August 15, 2025 • 18 mins
In this exciting episode, we sit down with Pastor Mike Jr., a dynamic gospel artist, pastor, and entrepreneur who’s making waves in the gospel music industry. Not only is Pastor Mike Jr. nominated for an impressive 9 Stellar Awards this year, but he’s also preparing to perform at the prestigious event! We dive into his journey to the awards and the impact his music has on the faith community. But that's not all! Pastor Mike Jr. shares his bold new venture into education with the launch of his very own K-8th grade prep school. From shaking up the gospel music scene to shaking up the classroom, we explore how he's blending his passion for faith and community with entrepreneurship, and what’s next on his horizon. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that explores faith, business, and the power of pushing boundaries in both ministry and the marketplace!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mighty Mail's Podcast is back. I am so excited
to return for a season two of The Moneymail's Podcast.
But we are going to be talking all things life okay. Today,
joining me, I have Pastor Mike Junior, who has really
just been a staple in the gospel community and just
for the culture in general, The Phenomenal Pastor Mike Jr.
(00:22):
I'm so excited that you are in here today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The Energy List fortieth Stellar Awards are this weekend non nominations.
How are you feeling about all of this leading up to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The world Well, first of all, anybody ever called me phenomenal,
I'm either put that in my bio on Instagram today
Pastor Mike Phenomenal Junior. Yes, no, I'm excited to add
it to the name. I'm excited. Man, when anybody thinks
enough of you to vote for you or say hey,
you did a good job this year, it means a lot.
I'm in the only profession where it's almost demonic or
selfish for me to say I want to be the
(00:56):
best and your profession. If you say man, I want
to be the best on their personality in the world,
They're gonna say, girl, go get it. If Lebron said
he want to be the best, he a dog. If
I say I want to be Gracie, that's the problem
with church folks right there. So for me, we did
a lot of put a lot of hard work in
last year a forty five city too, where we partnered
with McDonald's went to forty five cities for absolutely free
(01:17):
to be a blessing in so many communities, and we
put a good body of work together and it just
means so much, not just to me, but like my
guy here too, who traveled the world with me last
year filming. We took a chance to say, hey, I'm
gonna do a music video. You do it. I think
that was his first one ever directing, and he's up
for Music Video of the Year. So for me, in
the words of that beautiful prophet from Cali, it ain't
(01:39):
no fun unless your homies get some. So I'm excited man.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And you already talked about how you just came in
your school started day straight from Birmingham to talk a
little bit about that, because I mean, you know people,
you know, I think it's awesome what you're doing with
the school.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That Yeah, so shout out to rock City. Rock City
Church is my church. Out of school is Rock City Prep.
About four years ago, there was a school in our
city that was about to close. It was a private school,
and we realized a lot of the kids who go
there have some social struggles. They may have been bullied,
may have not like big sessions, big classrooms. So we
stepped out on faith and purchased the school. Uh and
(02:16):
this morning in Birmingham, alabama's their first day of school.
So to get there and it's dope to when I
say it's Rock City Preparatory Christian School. So they come
and we worked out where most of their tuition is
kind of waved and they in uniforms. It's it's incredible. Hey, Mama,
don't want to wake up figure out what to wear
(02:38):
wearing all that. So, yes, it was great to get there. Today.
It's kindergarten through eighth grade. And what we do that's
creative that I love. So our kindergarten and first and
second are in one class. And so the way we
do it is we teach at the highest grade level.
So what's been working for us is when our kids
graduated in the eighth grade, most of them are being
skipped almost a tenth because they're already lead years ahead
(03:01):
of where everybody else says. So I'm excited about it.
I love that. That's good.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Okay, so you have, like we said, you have so
many Stellars already. Does winning still feel the same.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Absolutely. Somebody asked me yesterday, said you ought to be
tired about now. I tell them, the only people who
get tired of winning of the people who feel entitled
and ungrateful. So for me, man, the first the first
four years I was at the Stell Awards, it was
fan voting, so every award was up to the fans.
So up until last year it has not been fan voting.
(03:33):
It's been academy voting. So I've never won a Stell
Award since it's been academy voting. So when it was
up to the fans, they liked your boy. But now
it is up to the academy. That's different. So to me,
to win an award this year would be special because
that would be a body of my peers saying, hey,
you did all right, So.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
That means a lot, which I mean, I get it,
you're being humble, I get it, but come on, now,
out of nine, I'm sure you're gonna take on something. Amen,
that's your biggest stone gap? Ye, what is your amen moment?
