Lecrea And Andy Mineo, Top Ten Christian Rappers, Come To The NJ Shore

For decades, The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA) has presented summer Saturday night family entertainment featuring old favorites in many popular genres, tribute bands, and occasional Christian rock. But this year, OGCMA is making a bold, unprecedented choice in presenting the first Christian rap artists ever to appear in The Great Auditorium. Two of the most popular, hit-making, award-winning rap artists, Lecrae and Andy Mineo, will strut their stuff there on Saturday, July 28, at 7:00 pm. The Auditorium is located at Pilgrim and Ocean Pathways in Ocean Grove, NJ. VIP tickets, which include seating in the first two rows, a meet-and-greet with the artists, and autographed photos are $49. Reserved tickets are $35 and $30; general admission (purchased at the door) is $20. The Auditorium is located at Pilgrim and Ocean Pathways in Ocean Grove, NJ. All facilities are handicapped accessible. Order tickets by phone at 800-590-4064 or online at www.oceangrove.org.

About Christian Rap
If you're not into rap/hip-hop music because you associate it with "gangsta" performers, lots of obscenity, outright misogyny, and the gratuitous presence of scantily-dressed women dancing on polls, Christian rap is gonna change your mind big time. First, you should know that Christian rap - originally called Gospel rap and also known as Christian hip-hop and holy hip-hop - first emerged in 1982 as a sub-genre of "regular" rap; it was pretty small and very underground. Like "traditional" rap, a lot of Christian rap, especially in music videos, rails against racial and economic disparity. But it does so with faith-based lyrics and overall messages of positive personal and social change based on Christian strength and standards. For years, Christian rap, which is primarily African-American, like Christian rock, which is primarily white, was viewed with disdain by their mainstream counterparts as unimportant imitations with a religious agenda. However, as both styles have grown with excellent talent and racial diversity, they are now properly recognized, even embraced, as genuine and empowering. And the two Christian rap artists coming to OGCMA are at the top of the Top Ten in their large and ever-expanding category.

About Lecrae
An African-American, Lecrae DeVaughn Moore, known professionally as Lecrae, is considered the #1 Christian hip-hop recording artist and songwriter. He's also a record producer and actor. He was raised by his single mother (and maternal grandmother) in the hopeless, drug/gang/poverty-filled ghettos of Houston, Dallas, San Diego, and Denver. Growing up, his environment, being fatherless, and enduring sexual abuse by a baby sitter, sent him full-charge into a youth of drugs, gangs, crime - and despair. His religious grandmother sometimes got him to church, but it didn't even begin to stick. Although he became interested and somewhat active in music from the age of 11 (rap stars were his heroes), it took until he was 17 and had suffered incarceration and a serious car accident, that the influence of a former high school friend who took him to Bible-study classes turned him around. He completed his college education at the University of North Texas, started performing at juvenile detention centers, and came to believe he could "offer hope and encouragement" through his music and creative social activism.

Lecrae made a conscious decision to commit his life to Christ, but regards himself as an artist, not a preacher. As such he began living his faith by becoming a musical entrepreneur, co-founding Reach Records at age 25 (through which he released his first album, Real Talk) and later ReachLife Ministries, a non-profit that lasted ten years, which equipped local Christian leaders with tools, media, curriculum and conferences based on Biblical teachings yet relevant to hip-hop culture.

Surging or insurgent - depending on your point of view - Lecrae is blessed with a visionary verbal arsenal that has piloted a unique career trajectory defying the typical hip hop storyline. His incredible journey includes two Grammys, a history-making #1 album with 2014's masterful Anomaly (topped multiple categories, including the Billboard 200 and is RIAA Gold certified), headlining the 2016 "Destination Tour," reeling off a New York Times Bestseller (2017's riveting memoir Unashamed), and a breakthrough spoken word performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards last fall that had the twittersphere heralding his "Arrival" as a truth-telling firebrand. BET hailed it as an "epic poem of necessary affirmations." Such authenticity has been the hallmark of his seven studio albums and multiple mixtapes, now nearing the two million mark in sales, with the acclaimed artist winning a Billboard Music Award, multiple BET, Soul Train, and Dove awards, and even an Honorary Doctorate of Music. He is now partnered with Columbia Records (expanding his creative outreach). Lecrae is currently working on a new album, as well as preparing for his 2018 "Better Late Than Never Tour" with Andy Mineo and others.

About Andy Mineo
The Italian-American and Syracuse, New York native Andy Mineo is a unique Christian hip-hop artist and producer, as well as a TV and music video director, now based in New York City. His faith came early in life: during the summer after 7th grade he went to a Christian camp where his sister was working as a counselor, was exposed to the gospel, and formally converted. Mineo had an upbringing very similar to Lecrae's: single mom, mostly-absent father, poor, and emotionally insecure. By the time he entered high school he'd lost his Christian ties and drifted from his faith, but music kept him largely grounded. Then, during his first year at the City College of New York (CCNY), Mineo met the music producer Alex Medina and through him the urban evangelism project T.R.U.C.E. Mineo had already been in a rap group that often opened for major acts, along with members of the underground scene. But it was hearing the song "Price Tag" by Da'T.R.U.T.H. that motivated Mineo to rededicate his life to Christ.

Today he is regarded by many in the industry as the #2 Christian hip hop artist, best known for his reflective and often very personal lyrics. His second album, Uncomfortable, became the #1 independent record in the country and garnered #3 and #10 positions on Billboard's Hip Hop and Top 200 album charts respectively. Mineo headlined the "Uncomfortable Tour," a 52-city tour which sold out legendary venues across America and Europe. He has appeared on Sirius XM's Sway In The Morning, MTV, and his colossal hit "You Can't Stop Me" won an ESPN Whammy Award for MLB's Top Walk Up Song. Andy Mineo carries his music beyond performance through scripting, producing and directing many of his own music videos. He also created a three-season web series on YouTube called Saturday Morning Car-Tunez, which garnered over one million views and gave fans a glimpse into his creative process and personal life. Beyond the critical adulation, he is a born communicator who has become a social media juggernaut with an audience of over 1.3 million and growing. Andy Mineo has collaborated with Lecrae, both on records and in performance, and is the co-headliner with him on the upcoming "Better Late Than Never Tour," which launches in September.

To post a comment, you must register and login.