Welcome to Backstage Pass! Real Artists. Real Hip Hop. This is the show where we go behind the scenes with real hip hop artists and real hip hop. Every Thursday, we’ve got a brand new show of Backstage Pass! And today…
We’ve got Corey Paul on the hot seat!
This week, we’re going behind the scenes with Corey Paul. We’ll be talking to him about his music, his life, and why he does what he does!
The Story of Corey Paul
Corey Paul Davis, known by his stage name, Corey Paul is an American Christian Hip Hop artist and ministry leader in the local Houston area.
About 5-years-old Paul remembers that things in the household were changing. In the late 80’s his dad tried crack/cocaine and became heavily addicted to the drug. Corey says, “He was a great man BEFORE the drug addiction took over. Post addiction – He was a Monster! Corey endured plenty of dysfunction as a young boy from witnessing his father’s abuse towards his mother (being dragged down the hallway, black eyes, iron burnings, broken windows and kicked in house doors). The terror increasingly grew – one night his dad tried to kick the door in, again. His mother told his dad, “Not tonight, if you kick it in I’m going to shoot you.” Gunshots were fired after his dad kicked in the front door. Corey had seen his dad on the floor bleeding and yelling, “she shot me! She shot me!” Paul realized he’d become desensitized to dysfunction. When Corey was about 9-years-old his mother and stepfather separated. They didn’t hear from him in a while. One day he hears his mother crying in her bedroom. – “Daddy died, he’s dead,” she said. With years of dysfunction Corey didn’t know how to feel. He was emotionless. Years later Corey would find out that his daddy committed suicide by hanging himself.
Corey didn’t value women. Rather his life revolved around partying, girls, and drinking. He didn’t know how to be a man. He was known to crush the hearts of girls and move on to the next one. Corey ran a wicked race in search of validity. One night he was suppose to go to a club with his friends but fell into a sleep deep. He later found out that his friend was in the hospital and his truck was shot-up.
At 17-years-old Corey was told about Jesus by his best friend, a beautiful girl named Summer, and a man named Thurman West. Corey expressed his curiosity of Jesus and Thurman West explained to him what being free in Jesus meant. He began to see the hopelessness in his mother, father, and everyone in his surroundings. He realized that there was something more to life, Jesus. Choosing to live free in Jesus, he also decided to give up his secular raps to Jesus as well. The closer and closer he got to Jesus, his mother realized her son’s whole new demeanor and outlook on life. His mother soon came to church with him and got saved!
Now a leader at his church Resurrection Houston and married to that beautiful girl named Summer, Corey is continuing to use rap as a tool to spread the Gospel. When asked why he has dedicated his life to music and ministry, he said “We are all sinners and we have all fell short. The amazing thing is that Jesus didn’t come because of us, he came in spite of us. He chose to save and set us FREE. I’m just trying to make sure EVERYONE knows that!”