Like leading up to the show?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I think my a man moment is, if I'm being honest,
I think it was. I think it was probably twenty
minutes ago. We thought we lost something or left it
at Chipotle, and so we pulled into a parking lot
not too far ago, and we went to the truck.
We started going through the truck. We end up finding it.
And when I looked up, we were across the street
(04:29):
from the venue that the Stell Awards is, and they
have these huge banners up and my picture was one
of the pictures on the banner. And so for me
to see that picture next to a CC and bb
WY is a Yolanda Adams, a Donnie mcclerk like that,
to me is still mind blowing because I'm from Birmingham,
you know, And so from the moment we were raised,
(04:50):
we were told, if you want to make it, go right,
go to Atlanta, go left, go to Nashville. Everybody leaves
Birmingham because we feel like you can't make it from there.
So to not only thrive, I'm in Birmingham to make
it out of Birmingham, but then go back home to Birmingham. See,
it's not like Nashville. The last time I won Artists
of the Year, my mayor shut the airport down, like
we want a national championship. So it just always means
(05:12):
it will. So that's my A man moment, my moment.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yes, And you know, I love what you're doing. What
type of response, like, have you been able to connect
with let's just say, the youth and change their minds
or point them in a different direction, just offering a
different selection and style of gospel music.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it's insane, man. I think that's my secret sauce,
the ability to connect, you know what I'm saying. My
boys shout out to my three big boys. They're in
high school. I have two singers and one junior. They
told me this morning, they was like, Dad, you're not
like a regular dad like everybody. Dad don't got two
million TikTok followers. All my classmates love you. So I
think it's just that ability to be relatable. You know,
(05:52):
Like I told somebody, I'm not trying to reinvent the will.
I'm just trying to put some twenties on it, you know,
Grandmama said she would literally say, woke up this morning
and with my mind stayed on geez all I'm saying
is woke up this morning and I'm blee. And so
it's keeping the message the same but adding a little
flavor to it. Yeah. So, man, I'm excited to see
(06:12):
what God's doing in this generation and not just in
because I think there are two levels of young people.
You got young people, and you know that your high school,
your middle school. I love what I'm saying in them,
but I think there's another demographic that the Lord's been
laying on my heart, the young at heart. And you know,
some of us are forty, but we're still twenty five
thirty and we still got good energy. And it's like
(06:33):
now that we've hit forty, it's almost like now we
got the energy and the maturity and so now you're
kind of in a different mind space. So what I'm
seeing at our church now and you're gonna like this.
I think this past Sunday, over twenty one thousand people
were online, four thousand people at church. The numbers are
through the roof, and that's proven to us that people
(06:53):
don't have a problem with God, they just have frustrations
with church, so we can just be God called us
to be. We continue to make a difference. Yes, I
love that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, And you know, speaking on the album Confettian Conspiracy,
I feel like that's a real strong title. You know,
tells me a little bit about you know, the Convetti
and the conspiracy and how that plays a role in
your life and how that album name title came to.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I'm gonna do a test on you, and let's see
if you pass the test. Okay, So when you win
a championship, what falls? All right? When there's drama, what
do they call it a conspiracy? So for me, in
the last five years, I've only been in gospel music.
This is my fifth year, six year. So in twenty
nineteen I popped on the scene with a song called
big right.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah Big, and so I win New Artists of the Year.
The next three years I went Artists of the Year,
and so people have been telling me, man, I know,
you gotta be happy. This might have been like the
worst last These last four years probably been the worst
four years of my life. Because it's Almo. You pull
a curtain back and meet everybody you wanted to meet
(08:03):
only to find out don't nobody want you? And so
for me, one of the things that we do in gospel,
one of the things we do in church, because people
go through hell in church and don't even talk about
it until it's over. Then they want to testify. And
so for me, what I realized was, Mike, there are
people out there who know what it's like to deal
with public wins and private losses, that ambiguity of being
(08:26):
at I heart and everybody thinking your life perfect because
they hear you every day but don't understand you screaming
on the inside. And so for me, Man, I wanted
to do an album that spoke to that, you know,
album that really spoke to what I call the backside
the front side of my hand. If you look at it,
it has my fingerprints, the backside has my ethnicity. And sadly,
(08:47):
a lot of people want your wind but they don't
want the backside of those winds that you cannot have
mountains if there aren't any valleys. So for me, this album, Man,
it blew my mind. I didn't know how people were
going to receive it. Big you can sing in church,
I got it. It's like, oh, that's my joint. God
is amazing. That's oh. It made me cry. This joint
right here, man's blowing my mind. Like God showing out
(09:10):
is trending as we speak. By its trending as we speak.
