Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Met in a Hard Place: Jaye King on Faith, Music, and Finding Redemption

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Met in a Hard Place: Jaye King on Faith, Music, and Finding Redemption · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Hey Jay, thanks for joining me. Yes, sir, thanks for
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: having me.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: New Artists Jay King newest artist's alter Centricity Music's label.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: He has any single? Hard Place. I really enjoyed listening
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: to your music.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Jay.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't know who you were until maybe a few
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: months ago, and now I wish i'd have known who
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: you were all along. So let's go tell me about
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Hard Place. Is this a personal testimony song? Yeah, it's
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: kind of. It's my story.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Just I think it's like a hindsight if you look
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: back at your faith and your journey to salvation.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I was raised around church.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know about you, Mike, but being around church
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  Speaker 1: versus living a life that's given to the Lord is different.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: And so I feel like I look back and I think, Man,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: if I'm listening to this song from start to finish
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  Speaker 1: and I think about it in hindsight, it makes more sense.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: You know, forgive me if I look a little rough
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: around the edges. When you're coming into faith, community and salvation,
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  Speaker 1: we're rocky. Some people are still cursing some people. It's
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: that lifestyle of trying to do it the right way,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: but you don't know what right is. You're just like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: here I am, and I know he saved me. He
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: met me in a hard place, and he is a
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  Speaker 1: rock in the hard place, so I trust him. He's
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: redeemed me. That's a hard place.
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  Speaker 3: How would you describe your style of music? It sounds
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: like there's a lot of different sounds in that song.
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  Speaker 2: For what I could hear influence I was a drummer,
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  Speaker 2: that would explain some of it.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I had to play a lot of different styles, so
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: when I started playing other instruments, I began to learn
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  Speaker 1: all of those styles on every instrument. So it's kind
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  Speaker 1: of like I would describe it as like a fusion
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  Speaker 1: of things. It's like gospel but pop. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: pop instincts in my lyrics because I'm a huge Michael
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Jackson fan. I love his work, and so he would
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  Speaker 1: do stuff you would go from like man in the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Mirror to beat It or Billy Gen It's like those
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  Speaker 1: are two different worlds, or rock with you, and then
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  Speaker 1: you've got pyt and it's like, man, I want to
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  Speaker 1: be that like he had it all. So I like
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  Speaker 1: the rock, I like the pop, I like the jazz,
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  Speaker 1: I like all of it.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me about Tell me about your your desire to
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: be a musician.
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  Speaker 3: Did you grow up with a desire to be a singer,
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  Speaker 3: Because I noticed that you play your drummer, bass, guitarist,
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  Speaker 3: you play the keys. That's three more than I can play.
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  Speaker 3: So Jack, Yeah, tell me about tell me about your background. Well,
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  Speaker 3: I was raised the church, the Church of God in Christ.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: I was a Kojak kid.
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  Speaker 1: My dad, though he wasn't in my life, he directed
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the choirs, so I seen him every
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  Speaker 1: week I was in rehearsals. I watched the way he
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  Speaker 1: directed the choirs to learn parts. They would poke the
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  Speaker 1: parts out through organ So you always had an organist
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  Speaker 1: and a drummer, and I was his drummer, and so
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  Speaker 1: that was kind of my introduction. And in the Koji church,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if you got a drummer and a great organist,
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  Speaker 1: you pretty much are covering the whole thing. You start
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  Speaker 1: adding a bass player or a guitarist that can play
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  Speaker 1: in that environment, it's a crazy experience.
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  Speaker 2: So I kind of grew.
