell in love with hip-hop as a child. Raised in a quiet Boston suburb, it took some digging around and frequent trips to the city to wrap his head around the passion he heard from the mouths of his favorite emcees. As he grew, he realized his desire to participate, and share his own thoughts and convictions through rap. Authenticity is a funny thing, however. In all reality, typical hip-hop topics weren’t exactly a vibrant picture of the life he’d experienced growing up. With the need to follow his own conviction, Bobby began serving teenagers as a youth minister in gritty Lynn, Massachusetts in 1996, and has been there ever since. Bobby began writing and recording rap music as a teenager himself, and the fusion of his faith in God and a passion for rap was a natural one. He realized his experience as a youth mentor and minister gave him the opportunity to reach out using hip-hop, particularly as he discovered his knack for storytelling. A church plant ensued in 2001, with the vision of pursuing a neglected city, and rap demos and independent CD’s were penned in conjunction with his community experiences. The determination to stay true to his initial convictions meant deliberately balancing national touring with day-in-and-day-out street ministry. Hip-hop’s pioneers birthed a sound expressing everyday life, struggle, determination, and redemption. Bobby was adamant from the beginning not to forget hip-hop’s roots, but to offer the hope of Christ as life’s solution. Amy’s Song, the true story of a teenage rape victim, began to unexpectedly set the stage for Bobby’s national career, as it gained a tremendous amount of attention and exposure upon its initial release in 2002. Several indy projects and national tours later, and Bobby was offered his first national recording contract. Government Name (Beatmart/Sony BMG) released into the marketplace in 2005, and Bobby hit the ground running, balancing his local youth ministry with touring the country. Mtv, in particular, took to the record, and placed nearly the entire project into rotation on some of the network’s most popular shows (Pimp My Ride, Next, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Date My Mom, and more). One Shot, Bobby’s second nationally distributed project (Beatmart/Sony BMG), was released into the marketplace in 2006. Presented as a rap “hip-hopera,” this project tells a fictional story based on true events that took place in Bobby’s neighborhood, and is a start-to-finish musical story with a startling conclusion. Bobby’s new label home, Philadelphia-based Chosen Records, has brought this project to the screen in the video, One Shot. Utilizing this short film, Bobby and label mates The Wrecking, have been traveling the country as The One Shot Tour. Bobby’s goal is to bring a music ministry presentation with heart, on the strength of community service and countless hours of stage experience. The aim is to be approachable and real, and to continue making honest, Christ-centered music. Reviews! Bobby's newest project, Everyday Man, released 7/14/09 on Chosen Records/Executive Music/Universal Music Christian Group. This project is receiving rave reviews: "Everyday Man is one of those releases that is going to get attention. Bobby captures and delivers a thought-provoking yet humbling journey as he shares his life, thoughts and discoveries about himself in this CD. Five Stars.” -About.com "Lyrically, Bobby encourages us in Christ by telling of everyday struggles. His sincerity and honesty connects, which is refreshing." -The Phantom Tollbooth "Fresh hip-hop with Eminem's lyrical dexterity and dcTalk's melodies...Bishop's third release boasts get-up-and-dance beats, instrumental flourishes, and select guest emcees, but the real star, as always, is Bishop. No trendy special effects or overdone samples here—Bishop's vocal consistency and tight storytelling achieve the smooth, cohesive feel of his most accomplished record to date." -Christianity Today "I can tell that Bobby invested valuable time on this album; I can hear the sincerity on each track. I can feel the vibe on each record, whether it’s an introspective track or a straight up hip hop track. The overall message of living life as an ‘Everyday Man’ was certainly communicated throughout the album. This album gets my vote for the ‘keep it knocking in your stereo for a while, while you take your long summer road trips and make sure you play it three times if you have to’ award." -Holyculture.net “It is good rap, grace-filled theology, and the gift of an artist sharing his life with us.” -Hollywoodjesus.com “Bishop’s Everyday Man is a strong-willed effort with divine beats that straight up play most rhythms that his secular major label mates have been lacing.” -The Boston Phoenix "#2 overall Christian music record of 2009." -About.com The highly acclaimed video for the single Please is in rotation on BET Gospel, The Gospel Music Channel, JCTV, and peaked at #1 on the INSP Steelroots Countdown. This video has also been featured on AOL Music, Yahoo Music, Vevo (Universal), Much Music, MSNBC, CBN, and more. Resume: -Years of youth ministry fused with hip-hop tours have resulted in trust-relationships with youth pastors across the country, where Bobby has been the key-speaker in conjunction with the music act. -Bobby has several independent and two previously released national projects that formally introduced him to a broad marketplace. -National tours with The Seven Project, spot dates, festivals and tours nationally and internationally, shared stages with countless artists. -Authored for American Bible Society, FEED Magazine, CMCentral, Beliefnet.com, About.com, Tha Message, On Course, and more. -Featured on multiple nationally distributed projects with Sony/BMG, Universal, EMI, and more.