Superproducer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Christian hip-hop artist Jon Keith appeared on The Breakfast Club on Thursday morning, using the influential radio show to address what they say is a long-standing stigma against Christian artists and faith-based music in the music industry.
Jerkins, a legendary producer whose credits include Michael Jackson and Beyoncé, recently launched a Christian hip-hop label, Alienz Alive, and signed Keith, Alex Jean and a whole roster of up-and-coming Christian artists.
As the conversation turned to the new wave of faith-based artists, Keith spoke candidly about the challenges he and his peers face.
“There’s a stigma about Christian artists—that they’re a certain way, that they have to sound a certain way,” Keith said. “When you hear people who sound like Miles Minnick, me, indie tribe or nobigdyl., people are like, ‘Wait, this is Christian?’ Every time you hear from my label, you’re like, ‘Dang, I didn’t know it was like that.’”
Keith said the issue is not just about sound, but about authenticity. For many artists of faith, he said, the goal is not to create a genre of Christian music, but to make honest art that reflects their lives.
“Those of us who do it well aren’t on a mission to make a genre of Christian music. We’re just making music, and we’re Christians, so we’re not going to rap or sing about things that aren’t our lives,” Keith said. “In my music, I’m always going to tell you—yeah, I struggled with thoughts of taking my life since I was 11 years old. I’m going to talk about that, and it’s not going to be all happy rainbows and sunshine, like, ‘When you get life with Jesus, everything is just good.’ No, let’s talk about real life, because people live real life.”
He also challenged the narrow expectations placed on Christian music, especially when it comes to topics like love and relationships.
“If you’re making Christian music and it’s only worship, then if I want to listen to love songs, I have to go listen to the wild stuff that’s out there right now,” Keith said. “There aren’t love songs that can still be about a person loving another person, but from the point of view of someone who understands these things are echoes of God.”
Jerkins questioned why the industry is so quick to embrace music about personal experience—unless that experience is rooted in faith.
“Why are we so quick to play music from people who share their experiences or what they go through, but when someone on the faith side does it, it’s hard to play that? Why is that?” Jerkins said. “People used to say, ‘Oh, well, that’s cheesy.’ Well, then I’m going to be the difference maker in that. I’m going to find some artists who aren’t corny, that you can still bob your head to, still listen to, still groove to—but they have a message with it.”
He also called out the gatekeepers who have kept faith-based music on the margins.
“If DJs and program directors actually had their hearts open and not just their pockets, and weren’t dealing with industry politics, they’d probably accept more of that, because there’s plenty of it,” he said.
Both artists said Christian music is not about preaching or fitting into a box, but about telling the truth, even when that truth is messy or complicated.
“Let’s talk about real life, because people live real life and they don’t always understand what life with Jesus is like,” Keith said. “We fall in love, we get angry—there’s all kinds of stuff that goes on.”
