Sir the Baptist

William James Stokes (aka Sir the Baptist) channels the sound of hip-hop, gospel, and R&B into his own form of holistic music, aiming to heal the world through religion and sound. Born in Bronzeville, Chicago, where he was raised as one of 22 children, Stokes took to music from a young age -- he started learning the piano at six and by ten had taken up drums. He regularly played at his church, where his father was a prominent Baptist leader; his mother was a missionary. Initially, Stokes found a job working for an ad agency, Leo Burnett, but before long he quit to pursue music...