Diandra Reviews It All

I have always believed that the hardest thing you can do is be good, and Sir The Baptist is determined to be great. He is a man completely conscious that humanity and spirituality are one in the same, which means his rise in the music industry has not and might not ever be easy. For an industry that can be defined by materialism he is determined to return to the heart of music, which he does in his new album Saint Or Sinner. Diandra Reviews had the absolute pleasure to interview this intelligent, kind, and determined human being; eager to conquer humanity’s darkness through enlightened Hip Hop.

Diandra: Your album Saint or Sinner is about to come out on May 12. If there is one message you hope the album most radiates to listeners which would it be and how does it, currently reflect in your life?

Sir The Baptist: It shows you what it is like to take your voice outside of the church, but still try to keep the light that you gained from being in it. It’s about keeping that spiritual guidance so you can go off and be a light and inspiration to the world, while being at peace as you go “into the wild” {of the world}, which is my journey as a Christian kid who goes into an industry and tries to keep his light. So you will get the stories similar to Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, where I do not want to let go of God, but I do want to stay singing only in the choir.
Sir the Baptist – Creflo “Almighty” Dollar ft. Twista & ChurchPpl [Official Video]

Diandra: You use music as a social reintroduction of God as love. What song do you believe in Saint Or Sinner most does that?

Sir The Baptist: Oh Wow! It is so hard to break it up because the whole album is a story within itself. Yet, if I had to choose it would be the title track “Saint Or Sinner” because at that point in the industry I was trying to balance out what the execs wanted for the marketplace. For me, you can be over a trap-beat, but still have substance. “Saint or sinner” shows the tug and pull between my spiritual side/love and my business sense to survive the marketplace in this industry. People might listen to it in the club, but when I listen to is I cry like, hard because I know and feel what I am saying in that song. I almost died making this album.

Diandra: In what way?

Sir The Baptist: In the same way it took Whitney and Michael and even Ray struggled with it. The pressure in this industry to keep your light comes from how it can compartmentalize you from your higher self to the point that you do not know who you are. You question yourself like, “Hey, am I a saint? Or am I a sinner?”.

Diandra: Well, that is why I noted how approachable you make God. You write your songs as if you are both reaching for each other, and I want to know if there were three questions you could ask Him, what would they be?

Sir The Baptist: First, as always, would be, “Is this your will?” Second, would be, “Can I have some strength to deal with your will because I am flesh and flawed?” Although I am made in Your Image (God), I can be better and live more in your image than the one the world has told me I am. So I guess the third one would be, “God, can you make it a little easier?”. (He laughs) Whatever that “easier” means from financial to emotional to anything because, again, I know it is your will but, still, “Can you make it easier?” (He laughs again).
Sir the Baptist – What We Got ft. Donald Lawrence & Co. [Official Music Video]

Diandra: Having such a connection to God, and infusing him into your Hip Hop, have you faced backpack from both Christian and non-Christians who say, “God has no part in Hip Hop”.
Sir The Baptist – Movin’ [Official Audio]

Sir The Baptist: Yeah, for Christians, I am ashamed that they have become so political and have used God for all the wrong reasons. When I see what Christians have done with the LGBT community, I hate it, and when I see what they have done with money, as well. For Jesus, who was a rebel, he said “Give Caesar what Caesar is due, and give God what God is due”. I am trying to see when, as Christians, are we going to refocus and grab the people rather than currency. Yet, on the secular side, I am ashamed at the re-using and prostituting of the Gospel sound, in music, without carrying it in our lives, as well. It is so easy for people to use God in lyrics, but not necessarily carry the burden of perfecting yourself or the people for Him. From working with marketing for Leo Burnett, I learned that music, God, and spirituality are intangible and inescapable. If you ever want to mess in the “programming” of people, then you aim for the intangible. So if you want to put healing into the people then you put that into your frequencies rather than agendas. When God is used, on the secular side, without a healing purpose or mission then I think it is abuse.