I did one song I just knew they was gonna
put me out of gospel for a called Ninjas and
then just go to bless the letter, Hey Ninja block me,
and they said, well, we knew what you yeah, right right,
So no, it's just I like taking risks, you know,
and if you're gonna reach that generation. What I'm realizing
(09:30):
is Granddaddy sung of him that said to serve this
present age, if you don't speak that language, you're never
gonna be able to reach them. So I'm excited about
Confetti and Conspiracies, the A Man Mixtape exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And I'm excited about it too, like you said, just
being able to connect with everybody and still you know,
like you said, it still feels good and you and
it's positive and everybody can sing along, dance and do
whatever they want to do on TikTok. So I definitely
love what you are bringing, what you have brought some
time here so so far in the game. Now you've
been called the King of urban inspiration. How do you
(10:03):
find define urban inspiration in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Ah, that's a loaded question. I would call urban inspiration
it's music that uplift, literally, music that uplifts God lifts
my spirit outside of the four walls of the church. Okay,
that's what I would call urban inspiration. I think there
are certain songs that are made for Sunday morning. Then
(10:27):
there are certain songs that are made for life, and
so I'm trying to create life music. I think if
we look at the Cross, you got the vertical relationship,
but you got the horizontal relationship. So to me, true
gospel is that vertical relationship, telling God, thank you, how
much you mean to me. You're worthy, nobody like you.
But I think a lot of times in gospel we
miss the vertical. Like if I'm headed to if I
(10:47):
just got a new job, like most of us, gonna
turn on some Drake or turn on some Sissa, turn
on some Chris Brown. I want some music that I
can turn on to get lit or to celebrate. But
I don't have to kill my spirit, you know. So
one of the songs that's going by at right now,
like God be showing now you don't play about me.
So everybody and their mama exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Through it, and it's like, yeah, yes, So I try
to write music when I say urban inspiration, if people
aren't saying in that everyday language, I'm not gonna sing it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So I almost wrote clock that, but somebody beat me
to it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, because I can see it too, Okay. And so
you know, what is one misconception that people have about
you as a pastor and as an artist?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Ah, one misconception. I probably should have had them answer
that one. What's one misconception that people have.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
About What's something that maybe people would be surprised, like
meeting you?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know outside I don't like crowds.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You don't like crowds.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm pretty much an open book, you know. So I've
always shared my raffle with anxiety and depression. I've always
kind of shared how I never kind of felt good enough,
you know, you know how that is. I was never
really the cute guy to find out none of that stuff.
So for me, I think one of the biggest misconceptions.
We went to the BJCC, and that sees how many
people twenty so it's completely packed. No seats left in
(12:17):
the place right, it's fifteen twenty thousand seats. It's crazy,
and I'm in the back. Like, as long as I'm
doing my part, I'm good. But if I had to
be in it, so for me, I'm a hobbit, like
believe it or not, I love to do this interview
and then once I'm done, I just want to go
hang with the boys, play PlayStation watch, Netflix laughs. Do
(12:38):
this with my thumb scroll up. So most people would
think I'm very outgoing because I'm so silly and so funny,
but I think at the core of who I am,
I just like to chill and give me some give
me some spicy thirydos and some notch your cheese from
the gas station.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I'm good, okay, and I feel y'all have a lot
of us though with those big personality it's low key.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Is like I'd rather be my mondsel. But I can
do it. It takes so much. It takes so because
we have to always be on. So you can be
sitting there like this and he exactly, I feel you.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And so again, the forty of Stellar Awards are this weekend.
What are you know some things that you are maybe
looking forward to the most one thing you looking for
and CC we mentioned Yilanda Adams, anybody in particular, or.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I am I am most forward. I am most looking
forward to the forty of Stellar Awards to see how
they choose to honor Don Jackson, you know, the founder
of the of the founder of the Stellar Awards, Don Jackson.