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  Speaker 1: Up learning just listening to music. It would be anything
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  Speaker 1: from gospel music to soul like the steviee Wonders of
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the World. I started, I got introduced to aerosmith at
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a very early age, so that's where the heavy guitar
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  Speaker 1: stuff comes from. I love that sound, but I think
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  Speaker 1: for me, I didn't think I would be an artist.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't think i'd be singing because I didn't get
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  Speaker 1: to sing until I was in like middle school or
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  Speaker 1: high school. So I had played drums, and then I
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  Speaker 1: played sports during the week, and drums were just Sunday
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  Speaker 1: morning things. But I was good at it. And then
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  Speaker 1: I realized I wasn't growing and my youth pasts are
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  Speaker 1: just giving me an opportunity to sing. So I wasn't
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: getting taller. I was like five foot one up through
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  Speaker 1: high school and Florida sports is a whole nother world.
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  Speaker 1: So there's guys coming in impressman year almost six foot
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  Speaker 1: point eighty. They're big, and I'm five foot one, maybe
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  Speaker 1: one hundred pounds soaking wet at that time, and so
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  Speaker 1: I mean today six two and a half. But I
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  Speaker 1: didn't have that height or that size then. So I
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  Speaker 1: just leaned into music man and I still didn't think
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  Speaker 1: it would be singing. I thought it would be as
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  Speaker 1: a percussionist, but I was learning how to play guitar.
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  Speaker 1: I was learning how to play bass and orchestra bass
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  Speaker 1: and jazz band. I was just interested in music, and then,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, through leading worship at church, writing songs,
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  Speaker 1: I started to discover my voice, excuse me. And as
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  Speaker 1: I discovered my voice, songs just started to come out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well it's interesting that you, you know, you a
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  Speaker 3: lot of artists grow up singing in the church, but
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  Speaker 3: not all artists continue singing about the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: And so I'm curious about why why have you chosen
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  Speaker 2: this path?
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  Speaker 3: Because you're a talented guy, you can go, you can
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  Speaker 3: go the path of a different genre.
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  Speaker 2: Why have you chosen Christian music the style of music.
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  Speaker 3: That's a great question. Maybe it's the great questions. Maybe
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  Speaker 3: it's just your testimony. Maybe your testimony is the reason,
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  Speaker 3: and your testimony you're just marrying the testimony with your talent.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I wrestle with the idea of what we call
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  Speaker 1: Christian music as a whole. I get what we're trying
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  Speaker 1: to say. We're saying songs that are faith based, but
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  Speaker 1: it kind of takes on its like a separate agenda.
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  Speaker 1: It's like got its own world that it lives in.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't live in the grand scheme of music. I
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  Speaker 1: would say that I'm a Christian making music, so that's
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  Speaker 1: going to lend itself to my values. Bleeding and what
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  Speaker 1: I talk about, how I say things that automatically separates
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  Speaker 1: what I can and can't say based on scripture. But
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  Speaker 1: I think as an artist, I want to be able
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  Speaker 1: to showcase that music goes beyond my faith. Like if
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  Speaker 1: you weren't listening to words and the music was being played,
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  Speaker 1: I would want you to be able to recognize that's pop,
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  Speaker 1: or that's blues, or that's funk, or that's whatever. When
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  Speaker 1: the words come in, that's where you encounter my story.
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  Speaker 1: I'm making the music I'm making because God change my life,
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  Speaker 1: and I believe that people are out there longing for
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  Speaker 1: something more than these empty words and like the echo
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  Speaker 1: chamber of their feelings and emotions. I think they want
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  Speaker 1: substance without it feeling crammed down their throat all the time.
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  Speaker 2: So I just want to deliver what.
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  Speaker 1: Happened to me in my life, and I want to
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  Speaker 1: meet people where they are. That's kind of the music
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  Speaker 1: that we're making.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting that you say that, because I agree
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  Speaker 3: with what you said. It frustrates me that we tend
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  Speaker 3: to call things Christian movies and Christian songs when other
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  Speaker 3: genres don't categorize their stuff like that. You know, country
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  Speaker 3: country and rock and hip hop and other genres are
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  Speaker 3: categorized by style, not the words. And you can't shove
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  Speaker 3: lecree in with, you know, a worship band, right, it's
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  Speaker 3: because it's completely different styles. So I know what you're saying.
