#209: Brinson Wright: Before He Cracks the Sky
As a Christian rap and hip-hop artist Brinson Wright has a message you need to hear.
We talk about creating art, hip-hop, and his voice in the world.
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/godchaserz/
https://twitter.com/IAmBrinson
https://www.instagram.com/twmilt/
https://www.spiritandtruth.life/
EP. 209
Tony: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Reclamation Podcast, where our goal is to help you reclaim good practices for following Jesus. If we haven't met yet, my. Tony in Today is episode 209. What, what? I sit down with the legendary hip hop artist, author, producer, entrepreneur, extraordinaire, Brinson Wright.
Brinson and I had a fresh conversation about life, about music, about just hip hop in general in the. This was such a fun dialogue. Brinson is someone who I know is gonna be back on the podcasts cuz we connected at such a deep level. If you enjoy this conversation, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts.
Leave a rating or review on iTunes or Spotify, and the highest compliment you can give us. Share this episode with a friend, maybe somebody you know who loves hiphop music. Now, without any further ado, here's my conversation with Brinson.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the [00:01:00] podcast. I'm excited today to have Brisson right with us.
Brinson is an artist, a hip hop artist. He's a ceo and you know, I think you're gonna want to hear what he has to say about culture, so I'm so excited. Brinson, thank you so much for being here today,
Brinson: man. Thank you for having me. I've been excited. We've had this set up for about two or three weeks, so I couldn't wait to be on with you.
And,
Tony: We, we, we've already, we realized, we were talking for about 15 minutes before I hit the record button, and I was like, Man, this is good stuff. You, you're in Jacksonville, Florida you travel all over the world. What brings you back to Jacksonville all the time?
Brinson: Oh, man. I'm a, I am a Jacksonville native and.
When I moved to college in Nashville and then when I came back and started traveling the world and stuff, and I just was like, Man, no places like Jacksonville. This is, this is actually home. Like, you know, even though it's, it is growing in the city, it's changing like, like most [00:02:00] growing cities, but the weather is good.
I grew up here. I'm very familiar and I just like the vibe of Duval County. It's not a, it's not a big city. It's growing. It still has a little bit of country to it, you know, It's still, we still have trees, , you know, it's, it's still a, a good place to. Fellowship. We have a, a ton of great churches and ministries here.
You know, years back we had a big flourishing Christian hip hop boom. Yeah. Here in the city. So it's, it is a, it is a great place to cultivate your faith and just a good Spring, spring board and I thank God Hannah's on the city. So it's a lot of bad going on, but it's a lot of. Unpublicized good.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, in most cities it's a lot of unpublicized good because Amen. Mostly about, you know, all of the bad stuff [00:03:00] that happens. But it's a, it's a lot of great ministries, great pastors, ministers, people doing great work in the communities all over that. So just unpublicized. So I think Jacksonville is one of those places that has a lot of good unpublicized things going.
Tony: That's a great answer. O one of the things that I love to do when I talk to people is look at the macro before we get into some of their latest projects, and we're gonna get into the details of all the things that you're doing. How would you describe the calling, like the overarching calling that God has placed on your life?
Whew.
Brinson: First off, Tony. Excellent question.
I've, I've done, You don't know how many interviews I've done, but it's, it is been a, a, a ton of them, and that probably is one of the best questions somebody has ever asked me. What is the overall arc of the, the call in my life? I think it's to [00:04:00] point people.
To the cross and with the personal relationship and, and through my life experiences, through the word of God and through, through faith and through my testimonies of, of telling people, like, if you, whatever you have, your personality, your talent, your, your e even your doubts, your, your anxieties, whatever.
If you place them in the hand of. He can create something beautiful in you to to, to shine in the world, to bring him glory and to, to, when you look back at the trail of it, you can see the glory and glory and glory and in higher heights and deeper depths of Christ if you turn over your all to him. So I think it is just, I'm just one of those, I'm a.
And amen of God's goodness. Yeah.
Tony: One of the things that we say [00:05:00] around here a lot is that if you're not dedicated to your disciplines, you'll be destroyed by your distractions.
Brinson: Wait, wait. No, that's too good. Thank you. That's too good. If, if, Say it
Tony: again. If you aren't dedicated to your disciplines, you'll be destroyed by your distractions. My God,
Brinson: that's.