So I think I'm in this unique seat that I'm
an artist on one hand, but I'm a pastor on
the other hand. So for me, I think the artists
(13:47):
are going to see a it's forty years worth of
awards show. The pastor and the entrepreneur in me sees
forty years worth of struggle, like you know that, like
if we how long have you been doing this? How
long have you been doing years? So they're gonna be like, girl,
happy anniversary, tinyea is. They don't know who you don't
have to deal with. They don't know how many times
you got a letter saying you was from it you
left for me thinking it was yours, and you never
(14:09):
hear from people. So for me, forty years worth of struggle.
I sat with him one day and he told me
the story. He said, Man, one of my friends was
Don Cornelias. He said, so Don Cornelius is doing the
Soul Trains, and I realized we had nothing for gospel.
So we went and I had to knock on doors
to get advertised. So to me to still be standing
(14:31):
forty years later, like, what's crazy is I think they
I was one. So my entire life, he's been fighting
to keep something alive. And here's what's crazy that nobody
will know him over. That's what people need to preach about.
He fought for forty years so other folks can get famous.
That's crazy. No one person on the street if he
(14:52):
walked over and said, oh, that's so and so. But
they'll know you're London Adams, they'll know Kirk Franklin, they'll
know Tamla Man. Without Don Jackson, they would not know
any of us because there was no platform on television
that would celebrate us, you know. So I'm eager to
see how they honor him. A part of my performance,
we're closing the show out, So part of my performance,
(15:13):
we're doing this little old to him that I think
he's gonna really like. So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I love that and we can't wait to see it.
We can't wait to see what's next for you in general.
Do you have any goals or anything outside of what
we talked about for us to look forward to coming
soon or yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I think my goal in this next season is to
model what collaboration really looks like. Okay, I believe, especially
in the gospel music space, there's this whole argument now
it's gospel dead, it's gospel dead, it's just nothing's happening
over there. I don't believe gospel's dead. I don't believe
(15:50):
gospel is quiet. I believe gospel is muted. I believe
there's a way larger agenda happening right now. If you
think about it, back in the day, you had the
Stell Awards, you had to celebration of gospel, you had
all of these events, Bobby Jones, you had all these things.
There are no avenues, there are no venues. There aren't
many people like you who will let us come to
a mega platform like this and share our faith. So
(16:12):
for me, I was at the BT Awards and that
that's probably was one of the most impactful events I've
had in my life in the last five years. Because
I'm a social hobbit, I'm at the BT Awards. I'm
waiting to get in, so anybody you can think about
it's around me. And for me, my clock is already taken,
like I'm ready to go. And then for and I
(16:34):
don't like name dropping, but for some of the most
famous people to say, hey, man, your TikTok bless me,
I'm looking like whoa or a female rapper who's on
the top of a game right out and say best
on Mike and I look like, hey, he's like, oh
my child love a And I'm like, what you know?
And so for me, it gave me the motivation to say, hey,
keep doing what you're doing. So that's my goal. Man,
(16:54):
Kysanat inspired me. I'm at the BT Awards. I was
literally standing there watching when they wouldn't let his friend's
child in and I was standing there and heard him say, hey,
if they don't lay him in, I'm leaving. They changed
that room. You know, Kevin Hart said I'm not hosting
if Ky can't come. So Ki got in, and Gospel
we got to start walking in rooms by ourself, you know.
(17:17):
We got to start saying, hey, I'm willing to go,
but can I bring X with me? That's why even
when I'm coming here. I didn't even know if I
had permission to bring artists with me. I just said, hey,
we can ask for forgiveness later. Come on. So I
think if we can model that, we can bigger than
Grammys and bigger than Stellars and bigger than Awards. We'll
set up legacy so my children and have something to
(17:38):
look forward to. And that's the God in you, a man.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
As long as you keep pointing into others and bringing
them on that journey, God is going to continue to
bless you in your journey as well. So it's beautiful again.
