Your music as a Christian Hip-Hop artist has tremendous value in helping entertain, teach, instruct, and inspire generations. In today’s age, music has no bounds in removing hurdles that once made its distribution difficult.

However, music is not the only way to minister to people and communicate your impactful message. There are different roles you can play as an artist and other things you can do more broadly to carry THE message of the Gospel further.

Creative Exploration in Christian Hip Hop

As an artist, creative exploration in communicating and delivering your message is essential. Exploring other avenues to express your creativity allows you to create magic that the world appreciates.

Further, that creativity will open new doors for the Christian Hip Hop industry, allowing more people to showcase their talents.

In addition, artists can seek various opportunities within the music industry to fulfilling other roles such as music collaboration, production, artist management, and various other on-field and behind-the-scenes roles. Exploring to learn new things is a great way to build the industry and tap into your full potential. 

Influencing

Artists have a great influence on their listeners and the world at large. In today’s age, we see more people using social media platforms to drive certain narratives and messages. You can use this to your advantage too.

Building your audience on social platforms will allow you to drive them towards positive change by sharing your experiences. You could educate and minister to thousands of people, transforming their lives significantly.

In addition, your influence will be a catalyst in the growth of the Christian music industry. It will expose more people to the beauty you and other artists create. 

Several artists have demonstrated the incredible impact that being an influencer can have on one’s career and the music industry at large. Take Erica Mason as an example, she has amassed a following of over 800,000 people on TikTok while sharing her music.

Her posts inspire and educate while ministering to her audience about God’s unfailing love. Erica’s success on social media has seen her appear at the Stellar awards, expanding the representation of the Christian Hip Hop industry. 

Another great example is Kieran the Light, with over 700,000 followers on TikTok. He uses his platform to share words of advice and knowledge while sharing his art with his audience. His presence on social media continues to expand the awareness of Christian Hip Hop. 

Mentorship in Christian Hip Hop

Mentorship is a great initiative that allows you to connect with upcoming artists and young people. You get to instruct and charter a path forward that they can follow to ensure future success as artists. 

Taking the time to talk to upcoming artists to share your creative processes, mistakes you’ve made, and the lessons you’ve learned is a great idea. It will have a great impact on the artist’s trajectory and save them a few years of learning.

Speaking to the youth allows you to minister to them and lead them down the right path. Sometimes youths can get distracted by other shiny lifestyles but with mentors, they are held accountable and can walk on a path that is true to them. 

A.I. The Anomaly (Aitina Fareed Cooke) is a Christian Hip Hop artist and an entrepreneur. She’s a great example of how you can incorporate mentorship as an artist. She invests her time in Buffalo, New York, working locally with young artists and kids. 

Her impact on artists and the young generation is profound. She commits herself to provide tools and resources to artists and entrepreneurs, impacting their lives. 

Mentorship at the grassroots level has a profound effect on mentees, giving them a roadmap and the resources to improve their lives. 

It allows you to encourage more mindfulness among upcoming artists and the youths while instilling good morals. They get to learn the importance of making the right choices and how their choices may affect them and those around them. 

In addition, you get to grow your influence further contributing to the growth of the music industry while encouraging more artists to continue creating uplifting music.

An article by the American Bible Society highlights the impact that mentorship programs in the Christian HipHop space have. It features testimonials of people whose lives have been changed through different concerts and mentorship programs. 

Volunteering

Donating your time to worthy causes in the community as an artist helps you connect with people and build great connections. It allows you to contribute in meaningful ways and impact lives.

Staying in touch with the Christian community also allows you to touch base on what they are going through. They may share experiences and stories that you can draw inspiration from and create music that delivers the messages to even more people.

Volunteering also allows you to take part in progressive activities that will have a great impact on your surroundings. 

Lecrae provides a great example of volunteering as an artist. A feature article on his achievements highlights his work with different non-profit organizations that aim to impact the lives of those less fortunate in his community. 

Lecrae recently partnered with Securus technologies to host an original hip hop track contest for inmates in correctional facilities. The winning song by an inmate called Carmela Mose was recorded and released to the public on different streaming platforms.

Proceeds from the release of the song will benefit the Prison Fellowship, a nonprofit organization bettering the lives of inmates, their families, and their communities. 

Collaborating within Christian Hip Hop

In line with creative exploration, collaborating with people also helps build the music industry and minister to more people. You could collaborate with fellow artists in creating new music, editing audio, mixing, and mastering new audio themes can allow you to share it with a wider audience.

DJ LostNFound has showcased the incredible power of collaboration with different talents in the industry. As a Christian hip-hop producer, he has worked with different Christian rappers in the Caesura I & II projects.

He says that his aim with the Caesura projects is to inspire more out-of-the-box collaborations to allow for growth in the CHH industry. 

Collaborating with other content creators on social platforms is also another way to narrow in on your bottom line. Finding creators who share your views and morals will allow you to create impactful content for the people.

In addition, collaborations provide a great opportunity to bounce off ideas and find ways to improve your craft some more. You’ll get to learn helpful tips from other artists and creators that you can implement in your music.

Coming together to create masterpieces helps grow the Christian HipHop industry significantly by exposing it to larger groups. Exposure is an essential ingredient to growth and working towards that guarantees success.

Written by Nicole McCray