About 13 years ago Victizzle almost singlehandedly changed the sound of Gospel Music coming out of the streets of London…
Limited choice
It’s almost difficult to believe these days, but at one time – and it feels like it wasn’t that long ago – your UK Gospel music options were limited to the classic choir vibe, a little Soul and some RnB (and let’s not forget back then even the crooners were getting it in the neck from some Church music purists)
Into church by the back door
Spoken Word was a willing partner in the journey bringing Hip-Hop into church by the back door, even though the Hip-Hop pioneers were singled out for a special kind of wrath from the faithful.
Sound of the streets
All the while, kids around the country related more to the sounds they heard on the streets, but were dissatisfied with the lyrical content carried over those beats.
Experiment
They started to experiment with these sounds, infusing them with Christian themes on lifestyle, evangelism and the challenges of day to day living.
Victizzle
For Victor ‘Victizzle’ Akata things really took off with ‘Jam Yourself’ the ‘Enhanced CD’ (remember those..?) 🙂
It perfectly captured the spirit of the time in terms of fierce Christian pride, a go-get-it attitude that’s now so commonplace in the scene, and references to old-school technology (who remembers ‘Limewire’?)
Jam Yourself
Impressively, the video to ‘Jam Yourself’ was shot and co-edited by Victizzle while he was in college
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