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  Speaker 3: I agree with you. And the same thing with Christian movies,
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  Speaker 3: by the way, because sometimes I almost feel bad telling
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  Speaker 3: somebody this is a really great Christian movie, because I'm
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  Speaker 3: it's almost like for some people that's that's a good thing,
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  Speaker 3: and for some people that's not.
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  Speaker 2: It's like minimizing it, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And
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  Speaker 2: so I yeah.
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  Speaker 3: With art, you know, it's just it's a weird it's
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  Speaker 3: a weird area that we're in right now where we
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  Speaker 3: do call stuff Christian music and I have a Christian
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  Speaker 3: Music Awards show and then there's ten different styles of music.
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  Speaker 2: I get it, man, I get it.
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  Speaker 3: So so yeah, so how do you how have you
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  Speaker 3: navigated that the last few years, because it does seem
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  Speaker 3: like most things that you're putting out though, are about
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  Speaker 3: your faith.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's important to make it known. Believe,
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  Speaker 1: I'm unashamed of talking about Jesus and what He's done
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  Speaker 1: in my life. I have enough history in my my
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  Speaker 1: family life and my background to write non Christian music
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  Speaker 1: and be right on par like what we would call
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  Speaker 1: keeping it a hundred, like just being very honest, being
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  Speaker 1: very on the nose. But for me to talk about
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  Speaker 1: where I've come from without saying and what God has
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  Speaker 1: done in it, it's just as hypocritical as doing the opposite.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm like, man, first of all, let me make
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  Speaker 1: it clear that Jesus is the head of my life.
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  Speaker 1: One two. I love and respect every genre of music
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  Speaker 1: so much. I wouldn't even mike. I wouldn't even say
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  Speaker 1: I'm a keyboard player. I would say I'm truly a
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  Speaker 1: drummer because I respect the art form so much. When
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  Speaker 1: you say keys, in certain environments, they think of a
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  Speaker 1: whole different virtuos virtuoso I can play, and I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to discredit that. But at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 1: I'm making music that is coming from my heart, and
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  Speaker 1: right now it's coming out as faith based as it
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  Speaker 1: is because that's who I am. Ten years from now,
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  Speaker 1: I'm still making music. You're still gonna hear me talk
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus, but at some point it's gonna dip more
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  Speaker 1: into the depth of what makes me who I am
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  Speaker 1: and what may us who we are as people.
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  Speaker 2: That's just reality.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Tory Kelly is it, Tory Kelly is Yeah, the
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  Speaker 3: artists aament try to She's She's a good example of
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  Speaker 3: what we're kind of talking about here as somebody who
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  Speaker 3: is not a Christian artist but is a Christian and
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  Speaker 3: her her music is phenomenal, but she's a bold believer.
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  Speaker 3: And so there are quite a few out there like
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  Speaker 3: that that you know, and I think, I think a
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  Speaker 3: lot of artists don't want that label because of what
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  Speaker 3: they don't want it to be viewed in other minds,
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  Speaker 3: and that is less than good. When Christian music right now,
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  Speaker 3: Christian Christian music right now, I would argue Christian music
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  Speaker 3: right now like I listened to I listened to a
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  Speaker 3: lot of CHH I listened to Lucrae and Aniemineo and
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  Speaker 3: guys like that, and that's that's.
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  Speaker 1: As good as Yeah, I always random this project just
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  Speaker 1: came out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I always mispronounce his name. But that stuff
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  Speaker 3: is just as good as any hip hop on the
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  Speaker 3: mainstream radio. And so you know, I don't know, it's
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  Speaker 3: just it's just the way.
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  Speaker 2: It's just the way we.
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  Speaker 1: Let so saying man like I being called a Christian
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  Speaker 1: artist doesn't phaze me. I am Christian and I am
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  Speaker 1: making music, but it may offend some that it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: always lean as hard as we think Christian music is
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  Speaker 1: as a genre. To me, it has to. If it
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  Speaker 1: can't hold a bucket to what's happening in music, it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: just not good music at the end of the day.