Tony: It, it's so, God gave me that word for my own life, and I've just been sharing it everywhere I go. And, and when I talk to somebody who like you, who's, who's doing so many different things in so many different fields, and yet you've got such a clear calling on your life, I always love to ask kind of the follow up question is, is how, how do you, in the midst of all the things that you could be doing and all the places you were just in New York this past weekend, , you're traveling all over the place.
How, how do you stay true to that? Calling through your, your disciplines, what disciplines are like, no matter what happens, [00:06:00] I gotta do this, or I know I'm not gonna be on, on track with the Lord,
Brinson: communication with Lord. Mm. I, I think, I think one of my strengths, my, my mom. Is a prayer warrior. Hmm. Like I grew up watching my family go through tur turmoil, financial hardships, my dad being an alcoholic through, through the ebbs and flows of my childhood.
My mom remained in her prayer. Through
Tony: everything, our house,
Brinson: Going almost going into foreclosure more times than I could count. My mom was in a prayer closet. Something happened with my dad getting in the car wreck because he was drinking prayer closet death in the family prayer closet. So me seeing that model in front of.
told me that [00:07:00] this life you're going to have good and bad, but no matter what it is, stay in that prayer closet. Stay in communication with God. Stay on your face. Stay in a place where don't get too far out of the will of God that you can't recognize God. Tug on your heart, like, Okay, you, you, you, you need to straighten up.
So I, I think being consistent in my communication with God just, and just being real with the Lord, telling him when I'm hurt. Telling him when I want to give him a high five, saying crazy stuff that I know I can't share with anybody else to him. Yeah. And being, and being in a place where I can quiet my mind and my spirit and my soul where I can receive from him.
And just a constant surrendering of God Yes to your way, even though I know the wrong might [00:08:00] feel better, you know? So. Constantly in prayer, in a cons, constant posture of the heart of I surrender. So, Hmm.
Yeah,
Tony: that's good. That's really good. I like that. I think surrender is one of the most underrated practices for, for the Christian, for the Christian life.
Brinson: I'm, It's not, it's, it's not just surrender, it's surrendering the i n G in it. Like it's a constant. Yes. Like I will obey it, you know? I think even recently I've just been asking God, is there any place in my life that I haven't surrendered? And if it is, show me. Yeah. I wanna know where, where's the places I haven't bowed my.
And, and, and wherever that place is magnified so I can bow my needs. So, because [00:09:00] overall, dude, I want God to trust me. , you know, I want, right? If you are looking for somebody to do something, me like, yeah, he's done, he's done so much for me. Like I have countless testimonies, you know, count. Things I can say about the goodness of God.
And I'm just like, He, He, he's been so good. Like why won't I continue to just say yes to him? Because everything that I need is in him. Everything that I want and desires in him. So it is, let me get closer to him. Seek, you know, seek he first, the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all these things will be add.
Whatever I want and desires in him, I need to be closer to him. So it's just that constant
Tony: surrender. Yeah. I, I think that that's right. I think that that's [00:10:00] it's a constant. In the Methodist world that I live in, sometimes we call that sanctification, right? The process of becoming more like Christ, refining the edges in my life, and letting Jesus take over those spots.
Yes. You know, I, I'm, you've had quite a bit of success with this new documentary. And it, it's really taken off. Yeah. I, I think it's, I think it's easy to give God to surrender like the bad parts of your life. Like, Oh man, this isn't working. I gotta surrender it. I, I'm curious in the midst of this kind of crazy success that you're having with this documentary, and, you know, I, I, people should go check it out, actually, it's, it's on your website, which we'll link to in the show notes and all the ways to get to it.
But how, how do you surrender? The good stuff.
Brinson: Oh, the, that's great question. Easy question, Right? Okay, good. Great question. Easy. Let, let's just take the [00:11:00] documentary. I've never done a film, I've never done a film. It's foreign. The, the film industry is a, a industry I've never dived into, so, This was a straight faith move, straight faith move because it, because my, my label God Chasers Entertainment, has been in existence for 15 years.
Okay. And on the, the 15th year anniversary, I just was like, well, let's just do a, a nine minute recap. of the 15 years and it's this guy, his name is Will Thomas, and he's, he's done 90% of all my music videos and I'm, and then he, me and him start talking and I told him my ideas. He was like, You know, [00:12:00] I don't throw away footage, right?
