Hows your self-esteem?

Have you ever met anyone who were full of themselves? have you ever crossed paths with an arrogant person who thought the world revolved around them? I have, and to be frank I can't stand those type of people! I believe What fuels that kind of attitude in a person is an inflated view of their own significance, and often times the root of the problem is ironically them not feeling so good about themselves at all. In other words, some people have been so deprived of significance, love and affection, that they overcompensate by making sure to draw everyone's attention and focus on them in an attempt to soothe themselves of the pain they feel.

Webster defines " Self Esteem" as A sense of one's own value as a human being

What does the bible have to say about our value as humans? In Genesis chapter one we see God at work in creation. He speaks the universe as we know it into existence, and we see that same God create man in his own image and Likness giving them the honor and privilege of ruling and exercising dominion over the works of his hands (see GEN 1:26-31)

When we think of almighty God, we think of words like, Powerful, Beautiful, holy, Amazing etc... the scriptures tell us that humanity unlike anything else in creation is made in the very image and Likness of this wonderful God. "SO.....what are you saying"? I can hear some of you ask, I'm declaring that if you happen to be a human being, your search for significance ends today! understand that your value is found firstly in your DNA!! you see many people have what's been deemed " Low Self-Esteem" that is, due to circumstances outside of themselves after they've measured themselves up to illegitimate standards sadly enough, they've concluded that they aren't worth much if anything.

Here lies the issue, you weren't made to gauge your own value! God never intended us to get our significance from anything else but him and for good reason, he's our maker what he says about us is the TRUTH. Due to our fallen nature, we find ourselves searching far and wide for value, for ultimate worth and purpose. Some look for it in gangs, sex or relationships, other's look in noble places like family, their careers or religion. In any case, if our worth isn't born in our understanding of our position in our creator, we're essentially building homes on sinking sand. David writes in Psalm 139:13-14 just how amazing it is to be made by God

For you created my inmost being.

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

Believers have an additional layer of armor than the mere human who isn't a believer doesn't have, this is because we're not simply made in the image of God as amazing as that is, the children of faith are being conformed to the image of his son and boast of being adopted into the family of God destined to live eternally in his Prescence! Every human desires in his soul to be significant and secure, and the one who trust in Christ alone rest knowing both of these needs are met in abundance.

No more searching in all the wrong places for worth! the time is over for us to still be attempting to perform for the approval of others or even God. At the end of the day we have to stand sure in our identity in God as image bearers and as children of God purchased by his son's blood! stop comparing your life to other's on social media, stop gauging your value based off of anything exterior......the reason you are of high value has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God.......God bless

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! ... And that is what we are!- 1 John 3:1

We want Drill music, but we need HEAL MUSIC

Communication is extremely powerful! you can communicate with or without words and effectively convey different messages to others for good or bad. If I smirk and wink at a woman in the mall, I've just communicated that she's attractive to me and I'm possibly interested in beginning a relationship. You'd be surprised how many people met their spouses in that way and went on to live happily ever after. On the flip side, if I flick someone off on the highway, I just told them essentially how little I think of them, how angry and irritated I was at them without speaking at all and you'd be surprised how many people have died for communicating the wrong thing to someone in a heated moment. As a hip hop artist, I understand the power of communication and as a Christian more importantly I understand the responsibility I have to communicate messages that encourage, uplift and instill life in the listener.

Ephesians 4:29 says - "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" Drill music is a subgenre of hip hop that basically could be summed up as kill music. Popularized by rapper Chief keef of Chicago, Drill music sprang on the scene and was the soundtrack to millions of people's lives around the world. The gutter sound of drill is always paired with the most sinister lyrics that tend to glorify death by homicide, drug use and sexual perversion. What makes it sort of unique in comparison to other toxic music is that the artist are usually celebrating the death of real people, as many of the rappers simply use the music to communicate their hatred for their "Opps" in real life. Rappers like King Von, FBG DUCK, FBG Cash, and a HOST of others became rappers after already being involved in the streets, and simply began to communicate across instrumentals the hatred, greed, and immorality that they were immersed in off of the microphone. We've all heard the saying " hurt people, HURT people" and that is exactly what transpires when these broken, hurt, and angry artists take to a pen and pad and begin to vocalize their pain, the listener is hurt in more ways than one. In particular, the undeveloped mind is what concerns me and what I'm focused on. The child who listens and isn't able to understand how he's being influenced to look at life. The kid who is literally being parented through these artist as they teach him about revenge and sexual uncleanness as well as a hatred for authority and how to be a good criminal. The kid see's the rapper's lifestyle, the glitz and glamour that comes with living ungodly and subconsciously associates lawlessness with liberty and what it means to truly live. Deep down it's a culture issue that must be addressed. The food we eat is extremely important, the traditions and customs we hold are just as important, obviously the God we serve is of the highest importance, but I submit to you today that the music we make is beyond significant as well in regard to us flourishing as we were created to flourish.

