When talking about Christian Hip Hop history, mention of the Nashville, Tennessee-based duo GRITS (Grammatical Revolution In The Spirit) is necessary. The Dove Award-winning and 2-time Grammy-nominated Hip Hop group are trailblazers.
GRITS, which consists of Teron “Bonafide” Carter and Stacy “Coffee” Jones, have put out several noteworthy projects like The Art Of Translation, Grammatical Revolution, and Dichotomy A, among others.
The Southern lyrical-tandem had an amazing run in the 90s and early 2000s while signed to Toby “tobyMac” McKeehan’s record label Gotee records. They dropped hit singles like “Ooh Ahh”, “Here We Go”, “Hittin Curves”, “They All Fall Down” and more. GRITS have sold hundreds of thousands of records and performed at the same events as mainstream artists like OutKast, Jay Z, Nappy Roots, De La Soul, Goodie Mob and A Tribe Called Quest. The inspirational rappers have been covered in XXL, The Source, Vibe, HipHopDX, Vibe and more. Their single “Ooh Ahh” was played in MTV’s “The Buried Life” and in the movie The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The GRITS movement has seen a lot more achievements, but there are so many that you are likely to miss some if you attempt to list all of them. GRITS is clearly one of the groups that have paved the way for other faith-based artists to infiltrate the mainstream arena. Rappers like Lecrae, Andy Mineo, FLAME, W.L.A.K. (Alex Faith, Dre Murray, Swoope, & Christon Gray), and Sho Baraka are building on what the GRITS did years ago.
At the moment, Teron “Bonafide” Carter and Stacey “Coffee” Jones are focusing on their solo careers. Coffee Jones is putting in a lot of work with his label Revolution Art and Bonafide is going hard with his 22 Visionz imprint. The two recently collaborated on Coffee Jones’ “Day Go Bye” remix track off his forthcoming project Fresh Brew 2. Jam The Hype is excited to see what the two iconic faith-based rappers do with their solo careers. Coffee Jones’ Fresh Brew 2 hits stores on January 20.
Jam The Hype recently got an opportunity to ask Coffee Jones about his favorite GRITS songs. Check out his “Top 5 GRITS Songs” list below.
#5 “Here We Go”
Album: The Art Of Translation – 2002 (iTunes Link)