I'm like, Okay. He said, I have footage of performances and other things from you from like 2010. So nine minutes turned into 30. 30, turned into 40. 40, turned into an hour and 10 minutes of a documentary. And then next thing I know, I'm just like, well, I'll just, We made a trailer, you know, and I just started sending the trailers to like film festivals and it was this one festival in, in.
the president was calling, blowing my phone up and I didn't know the number, so of course I didn't pick up cuz you know, scam, likely be scamming, right? and . So I didn't pick up. So on that Sunday, his secretary was calling me and when I finally picked up, I was like, this is the LA number, I don't know what this is [00:13:00] about.
So she said, I need to connect you with the president. Please hold. And so he comes on the line, he. Is this documentary finished And at the time I was just submitting the trailer. I was like, No, we're like 70%. We haven't even mixed it. Mastered sound quality is and all there. He said, Send it to me. Hour later he called me.
He said, Please let us show this at this festival. That's tomorrow. , we wanna open acceptable with your documentary. I'm like, But it's unfinished. He's like, This is so good. Nobody will know. It's unfinished because to me it's finished. So faith move and people in, apparently this festival had so many people see it and it was just like a big success.
So I was like, Okay, well we. Finish this thing up and send it to more festivals. So [00:14:00] right now we have over 57 awards from festivals, and I don't know what I was doing. I, I still don't. I'm just like, I'm gonna put it in Laura's hands and let God do it. So he's been doing it. So it is, it is easy to give it, give him the successes because he's, he's, he's actually.
You know, like it is him. Like, I don't know these people. I'm,
I'm just here .
Tony: I, you know, I, I want to talk a little about the ministry that you've been doing with God chasers, and particularly as it pertains to like Christian hip hop. I, I think that there are a lot of people who probably listen to my podcast, who grew up in suburban America from mainline Protestant churches.
I mean, let's just be real, predominantly white. Like what, what do we, those people need to know about Christian [00:15:00] hip hop that we don't already know? Mm.
Brinson: That it needs your support backing love. Prayers. Hmm. Because I think when people hear Christian rap or Christian hip hop that they just think it's just music and it's not.
This is a life transforming vehicle. You know how the Bible says God used the foolish things to confound the wise? Yeah. This is one of those tools that goes deep into the crevices. , a culture that is super sinful, pulls people out and with the power of the gospel and the word of the word of the gospel and, and [00:16:00] you know, is full, I know for my raps is full of scripture is full of testimony.
And it pierces the hearts of the listeners and the reason that people should support it, because I know me growing up in the hip hop culture and knowing the effects of what it motivates, and now you have, you have a counterculture invading it, motivating people to turn away from sinful lifestyles and unhealthy and toxic behavior.
To a place of, Hey, follow God chase after the heart of God when it should be supported. You know? Even the more, you know, it's, it's supported by tons of churches, but I think when people hear it, they probably think, Oh, it's, it's subpar, but it's not. We have to be. More creative than our secular counterparts because it's, they only [00:17:00] have four subjects that they talk about.
Money, sex, clothes, drugs, being promiscuous and violence. So that's the top six of the culture, right? Sure. We have to be more creative because we have to pull from 66 books, talk about this stuff. And make it so appealing, musically, creatively, sound quality wise, to even have a, a a A. Secular rap listener to even give us a, a listen.
But when they hear it, they, they recognize the talent, the creativity, the, the spirit of excellence that we have to have to do it in this, you know, to do it in this space. So I think it needs to be supported, love and pray for, because people like me, we're going into the trenches. We're going into [00:18:00] the prisons.
Yeah. We're going into the, the places. Regular folks of faith aren't going all the time, and we're speaking the language that this culture recognizes and is familiar with.
Tony: Yeah, I I think that that's that's a a great point. It's, it's it's more than evangelism. It feels like it, it feels like evangelism is certainly part of it, but it, it feels like it feels like saying, Y I want you to see me in God's story.
Me meaning the person that you're ministering to, that you can see yourself in God's story. Yeah, it's, it's almost like, you know being a Hope dealer, right? Like you're just out there like, Hey, I'm just, Come on man. You using the lingo
Brinson: Yeah, you are right. And, and, and then you gotta think you know the scripture that says become all things to all men that you might Sure. You know? So [00:19:00] I remember growing up, and I remember it was a, a, a magician that would come and talk to kids, do magic tricks, and then in his. Some sort of way. He starts talking about what Christ did on the cross in his magic show.
Yeah. So, and, and the, the crazy part was at the end he does an all to call and people go up , right? I mean, whatever, whatever it takes to get. To that altar. If we got a rap to get you there, if we gotta do flaming, you know, jump through a flaming hoop and you might come to, to the Lord, whatever the case is, that's what we have to do.