I'm so glad to have you here today again this weekend,
nine nominations, we gonna see what happened. I'm claiming all
no and yes, we will be in touch. So thank
you again for joining us.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Thank you so much for having me. If I can
leave a quick word with somebody. There was a man
on the tenth floor of a building. Floors one through
nine weren't gulfed in flames. He looked out the window
and the fire department yelled jump. That man eventually died
in the fire because, like so many of us, he
was afraid of the fire, which was the problem but
also jumping, which was the solution. If you're gonna be
(18:22):
what God called you to be this shit, stop running
from your problems. Jump and watch God catch you.
The Mighty Mail's Podcast is back. I am so excited
to return for a season two of The Moneymail's Podcast.
But we are going to be talking all things life okay. Today,
joining me, I have Pastor Mike Junior, who has really
just been a staple in the gospel community and just
for the culture in general, The Phenomenal Pastor Mike Jr.
(00:22):
I'm so excited that you are in here today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The Energy List fortieth Stellar Awards are this weekend non nominations.
How are you feeling about all of this leading up to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The world Well, first of all, anybody ever called me phenomenal,
I'm either put that in my bio on Instagram today
Pastor Mike Phenomenal Junior. Yes, no, I'm excited to add
it to the name. I'm excited. Man, when anybody thinks
enough of you to vote for you or say hey,
you did a good job this year, it means a lot.
I'm in the only profession where it's almost demonic or
selfish for me to say I want to be the
(00:56):
best and your profession. If you say man, I want
to be the best on their personality in the world,
They're gonna say, girl, go get it. If Lebron said
he want to be the best, he a dog. If
I say I want to be Gracie, that's the problem
with church folks right there. So for me, we did
a lot of put a lot of hard work in
last year a forty five city too, where we partnered
with McDonald's went to forty five cities for absolutely free
(01:17):
to be a blessing in so many communities, and we
put a good body of work together and it just
means so much, not just to me, but like my
guy here too, who traveled the world with me last
year filming. We took a chance to say, hey, I'm
gonna do a music video. You do it. I think
that was his first one ever directing, and he's up
for Music Video of the Year. So for me, in
the words of that beautiful prophet from Cali, it ain't
(01:39):
no fun unless your homies get some. So I'm excited man.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And you already talked about how you just came in
your school started day straight from Birmingham to talk a
little bit about that, because I mean, you know people,
you know, I think it's awesome what you're doing with
the school.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That Yeah, so shout out to rock City. Rock City
Church is my church. Out of school is Rock City Prep.
About four years ago, there was a school in our
city that was about to close. It was a private school,
and we realized a lot of the kids who go
there have some social struggles. They may have been bullied,
may have not like big sessions, big classrooms. So we
stepped out on faith and purchased the school. Uh and
(02:16):
this morning in Birmingham, alabama's their first day of school.
So to get there and it's dope to when I
say it's Rock City Preparatory Christian School. So they come
and we worked out where most of their tuition is
kind of waved and they in uniforms. It's it's incredible. Hey, Mama,
don't want to wake up figure out what to wear
(02:38):
wearing all that. So, yes, it was great to get there. Today.
It's kindergarten through eighth grade. And what we do that's
creative that I love. So our kindergarten and first and
second are in one class. And so the way we
do it is we teach at the highest grade level.
So what's been working for us is when our kids
graduated in the eighth grade, most of them are being
skipped almost a tenth because they're already lead years ahead
(03:01):
of where everybody else says. So I'm excited about it.
I love that. That's good.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Okay, so you have, like we said, you have so
many Stellars already. Does winning still feel the same.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Absolutely. Somebody asked me yesterday, said you ought to be
tired about now. I tell them, the only people who
get tired of winning of the people who feel entitled
and ungrateful. So for me, man, the first the first
four years I was at the Stell Awards, it was
fan voting, so every award was up to the fans.
So up until last year it has not been fan voting.
(03:33):
It's been academy voting. So I've never won a Stell
Award since it's been academy voting. So when it was
up to the fans, they liked your boy. But now
it is up to the academy. That's different. So to me,
to win an award this year would be special because
that would be a body of my peers saying, hey,
you did all right, So.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
That means a lot, which I mean, I get it,
you're being humble, I get it, but come on, now,
out of nine, I'm sure you're gonna take on something. Amen,
that's your biggest stone gap? Ye, what is your amen moment?
Like leading up to the show?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I think my a man moment is, if I'm being honest,
I think it was. I think it was probably twenty
minutes ago. We thought we lost something or left it
at Chipotle, and so we pulled into a parking lot
not too far ago, and we went to the truck.
