Rappin' the Truth

My store was host to a rapper out of Nashville today.



When his CD showed up in the store this past Monday, I was thinking I can't believe I'm going to have a rapper performing in the store on Friday. I was thinking riots! Loud noise! I'm not a huge rap fan, so I wasn't too excited about the whole thing.



I noticed that there were no parental advisory labels on the CDs. That puzzled me, although the PA sticker is totally voluntary by the record labels. I thought to look over the CD's song titles. "Changed Man", "All About You", "Trinity"...stuff like that. I wondered hey, is this a gospel CD? So, I opened it immediately and read the "thank yous". Many rap artists "thank God" and blah blah blah as they rap blashpemy....but, this one was different. This one thanked Jesus. THE JESUS! I immediately put it in the player and I was right! This is the gospel...IN YO FACE!!! Now I was excited!



K-lee showed up with his homies and started hustlin' the goods. I played the CD and rap fans in the store were diggin' it. They were catchin' the beats and K-lee did some rappin'. At one point he even shared about his music...he told the crowd. "There ain't no cussin' on my CDs...I sold 20,000 CD's out of the trunk of my car. My music is selling without the cussin', so why cuss?" Then he went on to share some of his story and of the life he raps about:

"MY MAIN GOAL BY THIS CD IS TO BASICALLY TELL U WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE ME....

WHAT I SEE.....WHAT I STRUGGLE WITH.....WHAT I LOVE AND WHAT I HATE......I WANTED TO PUT IT ALL OUT ON THE TABLE AND LET U KNOW THAT "YEA IM A CHANGED MAN THAT DONT MEAN THAT IM PERFECT" I STRUGGLE EVERYDAY TO STAY ALIVE TO SCRAP THE SURFACE OF THIS LITTLE THING THAT WE CALL "LIFE" DO OR DIE WHO'S NEXT U OR I.....1 LIFE THEN WE DIE PLAYAZ LOOK TO THE SKY-(lyrics from "changed man" #5 disc 1 )



THIS AIN'T CHRISTIAN RAP.....WHAT I DO I CALL DOWN SOUTH REAL RAP, THIS IS ALL I KNOW MAINN....I CAN'T BRING IT ANY MORE REAL THAN WHAT I DO......MY PAIN , MY STRUGGLES, MY LIFE ON A DISC......



THIS YEAR I HAD TO FACE SOME HARD TIMES.....AND I HOPE MAYBE THROUGH THIS RECORD THAT U WILL FIND THAT NO MATTER WHAT U FACE IN THE SCREWED UP WORLD....THAT GOD STILLS CARES AND AIN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU....

K-lee shared with me that He knows He is in God's will. He is spreading the good news to many people who won't hear it any other way. I felt privileged to have this man in my store today and was very pleased that we sold #60 CDs! That is great for an unheard of artist. He's known in Nashville, just now coming up from the underground, and today he made Jackson a bit more aware of the God He serves! Woohoooo!



It was a very interesting day and I really enjoyed what he brought into my store today! It sure was a change of pace, that's for sure!