So people can understand what Christ did on the cross, you know, and, and the grace that came from that, and the new covenant and, you know, the, the power of the blood of Christ. Just all of that, you know, we gotta get [00:20:00] 'em in, you know, if we catch 'em and send 'em to a. Let the pastors and, and that, and that local body clean them up.
We just want to catch 'em and get 'em
Tony: there, you know? Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. I, I'm, I'm in, I love to hear creative processes. Yes. Especially because like you said, that the, the barrier to entry into the game is so much higher for Christian hip hop and Christian rap, and, you know, outside of a handful of rap artists, most people don't know.
A lot of names. Right? Yeah. And so how, how do you how do you hear from God when you're like, I'm gonna sit down and write a song. Right. What's that process like for you? How do you know it's God's voice and not just your own fleshly desire to put out another piece of work?
Brinson: Great question. Great, great question.
I think.
my, [00:21:00] my desire to win souls is some of the, some of the fuel that, that makes, that, that pro provokes me to keep going, right? Mm-hmm. . But, but I always think about while I'm in my creative process, you know, how am I overcomer by the words of my testimony and the blood of the lamb, right? That's what the word says.
I, I always think about my testimony, like, what's a new testimony that I can tell to provoke somebody, whoever who, who's listening to turn their life around. And, and I think Matthew 28 talks about going out and. , and that's me being in the will of God. If I'm, if I'm going out and trying to win something to the cross that's being in God's will and me being in God's will, I can hear his voice in his [00:22:00] will, you know?
And sometimes I know I can, I can have a dream about a song and get up. Like I, I heard courses and hooks and dreams before woken up and recording them, and I knew it wasn't. Wow. You know in certain times, like I don't know if you could see this, this one album that, putting that right here, it's called omg.
This one? I, That one? Yep. Okay. That one. I recall that I was sitting, listening to a track one day and it felt like I heard the Holy Spirit whispering every lyric in my ear. And the, that song was written in 10 minutes cuz I just heard the. Wow. And, and that, that one is, it was about a testimony about my mom flat lining and how the Lord brought her back.
And I just, I think me knowing and hearing the voice of God is spending time with God. So it is not a foreign, foreign thing [00:23:00] for me to hear God when I spend time with him, you know? So the creative process. Spending time with God, What is he putting on my heart for this season? To, to release to the people.
And my newest project before he cracks the sky. I've had a song in my heart for like nine years and it finally came out and before he cracks the sky is, is this one right here, ? That it is, it's a. Jesus coming back themed album. Mm, Yeah, it's, it is really themed about the coming to Christ. I'm always talking about it in like verses and stuff.
You know, a line here, a line there. But this one is really, Honed in and focused. It's a lot of storytelling. It's, it's really honed in on the coming to Christ of, you know, we just coming out a pandemic, you know, you see food [00:24:00] shortages, you see all of this stuff, and it's really honed in on that. So, I, I, I've just.
Spending time with God, seeing what's on my heart, and then releasing it in the
Tony: creative process. Hey guys, just pausing this conversation with Brinson to remind you to sign up for this Spirit and Truth Conference. We talked about it last year, but it's back in March, Dayton, Ohio. Speakers like Kim Moss.
Matt Reynolds, Pete Bellini, so many more. They're all gonna be there. It's gonna be a great event and you're gonna wanna be a part of it. If you are in the church and you want to get your cup filled, well this is a great place to be. I'll be there as well, and I'm excited to connect with you at the Spirit and Truth Conference.
If you want more information, if you want to get connected, if you want to be one of our sponsors, go to Spirit and truth.life/. Conference spirit in truth.life/conference. Now let's finish up this conversation with Brisson. Now let, let's go to the flip side of that too, because [00:25:00] I would imagine, and, and you know, I'm, I would call myself creative, but in a different kind of way.
Mm-hmm. In, in a lot of the writing that I love to do. , how do you handle dry seasons when you feel like you should be putting something out, right? And you're like, Man, that pressure is like, Oh gosh, I should be putting something out. But like, have you ever had a dry season? And, and if so, how, how did you how did you survive that time and the wilderness?
Brinson: I wouldn't say that I've had a dry season releasing music because I personally release a album once a year. Okay. And, but I have had writer's block , so I can tell you how I get out of that. What, what I do to get outta writer's block is just because I take this so serious, I have to do something that doesn't make sense.