We started going through the truck. We end up finding it.
And when I looked up, we were across the street
(04:29):
from the venue that the Stell Awards is, and they
have these huge banners up and my picture was one
of the pictures on the banner. And so for me
to see that picture next to a CC and bb
WY is a Yolanda Adams, a Donnie mcclerk like that,
to me is still mind blowing because I'm from Birmingham,
you know, And so from the moment we were raised,
(04:50):
we were told, if you want to make it, go right,
go to Atlanta, go left, go to Nashville. Everybody leaves
Birmingham because we feel like you can't make it from there.
So to not only thrive, I'm in Birmingham to make
it out of Birmingham, but then go back home to Birmingham. See,
it's not like Nashville. The last time I won Artists
of the Year, my mayor shut the airport down, like
we want a national championship. So it just always means
(05:12):
it will. So that's my A man moment, my moment.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yes, And you know, I love what you're doing. What
type of response, like, have you been able to connect
with let's just say, the youth and change their minds
or point them in a different direction, just offering a
different selection and style of gospel music.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it's insane, man. I think that's my secret sauce,
the ability to connect, you know what I'm saying. My
boys shout out to my three big boys. They're in
high school. I have two singers and one junior. They
told me this morning, they was like, Dad, you're not
like a regular dad like everybody. Dad don't got two
million TikTok followers. All my classmates love you. So I
think it's just that ability to be relatable. You know,
(05:52):
Like I told somebody, I'm not trying to reinvent the will.
I'm just trying to put some twenties on it, you know,
Grandmama said she would literally say, woke up this morning
and with my mind stayed on geez all I'm saying
is woke up this morning and I'm blee. And so
it's keeping the message the same but adding a little
flavor to it. Yeah. So, man, I'm excited to see
(06:12):
what God's doing in this generation and not just in
because I think there are two levels of young people.
You got young people, and you know that your high school,
your middle school. I love what I'm saying in them,
but I think there's another demographic that the Lord's been
laying on my heart, the young at heart. And you know,
some of us are forty, but we're still twenty five
thirty and we still got good energy. And it's like
(06:33):
now that we've hit forty, it's almost like now we
got the energy and the maturity and so now you're
kind of in a different mind space. So what I'm
seeing at our church now and you're gonna like this.
I think this past Sunday, over twenty one thousand people
were online, four thousand people at church. The numbers are
through the roof, and that's proven to us that people
(06:53):
don't have a problem with God, they just have frustrations
with church, so we can just be God called us
to be. We continue to make a difference. Yes, I
love that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, And you know, speaking on the album Confettian Conspiracy,
I feel like that's a real strong title. You know,
tells me a little bit about you know, the Convetti
and the conspiracy and how that plays a role in
your life and how that album name title came to.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I'm gonna do a test on you, and let's see
if you pass the test. Okay, So when you win
a championship, what falls? All right? When there's drama, what
do they call it a conspiracy? So for me, in
the last five years, I've only been in gospel music.
This is my fifth year, six year. So in twenty
nineteen I popped on the scene with a song called
big right.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah Big, and so I win New Artists of the Year.
The next three years I went Artists of the Year,
and so people have been telling me, man, I know,
you gotta be happy. This might have been like the
worst last These last four years probably been the worst
four years of my life. Because it's Almo. You pull
a curtain back and meet everybody you wanted to meet
(08:03):
only to find out don't nobody want you? And so
for me, one of the things that we do in gospel,
one of the things we do in church, because people
go through hell in church and don't even talk about
it until it's over. Then they want to testify. And
so for me, what I realized was, Mike, there are
people out there who know what it's like to deal
with public wins and private losses, that ambiguity of being
(08:26):
at I heart and everybody thinking your life perfect because
they hear you every day but don't understand you screaming
on the inside. And so for me, Man, I wanted
to do an album that spoke to that, you know,
album that really spoke to what I call the backside
the front side of my hand. If you look at it,
it has my fingerprints, the backside has my ethnicity. And sadly,
(08:47):
a lot of people want your wind but they don't
want the backside of those winds that you cannot have
mountains if there aren't any valleys. So for me, this album, Man,
it blew my mind. I didn't know how people were
going to receive it. Big you can sing in church,
I got it. It's like, oh, that's my joint. God
is amazing. That's oh. It made me cry. This joint
right here, man's blowing my mind. Like God showing out
(09:10):
is trending as we speak. By its trending as we speak.