HEAL MUSIC

my slogan is " IF words can HURT, words can HEAL" as I said before I've committed to making heal music not drill music! i feel it as a responsibility and duty to communicate the healing and redemption that I've encountered in Christ over the microphone, with the hope of aiding another in their healing journey. The truth is, we all come into this world broken in one way or another. The bible says we're born into sin and even have natures that are bent away from all things that are Godly. So, I'm not pronouncing judgement on those who are lost and still find themselves slaves to sin, what I'm saying is that those of us who have encountered GOD and have found restoration in our inner man, until the lord takes us home, we should seek to bring healing, restoration and life to everything we touch including our music. If the unredeemed are making music glorifying sexual immorality, the redeemed should be making music glorifying sexual purity, if the ungodly are romanticizing death, we should be just as adamant on presenting life in Christ even more. I'm speaking to all heal music artist around the world right now! we have the truth! we have the LIGHT, we have the gospel!! this is bigger than us wanting careers and prestige, if God has given you the gift, using it to bring life to other's is the true reward! the same thing used to discourage a person is used to encourage them.......words

Everyday a war is going on for the minds of people, the actions of people are fueled by their thoughts and our thoughts are fed by the books we read, the media we consume, the voices we listen to, the music we hear. The culture wants drill music and other toxic genres simply because their flesh desires things that God hasn't approved, but our culture is in desperate need of HEAL music that feeds the spirit and promotes life and hope...........will you help me heal the nations through music?

below is my single " ALL I know" in this song I'm revisiting the many times GOD has been faithful to me in my life..........give it a listen

Why do black people kill on the fourth of July?

My family on my mother's side come from the west side of Fort Worth Texas in what is called the "Lake Como" Area. For as long as i can remember every year on the fourth of July, the west side would host their annual fourth of July Parade where the locals gathered together and celebrated the nations independence by parading the nicest cars down the street, while good food, fun and laughs filled the atmosphere in what usually was a family friendly event that came and went smoothly. The celebration would kick off around early morning/midday and you would typically see the older residents of the community who had lived in the area for decades attend the parade as well as young kids with their parents and grandparents. Daytime was one thing in Como, but as i grew older i began to see that the fourth of July at nighttime seemed to be an entirely different situation with different challenges.

The night brought death and heartache to families with shootings becoming so normalized that Facebook post would circulate warning people of going to any Como functions on the fourth of July. It unfortunately reminded me of the movie the PURGE in a way, if you're familiar with that film, everyone in the community that wanted to be safe, understood the best course of action to protect themselves from death, was to refrain from going outside at all due to murder and all crime essentially being legal for 24 hr.'s. That's the same feeling that flows throughout Fort Worth on the fourth. In the black community on a day that's supposed to be fun and family oriented, is instead filled with fear, and negative expectations….. but why? Sad as it is, one of the simplest explanations for why violence happens on this day in my opinion, is because of what the day brings…… the holiday brings a people together. Not just any people however, it brings together a people who’ve embraced a toxic culture or way of life! What shocked me to my core is when I found out that this problem of escalated violence on the fourth reached far outside of my city into other ghettos across the U.S

For example, there were 33 people left dead over the holiday weekend across the country. In Chicago this year (2024) there were 109 shootings with 19 fatalities!! There were shootings in Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia as well, historically it's one of our deadliest days of the year. My mind can’t even comprehend that level of evil, in my city this year we contributed to the death toll adding 5 people to the list when we had four shootings, surprisingly Como wasn’t the destination for death this year. I asked myself why? Why do we kill each other at all? and why in the world is acts of violence almost guaranteed to happen when we gather in the night on this holiday?