I, I have to go and freestyle about cereal or something like it, It gotta be something [00:26:00] nonsensical. Like it just gotta be a relaxed, this don't matter or right for somebody. . Okay. Ghost writing is really good. Like even if, even if the person never hears it, I could be like, Well, if I was this artist, what type of song would I write?
And it's, and it would open up the channels of the floodgates of my creativity. And then I'm like, Man, that felt so. , I need to do this for me because , the pressure on myself is most of the time when we have those dry seasons, it's the pressure because we're like, we gotta release something, we gotta write, we gotta do this.
And a lot of times it's like creativity shouldn't be a harsh thing. It should just be a part of you like breathing. Like, okay, I do it because you know, that's the gift that God.
Tony: So when, when you've got music out in the world, I, I feel like music hits differently than words because [00:27:00] you can kind of surround yourself in music, right?
Whereas as words, especially the written word, it, it's much, you just kind of, it's one dimensional. But music feels different to me. I, I'm curious as someone who's never released to any music or anything close, I, the only thing I play is Spotify and What's it, what's it feel like when that album gets out into the world?
Like you know, this, this new album came out. I, off my notes, I think it's July of 22. You know, like, what, what does, what's it feel like now that it's out there for all to
Brinson: listen to? Well, with this new album, it is different because it's not on streaming outlets. You can only get it on my website. , but, and it, and that's mainly because I wanted to have a hand on how people experience it, because when somebody orders the, the CD or something, I get to handcraft, send them a package.
Ah. And that, [00:28:00] and that's really important to me because I love making this project and it mean a lot. And I want the, the person who supports to feel. The gratitude that, you know, when, when somebody hear my stuff on Spotify, I can't tell them thank you, . You know, I can tell them that, but if you order something on my site, then I really, I really can send you items and things that will enhance your experience.
The answer to the question is it is really a feeling of gratitude that somebody would even listen, right? Mm. It's a feeling of gratitude. It's a feeling of, I wonder what they think. What in my mind always is like, what's their favorite song? Not, and being goes deeper to what's their favorite line? Or, I wanted, Did somebody get [00:29:00] the.
Mm. You know that I said it, it's, it's a ton of feelings wrapped up into one one of excitement, one of gratitude, one of of curiosity of what did you think one, one of. Oh man. I hope they don't think it's, it's horrible.
Tony: You know, it's, it's 1111. What, what I appreciate about that is your, what is, this is your 11th album.
Yes. Right. And it's like, Oh, I, I don't want them to think it's horrible. Like, that's just real. Like we, I think that there's probably somebody who's listening who's, who's putting out that PowerPoint every week for work and they're like, Man, I just hope they don't think it's horrible. Right.
Brinson: Yeah. But because this is, this is the thing, I feel like I'm still on an incline.
Yeah. Because my, my, my, one of my goals are is outdo the last one. Hmm. Not outdo anybody else? Outdo your last one? Like, These, [00:30:00] this is before it cracks the sky. This is throw the crown reversing tomorrow. I, I call this my Star Wars trilogy, right? on each one of them. I'm trying to outdo it. I'm trying to outdo this one.
You know, like, I think this is like pound for pound, one of my best albums, right? Mm-hmm. . But I said before Crack Scott, if this is powerful pound on your best album, you need to go another. Way to make it better. So then I, Yeah, The next one's
Tony: gotta be the people's
Brinson: champ. Yeah. Yeah. I got, I gotta explore more storytelling in rap because for me, if you can tell a story and paint a picture lyrically you're in, you're in a, you know, one of the top chefs in this cooking phase, you know?
So, you know, I'm trying to be a master chef of.
Tony: And it, if you're listening and you can't see the, the, the podcast or the art because you're listening to the podcast audio only go to our YouTube page and check out[00:31:00] Cuz what's Beautiful is Behind Renson is this their album covers, right? Yeah. Their album covers all over the wall.
You know, and this is a good opportunity for me to ask a question that I'm always curious about and because I feel like we're friends, I'm just going, well, we're just, we're here now. How do you. How do you decide your style? Right? Because I'm looking at you and I'm like, Man, you've 11 albums in hip hop artists.
You've got the aviators on the Jacksonville flat bill hat, you got the nice jacket like flowing beard, and I'm over here in a quarter zip feeling like dad all all over the place. Right? Like give, give us some style tips. How do you, how do you lean into that edge of style? Cause you, I mean like you've got some great pictures out.
