Beats By The Pound: Exclusive Interview with Tee-Wyla
By Konviction: Music Editor and Artist on Triumfant Muzik
What’s good again people of God? Comin’ at cha once more, via cyberspace live from destinations near and far, it’s ya family, ya brother with the same Daddy (God) but a different mother, Konviction! God is Omnipotent and always on the throne! HALLELUJAH HE IS! Like always, in giving Him all of the glory, honor, and all of the praise, as He has blessed all of us truly including you the reader, by allowing us to cross paths with the anointing and sincerity found in none other than the homey Tee-wyla from Stylwyld Music. Now before you ask yourself, who is he, consider the amount of Christian hip-hop joints he has had you banging through your speakers, by working with artist such as Richie Righteous, Lavoisier, Phanatik, Young Joshua, R-Swift, Seda, Eric Cross, among others. Now that we have done the particulars, check out our discussion. A Classic with a capital C fasho:
Konviction: To begin, can you tells us what your life was like before coming to Christ, and specifically, how it has changed since your salvation?
Tee-wyla: Yo, honestly, you can say that I am the prodigal son. My parents, God Bless them, were church planters during my childhood, both my mom and my older brother were choir directors also. I had a very strong understanding of who God was and how His house functioned. The problem was, for whatever reason, not enough attention was given me as an individual. So I found myself searching, seeking for an outlet to express my feelings. An outlet I found in graffiti, which eventually would gravitate into full blown illegal activities. “I had the overwhelming desire to get into mischief at all cost and would sneak out of the house to fulfill my graffiti addiction and my friends at the time were always there for me. It was a false sense of family. In hindsight, I realize that there was truly an active spirit force at work, working endlessly to prevent me from my God-given destiny! Homey that’s why I stand on Romans 8:18, and it is my favorite passage of scripture, because I know the meaning through
experience. Yet, it is those experiences, the ones outside of the Kinigdom life, that God has used to prepare me to minister effectively to win souls for the Kingdom, and to be effective in every phase of my life. It took a period of time, but God, as always, was able to bring me out!
K: Moving in a different direction, in your opinion, what purpose should Christian rap serve? Is it primarily to evangelize, exhort, or otherwise? If you could change or add to the ministry of Urban Gospel in any way, what would that be?
T: Urban Gospel/Christian, being an extension of the Kingdom of God, should conform to the vision of the five fold ministry which God have to the Apostle Paul through scripture. As a result, some should be given, as ministers to teach, others to evangelize, others still to pastor, others to apostleship, and some to prophesy. From the perspective of a minister, I do not feel compelled to change the ministry per se, but rather expand its boundaries through creativity and the inspiration God the Creator has given me. We can do this by pushing the envelope and expanding our genre. While we have seen recent changes, over the previous twenty or so years the church and gospel community in general had not supported the use of urban gospel music as a evangelical tool. As a result, a generation of youth was left uncovered. As an example of this, one of the things that Stylwyld Music is doing is taking steps to create Christian Music for the Baltimore club music scene. Some mixtapes are forthcoming!
K: As a producer, is there a creative formula, strategy if you will, that you prefer to use when crafting Kingdom Music? Are there certain techniques, instruments, or genre of music that provide you inspiration?
T: Honestly, bro, I use everything. I use it all. But for me, it seems like the mistakes end up making the tightest music. I do like and will use sampling; however, I will never use a sample that I cannot legally clear. Furthermore, my preference is live instrumentation. I personally play the drums, the keyboard, some guitar, and a little violin has recently been added to the repertoire. If I can’t play it, I’ll find someone who will!
K: As a Christian first and as a producer second, what is your opinion of Christian musicians working with and creating secular music? Are they simply making a living, assisting the enemy in thwarting God’s plan, or otherwise? Please explain.T: Personally, I find your question to be a bit extreme. Let me explain. When I was first introduced to musicians who played with the church, and toured with non-christian or secular artist, I felt that it was wrong of them to do so. But, then, I found myself using grace, because, for some people, music is how they make a living and this is truly all they know. Besides, it is truly not my place to correct or hinder but God’s alone. In fact, I have come to know some musicians who do both and it has been revealed to me that God has positioned them to minister in these arenas. We truly don’t know what happens behind closed doors, and only God’s angels can separate the chaff from the wheat!
K: What words of wisdom would you give to an aspiring producer of Christian music? How do you see your genre changing over the next few years and why?
T: I think the advent of the internet, while it has certainly helped level the playing field for independent artist, it also has given us the false perception that we can readily attain wisdom that truly will only come with experience in certain areas, and music production is one of those areas. You gotta put in work to gain wisdom in production, period! To be real, I don’t really feel qualified to give tips yet, as I am still new at this thing and far from a veteran producer. However, if someone were to approach me directly, I would do the best I could with the limited knowledge I possess to give them what little wisdom I have accumulated at this point in my ministry. And things that I don’t know, which are many, I would know who to go to obtain that info.
K: What do you say to those who fail to accept christian hip-hop as legitimate ministry and effective means of promoting the agenda in Christ? What if anything, can we do to bridge the gap that exists between traditional and urban ministry?
T: Times are changing, and have been changing slowly now, for quite some time. We have to grow to accept the fact that, the gospel is the gospel, so long as it conforms to the standard given by Christ. I sincerely thank the Lord for visionary ministries like the Elements Church or the Crossover Church that have been grinding tirelessly to save this generation.
K: Tell us in depth about the Illsong Mixtape, how it came to pass, and what did you grasp from the experience?
T: My two year old son, Judah, was born with a congenital heart defect, and told he had no chance to live. As a father, I was crushed, understandably so and as a result found myself entering into the most intense worship and devotion period of life. As I continued to grow in worship and meditation, I felt as though I couldn’t find music to match the intensity of my worship. I was truly engaged in warfare for my son’s life. It was around this time that I met T-wyse, and our meeting was both purposeful and powerful. Through a period of roughly a year and a half, full of phone discussions, video chats, prayer, discipleship, and fellowship, the project, the illsong mixtape, was released. Actually, we didn’t anticipate the response we received. In less than a week, we received over 4,000 downloads from the dasouth.com alone! Precisely seven days later, we received an email from the attorneys at EMI Music. Apparently, they were under the impression that we were selling the project! It was a very serious email, to say the least. Our express purpose for the mixtape itself, to be clear as crystal, was to introduce christian hip-hop to the intense worship style that Hillsong provides. While we will not stop doing these mixtapes, we have altered our approach, based upon the legal feedback received and our experience with EMI and larger ministries.
K: Any last encouraging words? Where can the people reach you? How can artists or ministers of music reach out to you?
T: For artist seeking production, please check me out at www.soundcloud.con/stylwyldmusic. For additional information regarding Stylwyld Music, including booking, engagements, etc, please contact us at justadvocatemgt@gmail.com, or jtoala1@gmail.com. We appreciate your support as we strive to influence Kingdom music and culture!
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