JTH: How long have you been making music? Can you talk about the early stages of your music and how you started?
Stephen: I started rapping in high school. I started doing Christian Hip-Hop in 2001. I was living on the West Coast at the time, so it wasn’t as structured and rhyme scheme heavy. I used a lot of other parts of speech and other styles of writing; a lot more alliteration, and stuff like that. As I moved to the East Coast, and I started being around a lot more lyricists like Phanatik, Shai Linne, Tim Brindle, and Manny (Da’ T.R.U.T.H.). I think the OCD part of my nature attached itself to the rhyme scheme and I got really meticulous. As far as the sound of it, I think it has grown into a more soulful sound at this point. It is a lot more musical. I still like rugged stuff, so there is some of that in there, but even that has a lot more soul to it. I’m trying to grow as an artist; it’s got more of a mature sound to it as well.
JTH: Were you part of Lamp Mode Recordings at the beginning of the label? If so, how was that?
Stephen: I was around. MuzeOne and I were around when Lamp Mode was starting. We met Tim before Josh, aka DJ Essence, moved from Pittsburgh. We actually met him along the freeway to help him deal with a flat tire or something. We helped him move into Philadelphia. We were around to see everything get started and, at the time, we didn’t know them that well. We [Stephen the Levite and MuzeOne] released our own album independently at first, but by 2005-06, I was putting out my own solo project, and I think by then we had built a friendship that was strong enough that I trusted them [Lamp Mode Recordings] and what they were doing, and I was able to jump on board and be a part of it.
JTH: Can you share your testimony?
Stephen: Sure, I came to Christ after years of being a part of a youth group in Temecula. I was going to my church and being confronted with The Gospel on a regular basis but not understanding it. Eventually it clicked for me. I tried to smash my idols, and my biggest idol at that time was Hip-Hop. I threw away a lot of CDs, and the night that I decided to do all of that and come to The Lord, I read the Bible, and I prayed, and it was just different. It felt like it made sense. I wasn’t just reading this book and being like, “What the heck are they talking about?” But it made sense and it clicked. From then on, it was just a change. Everything was different. My focus and the way that I prayed, my walk. Everything changed.
JTH: Why do you call yourself Stephen the Levite?
Stephen: I got Stephen from Acts chapter 7. I was infatuated with it, with Stephen’s story. I identified with him, liking the way that his lengthy discourse was trying to defend his faith, the fact that he was going for that long. I liked how Christ-like he was. He was accused of many of the same things as Jesus, and the way he died was very similar to the way Jesus died. He was just a deacon, serving tables, but he understood the Bible. I really gravitated to his character. The Levite part I got from reading the Old Testament. When I was questioning my calling as a rapper, when I started rapping, I decided that I needed to study the Bible. When I did, I realized that The Levites had this priesthood role, of being the choir in a band, so I identified with that. I’m called to do music, so I guess that makes me a Levite in that sense.