Brinson: man. Style wise, it's, this is years of trying to figure it out. . No. You know, cause cause you, you have so many pictures out, you get to be like, Okay, that didn't [00:32:00] work. . That didn't work. Never wear those again. .
Tony: Well, no, but so what I hear in that is that if you want, if you want to be stylish, you gotta be brave.
Brinson: You gotta be brave. You gotta, you gotta experi. You gotta think what works for you. Like, I try, I tried my best not to be nobody else, you know? Yeah. Like, like being comfortable at being comfortable in your own skin is a superpower. Mm. And I, and I didn't develop that until maybe like four years ago. So.
Tell, you know, knowing that God made you enough is a superpower. Like everything in you that God gave you is enough for the, for the, for the assignments. And even it, it, it took years for me to even like my own vocal tone, you know? And then I went back, I hated it for. [00:33:00] You know, and then I, I would hear myself on record, like, ugh.
But then traveling the world and people are like, Man, it's so unique. I love your voice. And hearing that, I'm like, Okay, I'm tripping. I'm tripping. I'm tripping because God gave it to me for a specific reason. Right? Sure. So, so even stylistically, you know, I like comics, I like movies. I, you know, I'll, I'll wear a, a dope leather jacket, right?
But under. It's a t-shirt of the Infiniti gauntlet from Avengers, on a t-shirt. And you know that I love it. You know, that's, that's just my, You
Tony: did wear a velvet jacket this past weekend in New York. I think I saw that. I did. I And it looked yes, and it looked amazing.
Brinson: It, it came from, it came from the uk and that event was such a big deal.
I was like, Okay, I need. You gotta [00:34:00] have the one piece, the level up, there you go. Whatever that one piece is. If it is, if it is the shoes, let it be the shoes. If it's the jacket, let it be the jacket. But you gotta have that one piece that separates. So I guess the tip is the one piece. And even if that one piece is the.
It go,
Tony: let it go. Let it go. Let me ask you this cuz I, I think you stumbled into something that a lot that's gonna resonate with a lot of people and that is learning how to be comfortable in your own skin is a superpower. , what's, There's somebody listening right now who's, who's probably on a treadmill or an elliptical, or they're mowing their grass and they're like, Man, I just don't, I just, I just don't know what's the first step they can take to be comfortable.
A little bit of, of flare, a little bit of themselves, a little bit of like, just a little bit of [00:35:00] outside the lines.
Brinson: Mm. I would say one of the first steps is embracing what makes you different. Mm. Like embracing the thing that, that God gave you. Sticks out. You know, like I, I, I, I, it's a, I'm in good lighting, but I'm super dark.
I'm, I'm a very dark skinned man. Sure. And it, it took a while for me to be comfortable being so dark because it's a stigma behind it. But then you, like, whatever God made me is. Because God is perfect and he don't make mistakes. So, so if God doesn't make mistakes and, and he made me the way that I am, then I don't, [00:36:00] I don't need to, you know, be anxie, have anxiety, or have any insecurities about what God did, because he made me perfect, you know?
Mm. He made me how he wanted me to be dark skin and all. I'm not the tallest guy. I'm, I'm, I'm a medium, medium height guy, so whatever God. However God made me, it was for a purpose, you know, And it's for whatever mission he has me on.
Tony: That's good. I, this is not, I don't normally talk about fashion, so here we are. I'm, I'm loving it. I appreciate the indulge there, . . O one of the, one of the things that I see as I pray for the bride of Christ the church Yeah. Is just the lack of diversity mm-hmm. in the world that we live in. Y you're obviously in, in the hip hop culture world predominantly African [00:37:00] American, you know, From, from what the best I can see, you know?
I'm, I'm kind of living in mainline suburbia. How, how do we, how do we get closer? As the people a as the church, you know, specifically as Christians, like, you know, we're, we're the, we're the bride of Christ together, right? So I'm not the bride alone. I'm the bride with you. Yes, as the the big sea church, we do our best to, to be on earth as it is in heaven.
How, how do we lean into some, you know, the uncomfortable places of, of stopping the separation that happens on Sunday morning?
Brinson: I think it's we, it is us obeying the greatest commitment that Jesus said. Love the Lord. Th God with all your heart, mind, and so, and your neighbor as yourself. And I think we think about our neighbor who looks like us.
Yeah. [00:38:00] But that's not just being a neighbor. It's the neighbor who don't look like you, the neighbor who don't even share. The same theological doctrine as you, but has the essentials. You know, like one, one of my, one of my best friends, he's, he's a white guy. He's, you know, he's Jewish. He's you know, he doesn't, he doesn't believe in a, in a lot of things that I believe in, you know?