I did one song I just knew they was gonna
put me out of gospel for a called Ninjas and
then just go to bless the letter, Hey Ninja block me,
and they said, well, we knew what you yeah, right right,
So no, it's just I like taking risks, you know,
and if you're gonna reach that generation. What I'm realizing
(09:30):
is Granddaddy sung of him that said to serve this
present age, if you don't speak that language, you're never
gonna be able to reach them. So I'm excited about
Confetti and Conspiracies, the A Man Mixtape exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And I'm excited about it too, like you said, just
being able to connect with everybody and still you know,
like you said, it still feels good and you and
it's positive and everybody can sing along, dance and do
whatever they want to do on TikTok. So I definitely
love what you are bringing, what you have brought some
time here so so far in the game. Now you've
been called the King of urban inspiration. How do you
(10:03):
find define urban inspiration in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Ah, that's a loaded question. I would call urban inspiration
it's music that uplift, literally, music that uplifts God lifts
my spirit outside of the four walls of the church. Okay,
that's what I would call urban inspiration. I think there
are certain songs that are made for Sunday morning. Then
(10:27):
there are certain songs that are made for life, and
so I'm trying to create life music. I think if
we look at the Cross, you got the vertical relationship,
but you got the horizontal relationship. So to me, true
gospel is that vertical relationship, telling God, thank you, how
much you mean to me. You're worthy, nobody like you.
But I think a lot of times in gospel we
miss the vertical. Like if I'm headed to if I
(10:47):
just got a new job, like most of us, gonna
turn on some Drake or turn on some Sissa, turn
on some Chris Brown. I want some music that I
can turn on to get lit or to celebrate. But
I don't have to kill my spirit, you know. So
one of the songs that's going by at right now,
like God be showing now you don't play about me.
So everybody and their mama exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Through it, and it's like, yeah, yes, So I try
to write music when I say urban inspiration, if people
aren't saying in that everyday language, I'm not gonna sing it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So I almost wrote clock that, but somebody beat me
to it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, because I can see it too, Okay. And so
you know, what is one misconception that people have about
you as a pastor and as an artist?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Ah, one misconception. I probably should have had them answer
that one. What's one misconception that people have.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
About What's something that maybe people would be surprised, like
meeting you?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know outside I don't like crowds.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You don't like crowds.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm pretty much an open book, you know. So I've
always shared my raffle with anxiety and depression. I've always
kind of shared how I never kind of felt good enough,
you know, you know how that is. I was never
really the cute guy to find out none of that stuff.
So for me, I think one of the biggest misconceptions.
We went to the BJCC, and that sees how many
people twenty so it's completely packed. No seats left in
(12:17):
the place right, it's fifteen twenty thousand seats. It's crazy,
and I'm in the back. Like, as long as I'm
doing my part, I'm good. But if I had to
be in it, so for me, I'm a hobbit, like
believe it or not, I love to do this interview
and then once I'm done, I just want to go
hang with the boys, play PlayStation watch, Netflix laughs. Do
(12:38):
this with my thumb scroll up. So most people would
think I'm very outgoing because I'm so silly and so funny,
but I think at the core of who I am,
I just like to chill and give me some give
me some spicy thirydos and some notch your cheese from
the gas station.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I'm good, okay, and I feel y'all have a lot
of us though with those big personality it's low key.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Is like I'd rather be my mondsel. But I can
do it. It takes so much. It takes so because
we have to always be on. So you can be
sitting there like this and he exactly, I feel you.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And so again, the forty of Stellar Awards are this weekend.
What are you know some things that you are maybe
looking forward to the most one thing you looking for
and CC we mentioned Yilanda Adams, anybody in particular, or.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I am I am most forward. I am most looking
forward to the forty of Stellar Awards to see how
they choose to honor Don Jackson, you know, the founder
of the of the founder of the Stellar Awards, Don Jackson.