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  Speaker 3: And I think also I've heard some artists say that
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  Speaker 3: they don't want it labeled that because they're afraid they
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  Speaker 3: won't even be sampled by other people, like some some
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  Speaker 3: some teenager out there might not even give their music
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  Speaker 3: a shot if they know all that's Christian when they
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  Speaker 3: were like when then when they might like it, and
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  Speaker 3: then it's an end road to the gospel. Anyway, I'm
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  Speaker 3: preaching here, Sorry about that, brother, No, I'm good, bro, Jay,
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  Speaker 3: give me your testimony before we close here. How did
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  Speaker 3: you you grew up in the church, But at what
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  Speaker 3: point did you realize, Hey, I've got to make this
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  Speaker 3: my own personal decision.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, middle school, I was at the Ramp in Hamilton, Alabama.
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  Speaker 1: I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit at that camp,
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  Speaker 1: and life wasn't perfect after that, But my life wasn't
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the same like I was forever changed. I had an
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: experience that transcended my reality. I started having visions. I
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: started having dreams things that didn't match the lifestyle I
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was in. My mom is a single parent raising four kids.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Money is very tight. I can barely participate in extracurriculus.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I don't know how I'm going to make it to college.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I got good grades, but how do I do it?
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  Speaker 1: Usually you got the money and supportive family. Like none
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  Speaker 1: of it made sense, and I'm just out here, Like, Lord,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you have to show up. And he did. He met
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  Speaker 1: me when I was thirteen. I leaned into it. Like
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I said, I wasn't perfect. I like to party. I
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: like to have a great time. So the God was
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: really working things out in me throughout high school into college.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, I just started leading worship and just started
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: trusting the Lord every day I show up at church.
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  Speaker 1: After I graduated, I've worked for my church and I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: would go to college. I said, I'm going to try
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  Speaker 1: to just chase the Lord. Every day I would mess up.
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  Speaker 1: I get up, mess up, get up, and here I am.
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  Speaker 1: You know, fourteen years later, still messing up and trusting God.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Messing up and trusting God. Yeah, it's like cleaning out
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: a house. It doesn't happen overnight. You know, you got
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: to work at it a little bit forward. Just keep going,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Just keep me going. Jay has anything else you want
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  Speaker 1: us to know about your career? What's going on maybe
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  Speaker 1: with you or maybe what's the future with you? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I would say to anybody that gets to hear this,
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  Speaker 1: my whole message is spreading faith, hope, and love, one
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  Speaker 1: song at a time. And all that simply means is
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: if you're breathing right now, your story's not over. If
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: it seems helpless, if it seems hopeless, if you feel
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: like you're at a crossroads, listen, I've been there. If
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you just call on the name of Jesus, if you
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: just share with somebody, Man, I don't know what to
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  Speaker 1: do next. I'm at the end.
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  Speaker 2: Call o Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, he comes in, He meets you in
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  Speaker 1: a real way, and you can expect from me in
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six and beyond, I'm gonna be releasing songs,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: songs of folk, songs of joy, songs of love, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I hope to be a blessing to you as an
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: artist that just understands where you are and it's just
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: trying to write and give you a lifeline.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Then we talk.
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  Speaker 3: Jking is a website jking dot com. It's jay E
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: by the way, king dot com as a new song
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  Speaker 3: out as a new song out as well, hard Placed.
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  Speaker 3: I really enjoyed that.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Jay, good talking to you. Thanks so much, Thanks Mike.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: If you like today's.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Episode, please subscribe and leave a five star review. That's
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: how we help more people just like you find the show.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: A big thanks to the team at life Audio for
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: their partnership with us on the podcast. If you go
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: to life audio dot com, you will find dozens of
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  Speaker 3: other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: See you next time.