J Prophet: Building With One’s Community Of Belief

J Prophet is a Christian hip hop artist based in Mount Vernon, NY. His approach to establishing a career interests me even though he hasn't yet achieved the outsized following or impressive Kickstarter campaign that typically leads to business coverage. Rather J Prophet is worth considering as someone building a base for his music career rooted in his community of belief that isn't just an example for religious-oriented musicians but for anyone with a strong relationship to a specific community with shared values.

J Prophet is a minister at Grace Baptish Church in Mount Vernon and a graduate of Yale currently attending Yale's Divinity School. This focus suggests that his identity as a Christian hip hop artist is more than a marketing decision but is an extension of his personal values and beliefs.

He also has a fairly typical web presence in that he's on Facebook and Twitter. He's been releasing music on Bandcamp and on YouTube as well as maintaining his own website as any artist concerned with the long haul should be doing.

If one checks out J Prophet's music, one finds that it focuses on Christian themes from personal redemption to struggles for social justice. In keeping with well-established hip hop traditions, his music output includes freestyles and mixtapes with sometimes recognizable commercial beats underlying the lyrics. Freestyles recorded in his dorm rooom formed the basis for his Dorm Room Sessions: The Mixtape. A video collage and freestyle over a Public Enemy beat fueled the Welcome to the Terrordome Freestyle video that features references to the murder of Trayvon Martin.

What I find most interesting in a music marketing sense is not the now expected components of any emerging musician's web presence or the routes now available to hip hop artists as they set out to establish their musical identity and presence. J Prophet is building in that sense with lyrical content based on his beliefs but he's also building with projects related to his community of belief. His publicist Taurean Casey filled me in on the details of some of the projects with which he has also been involved.

For example, J Prophet developed a weekly bible commentary called In The Word Wednesdays that began as a column on his website and developed into a podcast series at Urban Cusp and is also the name of his weekly Youth Bible Study class.  His writing at Urban Cusp ties spiritual beliefs and music together with such features as Don't Call It a Comeback: Seeing Tupac at Coachella Through a Christian Lens.

He also intends to build not just a fanbase for his music but also to grow a community he calls The Peace and Power Family. It's described as a "place where young passionate Christians can connect with other young passionate Christians and get creative on spreading the message of Christ through their God-given abilities."

I wondered how J Prophet's musical activities outside the Church were viewed by the congregation with which he works and he stated:

"The music fits right in with my ministry. I try to build a repertoire of songs that have the flexibility to impact people in church settings as well as venues outside of the church. I've been blessed that churches have welcomed my work. And it's important to know that I'm not just doing music for the church. Thankfully the people in my congregation know that I'm working to sincerely fulfill my purpose by engaging in music."

As J Prophet knits together the various aspects of his life to build community that overlaps with a musician's fanbase, he has focused on low-budget and sweat equity approaches to spreading the word. His hope is to eventually build with a fanbase who will have input into his next steps which may include a Kickstarter campaign. The idea is to not only have a fanbase that will support his next project but that will also have input into the form that project takes whether it's an album, a book or a tour.

As with Michelle Shaprow, a more established artist with whom I checked in at two different points in her development here and here, and with emerging rock band Vinyl Thief, I look forward to seeing what happens when this foundation building bears fruit for J Prophet.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business & Revenue Models and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.