Sure. I, but I think we, we agree on like the moderation. Like he, he doesn't believe in, in tongues. For today, I, you know, I. But our love for each other, You know, as brothers in Christ, we come together and we have so much. That we agree on. We agree on a lot of things on the last, last days and stuff like that, and I think the answer to your question is we have to look for the common ground as we love each other and value each other.
When we start valuing one another as the bride of Christ, the hands [00:39:00] and feet, I can't do what you do, you can't do what I do, but we can support and value what each other do. Then we strengthen the body of Christ because I've seen so many churches. Not get it right, but then there's a church down the street that has the answer that they're looking for and vice versa.
And they refuse to come together because they want to have their own individual kingdoms in the kingdom. But that's not how Christ set it up. It's one kingdom, you know? Yeah. And, and if, if we could just start loving each other and valuing each other, and even in the differences cultural differences like you.
It. I, I got another friend, he's, he's a pastor and he is, his administration game is through the roof. Hmm. Through the roof administra. He's probably the administrative team of systems and processes. Right. , you know, you put me in a pulpit, I [00:40:00] preach the house down. They right. We come together. It, it's a explosion.
So I think when, when we look at other people, we don't need to look at them as, they're different from me. We need to separate, like, Oh, everybody is, is a,
Tony: a
Brinson: they have a top level in some area in their lives and we can learn from everybody. So if we, if we get into a posture, , If we learn from each other, we can be stronger together.
So I think loving each other, loving God. And then let me just go a little deeper right here, Please. I always pray that God gives me an understanding heart, right? Yeah. So me having an understanding heart, I think the Holy Spirit can, can help me see beyond what people say when they're talking. So me saying, God, I want to understand people to help me be a better [00:41:00] minister to people.
Right? And if we can ask God, God help me to understand my brother, help me to understand my sister, and in that understanding, we can love them better. You know that? I think that's a. To bring in closeness and cultural closeness that when we understand each other, we can love each other better as well. So that's what I think.
That's beautifully
Tony: said. It's beautifully said, and I think it's, I think it's spot on. So there's a lot of people listening who have now fallen in love with you over the, the last 40 some odd minutes, and they're gonna go out and maybe buy their first. Hip Hop, Christian Rap Princes Wright song, right?
They're gonna go listen to your music for the very first time. What do they need to listen to first? Like what's the, what's the, the, the track that's gonna put their, This is a lot of pressure. I'm sorry. Yes, Christian bro. Listen, what's the, what's the track? What's the one thing that they're [00:42:00] gonna like, dip their toe in and be like, oh.
This is really good. Like what's the, what's the starting, I mean, this isn't, you know, keep in mind, right. The my, my average, Listen. Lives in Centerville, Ohio. Right. Which is not anywhere cool except for unless you love Centerville like I do. It's super cool, but like, you know, if you don't love it here, you're not gonna love it here.
Right? So what's the one song that they should go download or what's, if they're gonna buy your, your album before that, He cracks the sky. What's the, what's the starting off point? Right? What, what should he start with? Or she should start.
Brinson: Okay. Okay. I, The, the answer is two folk. Okay. I love it. One, I would say go order before he cracks the sky on god chases.com.
And, and here's the reason why. Because it gives me the opportunity to, one, show gratitude and then.[00:43:00]
It gives me, it gives me, it gives me a chance to show you more of me than the music. Sure. That's, that's one
Tony: I'm gonna go my order,
Brinson: my copy today. Yes. Yes. So it, and after that, if, if you do not want to go on my, on my site and order anything and you just like, I'm just going. I'm just gonna I just wanna download something.
Ah, my gosh. I would say,
whew. Okay. There's a song on my album called on, on the album called Throw the Crown. The song is called Faith in the Sky. Okay. And, and it's, it's, it's, it is, it's upbeat. Oh man. Why did you do me like that? My god, .
Tony: It's like saying, what's your favorite child?
Brinson: Right? Right. It, that's exactly what [00:44:00] it is. I would, I would say Faith in the sky is a good one.
Or I say a twofold three, four. Or you can go on my, my YouTube page and find a, a great, I have cartoon music videos that have a lot of great music videos. My favorite music video is called White Gold. White Gold is my favorite music video. , I, I wanna say favorite because it's like my most expensive music video.
but, but it's and, and the lyrics I think is some of my, some, some top is, some top shelf rapping on white gold. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good, good, good. Okay. I
Tony: have one more question to ask you, but before I do it, I know that my, my podcast family's gonna wanna connect with you on the Innerwebs. Where is the best thing to learn all about what God is doing in and through Brisson?
