Andy Mineo
The older I get, the more I desire simplicity.
Technology has opened up the music business 100-fold and provided space for all kinds of new faces.
The Bible is referred to in scripture as the sword of the spirit.
I think when I show my vulnerability, people relate with that because they know deep down inside that they have vulnerable moments, and they can really connect and identify with me on those things.
Being a Christian and seeing that white evangelical Christians were primarily the people who put guys like Donald Trump into office made my entire world explode.
I'm my biggest problem; I'm the thing that stops me most from doing what I need to do to be successful or to achieve success in whatever area of life.
I think, for a while, my music was exclusively for those who shared my beliefs. But I realized I was perpetuating the bubble that I was living in instead of inviting people into my world.
Music is such a powerful tool, and there are so many people who need love and encouragement and hope.
I think there are more religious overtones in music because these artists want to be connected to greatness. What is greater or higher than God himself?
I think 'Never Land' is, like, my first really strong attempt to create music... that can encourage people who share my faith but also challenge and intrigue people who don't.
If someone announces me as a 'Christian rapper,' there's still an 'Eh, no thanks.' But perceptions are starting to change.
Going to church and stuff was just something I did with my mom.
You always hear people say, 'I just want to live comfortably.' And I'm like, 'What does that mean?'
It's far harder to love God and do his will than it is to be self absorbed and love my own will.
Fellas, if you find a good woman, don't be scared of commitment. It is good for you. It causes you to grow up and deal with your selfishness like nothing else.
My biggest enemy is typically me.
No matter how successful you become... there's always that sense that you could be better.
I think I beat myself up more than anyone else.
I don't like calling it Christian rap. Titles are so limiting. It's hip-hop. I'm a rapper.
People think hip-hop is evil, but it's sometimes the people making hip-hop that are evil. The genre isn't wicked, but the people in it are.
'Hear My Heart' was constructed with the deaf in mind. I wanted a bass line that felt like a heartbeat. I wanted to be able to touch the speakers and feel a clear sense of rhythm.
I searched YouTube for 'deaf music videos' and watched them with the sound muted. I noticed that though you could understand the words being signed, the sense of rhythm was lost. That's when I had the idea to create a video where you could see the sounds you couldn't hear.
We live in a society of triviality, and my music and what I'm about kind of starts to break that mold and adds more meaning and dialogue to hip hop.
Hopefully, at the end of all this, my music is going to be used as a tool to help people have meaningful conversations and meaningful relationships with themselves and with other people and with God.
I think in today's society we are dealing with an epidemic of fatherless homes. We're turning everywhere else for people to be fathered.
I had a lot of friends be kind of standoffish after I became a Christian.
A lot of people don't know how to navigate: they think, once you become a Christian, you essentially have to become Ned Flanders.
I'm not going to degrade women, and that's very anti-hip-hop.
There is very little room for humor and personality in hip-hop.
I think the thing that makes Indiana basketball special is that they have incredible teams, both college teams and pro teams, and they're all about grit.
I want to bring meaningful conversations to the table, and I want to shake some things up.
New York City is the greatest city on the planet. It's the capital of the world.
I think people see faith as a section of their life, like, 'I go to church on Sunday...' but for me, my faith runs through the entirety of my life.
I really think there are two genres of music: good music and bad music. And I'm just trying to be on the side of making good music.
I told my mom I went gold, and she didn't know what that meant, and I was immediately humbled.
I created 'You Can't Stop Me' without trying. There was nothing premeditated about that record.
I started to have almost a realization that a lot of the evangelical leaders I looked up to and found hope in - I started realizing a lot of them just weren't the people I thought they were.
I've never been about just trying to do what works. I've been about trying to authentically express how I feel.
I was wondering if any of my faith was real at all, and I started to let go of a lot of things that I had learned and say, 'Maybe I just need to start over entirely with what I have learned about my faith.' And that's what I did.
I hope people listen to the music. Don't write it off because there is a Christian doing it and it's been labeled that way, because if I'm honest with you, Christian rap for the most part has been corny.
For some reason, we have completely separated Christians who are rappers, and we have separated, I guess, regular rappers. I feel that we should be able to mingle, enjoy each other's company, and trade ideas.
I feel like God's given me a gift that I want to steward and share with the world.
I found Beam when he was 16 years old. He dropped his SoundCloud page onto my Facebook. 'I listened to it and was like, these tracks are actually dope.'
Nobody - regardless of how they feel or behave - deserves to be on the other end of receiving hatred and discrimination.
I make it my business to be around people that don't look like me or think like me or act like me. I want to learn from them.
Hip-hop has always been about keeping it authentic and being authentically you. That is what I try to do in my music and when I speak about the Bible.
A lot of my friends - I am the only white person in their circle. Being able to hear other perspectives besides the white conservative approach has really given me a perspective that I want to share and challenge people to think about.
I don't really speak for anybody else's music, and I don't think I should, but I think the reason why people enjoy my music is because there's a level of honesty and transparency that people can connect and relate to.
'Hook' was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up, so we played with that theme on the title 'Never Land.'
I think a lot of people are making music that shares their life experiences, and that's what I choose to do, too, but in my life experience, I also choose to try to find the hope in the music, and I think a lot of it has to do with my Christian faith.