Poverty isn’t the answer to why violence runs rampant through the black community, we were impoverished certainly during slavery and also afterwards during reconstruction, but we didn’t show the level of hatred and disregard for each other during those eras that we do now, when we’re free and liberated to live as we choose. I won't allow anyone to blame slavery for the hatred we see in the black community today, neither will i entertain conversations that the white man or white supremacy is the answer for our lack of self-control! In my opinion There is something wrong with the culture as a whole! The culture that says wherever my enemies are at, I’m willing to risk my life and others to execute them even if it means children are around and could get hurt!

July 4th, 2024, for me will always be remembered as the horrible day that Two sisters, 15-month-old Wynter Thouston and 4-year-old Ivy Pierce were killed in a shooting that took place less 3 minutes from my home. They were at a car wash with their family enjoying the fireworks late night around 11;40 pm, when 26-year-old Kanard murphy after apparently getting into a dispute with his baby mother's family thought it best to open fire recklessly killing the two sisters as well as another man 42-year-old Terrell Winn who had nothing to do with the dispute in the first place.

This news saddened me of course but it angered me more than anything! The first thing i heard people complaining about is why the children were out that late at night, blaming the time for the evil that took place. Of course, i get it, i actually took my children out to see the fireworks but i had them back in bed before 10 Pm. So, from a parent's perspective, i get that, but let's say some Asians got together at the same exact time to watch the fireworks with their children, or Europeans, even Hispanics, would we expect negative deadly outcomes to result from their gatherings? i say absolutely not!

Of course, these communities aren't close to perfect, and we know that the sin curse has spread to all mankind, I'm just highlighting the brokenness in the black community because I'm apart of it and have gotten to see the scars of our depravity up close and personal. Going back to the culture problem, i believe this shooting happened in part because of an issue that's far too prevalent in our communities, "the baby mama drama" issue. as a people we're known for having children out of wedlock leading the nation in that category with over 70 percent of children in the black community growing up with only one parent. Our culture knows this is a problem, but it still promotes the very things that contribute to broken homes (sexual immorality, violence and godlessness)

i can hear you now asking "how in the world does the broken home problem explain the shooting that took place? here's how....... the society at large is the reflection of the home! when we see a disregard for life, lack of self-control and violence in a certain community we can pinpoint the home as the place that's producing those realities. What happened in this situation was 3 innocent people happened to be at the wrong place at the absolute wrong time. Baby mama drama between one man and one woman spilled out into the community and changed lives forever! Those two babies had no idea they were in the middle of a war because two adults didn't know how to settle their differences like adults. and I'm afraid that thousands of other kids are in a warzone on a daily basis, hanging in the balance between life and death because their parents embrace a toxic culture and environment that breeds destruction.

This isn't the first time that the brokenness in the black family has caused destruction to the community at large and unfortunately it won't be the last. Across the city in other neighborhoods there were also shootings at block parties and events that took lives and I'm sure if we dissected them separately, we'd see a family problem again.

Black people we need to love each other again!! we need to prize loving our women! we need to prize loving our children! we need to embrace the love of God and fall in love with his laws again! the most important one being to " Love God with all of our mind, soul and strength, and to love our Neighbor as ourselves!" (See Matthew 22:36-40)

I'm focused on doing my part in helping to transform and renew our culture! i want to change the music we listen to and create, i want to change the films we produce and consume, i desire to help us correct our views about God and his son Jesus Christ that we might live the abundant lives he created us to live. I get that i won't be able to change the black community alone, but hopefully my labor will produce lasting fruit that brings healing and restoration in the end! Prayerfully other's will be inspired to join me!

Rest in peace to 15-month-old Wynter Thouston and 4-year-old Ivy Pierce! I'm sorry you felt the sting of our brokenness as a people and didn't get to live out your days!

below is a song I wrote on the problem of murder and heartlessness that we're dealing with in our culture! give it a listen