Brinson: The best place to learn and
Tony: to follow? Right? Like where are you most active?
Brinson: I'm, I'm probably most active [00:45:00] on Instagram and Twitter. On Instagram is at God Chase's, g o d c h a s e R. And on Twitter, it's, Im Brisson, b r i n s o N. Most people spell it with a e, but it's b r i n s o N. So I am Brisson on Twitter and a god chaser's and Instagram.
And guess what? I got a podcast too. God Chaser's podcast. I was getting ready to plug it. My podcast. Yeah. Yeah. And, and on that you. You get to see a whole nother side of me. I talk Christian hip hop news, and then I review movies and just talk about all of the things that's going on. Like, I, I can, I, I re view movies and TV shows from a Christian perspective.
You know, I tell people lot of things like, don't take the kids to this one . You know, But I, I don't watch a lot of rain Atar movie. That's, that's my thing. I just, I. Me staying out of [00:46:00] the rim a Raider art just safer. It's very safer. It's safer. I, I haven't seen a a Raider art movie in a while. All right.
All right, good. Okay,
Tony: last question. I love to ask people. It's a hard one. So just get, get your, get ready, get ready. So it's an advice question. I'm gonna ask you to go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice, except I get the name, the season of your life that you give it. Okay? And I wanna take you back to the day after your very first day recording in the studio.
Right. So a long time ago 11 albums ago, if you were gonna pull up a chair in front of that young man, fresh outta the studio, he's got all the emotions flying. He's not sure what's about to happen. If you were gonna pull up a chair in front of him, sit knee to knee with him, look 'em in the eye and give them one piece of advice, what are you gonna tell [00:47:00] 'em?
Hmm. Hmm. Tony,
Brinson: that's so good. That's so good. You know what's so good about this question? The, it wasn't the one piece of advice. It was you, you specifically picked a moment and that is so good. My God, that's a good question. Dude, you let me tell you something. You're probably, you, you, you are Mount Rushmore on interview.
No, in real. No, I'm not saying this cause I'm on your short in real life. Oh, thank you. You have. The best questions I've ever had before in my life. Oh, thank you so much. I've done a ton of interviews. My God, this is good. I would tell him,
do not compare yourself to anybody else. Be you and give God your best, and that's all you need to do. [00:48:00] don't compare because I, early on, I would, I would be, in my mind, sub subliminal competition. Mm. I have to be better than this. I have to know, be you, be you. Give God your best. You give God your best. He gonna take you everywhere.
And that's what he's.
Tony: Praise God. Praise God. Brenson, thank you so much for being so generous with your time. Thank you for your heart for, for all, all the, I just really appreciate your energy and your charisma. So thank you for, for the, your willingness to be here and to share your story and for what you're doing in the world.
Yeah, just. .
Brinson: Oh, man. Thank you for having me, dude. Thank you. Thank you for what you do. Shout out for all the people who are listening to your podcasting, your YouTube video. I, I look forward to if anybody hear this, I look forward [00:49:00] to, to, to hearing from you. I do respond. I'm not one of those people who act on Hollywood.
I would love to hear you guys reach out to me and I will reach back out. Prayerfully, you know, we, we'll see if we don't see each other on, on this side of heaven. Hopefully your mansion will be next to mine when we get to Heaven . Amen. Amen. Mine will be the one with the convertible roof
Tony: in the Jacksonville Jaguars flag in the front yard.
Brinson: I dunno. The Jag might not make it Heaven, ,
Tony: What's Paul say? Rejoice to the extent where you could suffer with Christ . Oh, that's good. That's. You know I get to have so many great conversations on this podcast. I'm so thankful for all of them. I especially enjoy talking to someone a little different. And Brinson is that he gives such good insight and good perspective [00:50:00] and a fun conversation around music.
So hey, do me a favor. Go order his his new album. Hit his, hit up his website, Follow him on social media. Let him know that you heard him here on the Reclamation Podcasts. I'm thankful for all of you. I'm thankful the community that we're building here, for those of us who connect on Sub Stack and on Facebook and Instagram at t w Melt I look forward to continuing the dialogue.
And remember, guys, if you wanna follow Jesus, you must be willing to move.
