Psalm: I have been trying to serve the Lord for three years now. It has been an ongoing process, and I am definitely still a work in progress. I don't believe following Jesus is a one-time decision. Baptized, for me anyway, did not instantly equal better. I have had to learn many things the hard way, and my walk has involved many times of backsliding and being brought back to my knees by my failures. But in the three years since I first committed my life to Him, I have been slowly, but surely, learning just what it means to be a Christian. I know three years is probably not a long time for some people, but the amount of blessings and grace I have received in that short amount of time is, in my eyes, nothing short of a miracle.

Psalm: Honestly, the name Psalm was a very last-minute thing. I wrestled with whether or not to even release the music I was making to the public. I ultimately put it in God's hands, and I believe that He opened doors to allow me to move forward with the project. When I did finally decide to release it, I was in the middle of the Book of Psalms, and it really struck me how the struggles and plights of men and women from thousands of years ago could still be relevant for me today. Lyricidal is a name that followed me over from my secular rap career. I held onto it hoping that my new message might reach some of the same audience that had been into my worldly stuff.

Psalm: My brother, who is twelve years older than I am, got me into rap music at a pretty young age. I remember hearing a Snoop Dogg record for the first time and I was instantly hooked. Musically speaking, though, piano was my first love. I have done some band work before and absolutely loved it. I would like to be able to bring my piano skills to the table for a Christian band one day.

Psalm: Covenant is basically a collection of songs that I worked on throughout the course of my three-year spiritual pilgrimage. I had turned away from making music in the public eye after it did a great deal of damage to my family life, but I still felt compelled to record music behind the scenes. It was very different than any of my past projects in that I didn't have any agenda or motive for the project. It was purely a means of self-expression for me during some of the most difficult, but beautiful years of my life. Every other project I had done before then came with this sense of urgency; I felt I had to consistently create and release new material in order to keep my buzz up. So I would rush to release at least one album per year, cutting corners to just get them out. And then, in hindsight, I would regret it, wishing I had taken more time and been more critical in selecting which songs made it onto these projects. It was very freeing to be able to take my time and just make music to express myself, and to worship and commune with my Creator without the distraction and burden of the whole marketing end of things weighing on me.

Psalm: Every song I recorded in that three-year time made it onto the album. I've always had a problem with over-stuffing my projects. Back when I was doing secular music, I had several industry advisors tell me I should tighten my projects up and only include the best of the best of what I'd made. But I've always had trouble leaving anything off of my album once it's been created. As soon as I make a song, I almost feel as though it's a part of me, and I usually can't bring myself to discard it. It's probably not the best tactic as far as the music industry is concerned, and again, it has resulted in me later wishing I had left certain songs off. But, for now, and for this project, I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Psalm: I actually didn't even realize Christian rap exists in the way it does until very recently. I went through my first three years as a believer and through the production of my album thinking that gritty Christian rap music wasn't a real thing yet. This was part of the reason I struggled with whether to release my music or not, because I was afraid the Christian community wouldn't be receptive to it, and my secular fans had already been abandoning me in droves since I announced my conversion. I was very relieved when I came across artists like Andy Mineo, Lecrae, NF, and Trip Lee. These artists speak on real topics that are relevant to everybody, not just Christians. And I think that's hugely important in evangelical music. If only Christians can relate to the message, it may be edifying to them, but it's perhaps not very effective in spreading the good news to those who need it. Anyway, I have really enjoyed discovering all the diverse talent that's out there in the Christian music industry. I have also come across some insane underground talent that is virtually unknown, just from listening to my own new Pandora station. I don't listen to as much rap as a rapper should these days, though. I have a pretty eclectic taste, increasingly so as I get older, and I am into at least some music from practically every genre. Regardless of genre, though, it always blows my mind to think about how much great music there is out there that I will probably never get to hear.

Psalm: The message to this one is, I believe, absolutely Biblical: the love of money is the root of many evils. All of the lives that I touched on in that track are stories that I saw play out in real life, mostly in my own community. Our society has geared itself to where money is essential for most everybody, but we have allowed it to become our everything. We put it above the welfare of ourselves and others, and that's a tragedy that is applauded in today's world. This isn't a song that you would probably play for the congregation on a Sunday morning, but then not much of this project is. But I feel like these topics, however ugly they may be, need to be touched on, because there are people out there living this stuff everyday.

Psalm: I really just want people to understand that the God I love and serve is a God of love, a God for everybody. It doesn't matter how imperfect you are, how many times you have screwed up, or how much you doubt Him - He is there and He does love you. I won't pretend to have it all figured out, but I know that the things I have experienced since turning my life over to God are beyond the scope of explainable science, and the more faith I put in my God, the better my life seems to get. I am far from perfect, and I still have a lot of figuring out to do. I also want Christians to understand that there is a big world outside of the Church. It is easy for us to congregate on Sundays, to hold hands and worship, and go home feeling good about ourselves. But there is a world that is dying all around us. There are souls that are silently scremaing for a taste of what we have. And it is up to us. We are God's light in this darkness. He doesn't just love us Christians; He loves everybody. The whole world. And I think more than judging others or trying to shield ourselves from their corruption, we need to put more emphasis on just loving the world as Jesus did. We should be eating and sharing fellowship with sinners, not screaming at them from behind a protest sign. "Above all these is love," as the Bible says. That's my heart for this project.

Psalm: I just want to thank you guys for doing this for me! I am very excited to see where this new venture takes me. I have already been blown away by how well things have done. It truly feels as thogh God has His hand directly involved with my musical pursuit. But then, that doesn't surprise me. It seems all I've ever had to do to receive God's hand and blessings in any area of my life was ask and listen and truly be ready to follow His direction when I received it. My prayer is that everybody will one day get to know the joy and fulfillment that comes with that.