So I think I'm in this unique seat that I'm
an artist on one hand, but I'm a pastor on
the other hand. So for me, I think the artists
(13:47):
are going to see a it's forty years worth of
awards show. The pastor and the entrepreneur in me sees
forty years worth of struggle, like you know that, like
if we how long have you been doing this? How
long have you been doing years? So they're gonna be like, girl,
happy anniversary, tinyea is. They don't know who you don't
have to deal with. They don't know how many times
you got a letter saying you was from it you
left for me thinking it was yours, and you never
(14:09):
hear from people. So for me, forty years worth of struggle.
I sat with him one day and he told me
the story. He said, Man, one of my friends was
Don Cornelias. He said, so Don Cornelius is doing the
Soul Trains, and I realized we had nothing for gospel.
So we went and I had to knock on doors
to get advertised. So to me to still be standing
(14:31):
forty years later, like, what's crazy is I think they
I was one. So my entire life, he's been fighting
to keep something alive. And here's what's crazy that nobody
will know him over. That's what people need to preach about.
He fought for forty years so other folks can get famous.
That's crazy. No one person on the street if he
(14:52):
walked over and said, oh, that's so and so. But
they'll know you're London Adams, they'll know Kirk Franklin, they'll
know Tamla Man. Without Don Jackson, they would not know
any of us because there was no platform on television
that would celebrate us, you know. So I'm eager to
see how they honor him. A part of my performance,
we're closing the show out, So part of my performance,
(15:13):
we're doing this little old to him that I think
he's gonna really like. So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I love that and we can't wait to see it.
We can't wait to see what's next for you in general.
Do you have any goals or anything outside of what
we talked about for us to look forward to coming
soon or yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I think my goal in this next season is to
model what collaboration really looks like. Okay, I believe, especially
in the gospel music space, there's this whole argument now
it's gospel dead, it's gospel dead, it's just nothing's happening
over there. I don't believe gospel's dead. I don't believe
(15:50):
gospel is quiet. I believe gospel is muted. I believe
there's a way larger agenda happening right now. If you
think about it, back in the day, you had the
Stell Awards, you had to celebration of gospel, you had
all of these events, Bobby Jones, you had all these things.
There are no avenues, there are no venues. There aren't
many people like you who will let us come to
a mega platform like this and share our faith. So
(16:12):
for me, I was at the BT Awards and that
that's probably was one of the most impactful events I've
had in my life in the last five years. Because
I'm a social hobbit, I'm at the BT Awards. I'm
waiting to get in, so anybody you can think about
it's around me. And for me, my clock is already taken,
like I'm ready to go. And then for and I
(16:34):
don't like name dropping, but for some of the most
famous people to say, hey, man, your TikTok bless me,
I'm looking like whoa or a female rapper who's on
the top of a game right out and say best
on Mike and I look like, hey, he's like, oh
my child love a And I'm like, what you know?
And so for me, it gave me the motivation to say, hey,
keep doing what you're doing. So that's my goal. Man,
(16:54):
Kysanat inspired me. I'm at the BT Awards. I was
literally standing there watching when they wouldn't let his friend's
child in and I was standing there and heard him say, hey,
if they don't lay him in, I'm leaving. They changed
that room. You know, Kevin Hart said I'm not hosting
if Ky can't come. So Ki got in, and Gospel
we got to start walking in rooms by ourself, you know.
(17:17):
We got to start saying, hey, I'm willing to go,
but can I bring X with me? That's why even
when I'm coming here. I didn't even know if I
had permission to bring artists with me. I just said, hey,
we can ask for forgiveness later. Come on. So I
think if we can model that, we can bigger than
Grammys and bigger than Stellars and bigger than Awards. We'll
set up legacy so my children and have something to
(17:38):
look forward to. And that's the God in you, a man.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
As long as you keep pointing into others and bringing
them on that journey, God is going to continue to
bless you in your journey as well. So it's beautiful again.
I'm so glad to have you here today again this weekend,
nine nominations, we gonna see what happened. I'm claiming all
no and yes, we will be in touch. So thank
you again for joining us.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Thank you so much for having me. If I can
leave a quick word with somebody. There was a man
on the tenth floor of a building. Floors one through
nine weren't gulfed in flames. He looked out the window
and the fire department yelled jump. That man eventually died
in the fire because, like so many of us, he
was afraid of the fire, which was the problem but
also jumping, which was the solution. If you're gonna be
(18:22):
what God called you to be this shit, stop running
from your problems. Jump and watch God catch you.
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