JTH: What is the Christian Hip-Hop scene like in Philadelphia?
Stephen: It’s changed a lot in the last few years. At one point, Philly was known as the Mecca of Christian Hip-Hop, but now I would say that has shifted to Atlanta. One of the issues that Philly is struggling with right now is that they’re kind of numb to Christian Hip-Hop. They’ve had it in such abundance for so long that they don’t have the same value for it that other people do, and they’re used to it being free. Lecrae will sell out anywhere else, but when he came to Philly, it wasn’t sold out. He filled up the place pretty well. It was almost sold out. Philly just doesn’t have the sense of what Christian Hip-Hop is outside of Philly, so they’re kind of ingrown, only knowing about what’s going on in Philly. They don’t have the value of it that others have. Others don’t have a problem paying $10 to go see somebody like Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Lecrae, or most of the well-known, good artists. In Philly, there is the assumption that if I don’t catch them in concert here and don’t pay that $10, I will easily catch them next month or soon afterword at another show that will probably be free. It’s not that they don’t like Christian Hip-Hop, it’s just that they have so much of it that they don’t really feel like they need to spend all of their money on it. It’s difficult to put together a show in Philly right now for Christian Hip-Hop artists.
JTH: How are the Christian Hip-Hop artists in Philadelphia?
Stephen: There are a ton of Christian rappers in Philly. The list is super long; I couldn’t begin to start naming everybody. Phanatik is still there, Tim Brindle, Zae da Blacksmith, a lot of local cats that don’t get a lot of buzz but are there, such as Niko the Messenger, Klaye; there’s a lot of them. Mac the Doulos is still out there. Some of us do a lot of work outside of Philly. There are lots of local people who get a lot more buzz than well-known artists do, just because Philly likes Philly’s stuff. Tim Brindle’s people will show up for his show because he’s Tim Brindle, but you’ll go to a show and see people who came from out of town to see him. If you go to a local show, you’ll see more people there, and nobody from out of town came to see him. There are different audiences for different artists in Philly.
