Dee-1 Exclusive: Christian Rapper Talks New EP, Transitioning From Middle School Teacher to Hip Hopper
It isn't every day that a middle school teacher walks away from their career to pursue hip-hop aspirations, but Dee-1 is following his God-given purpose and is allowing the world to hear a glimpse of that in his latest EP 3's Up.
Dee-1, the 29-year-old Christian rapper born David Augustine Jr., became a middle school teacher to pay back his student loans and change children's lives in the process. The New Orleans native soon realized that his students cared more about studying rappers' lyrics than doing their homework and decided that he would seriously pursue the passion for rapping that he had been honing since college.
During the day, David would help shape young minds in a classroom setting, while he would transform into Dee-1 to perform his latest lyrics at night. After two years of being called "Mr. Augustine" by students in the classroom, the educator shifted gears by transforming his night time rap hobby into a full-time career.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I'm at my best whenever I'm fully focused on fulfilling my God-given purpose. If God told me to do this then it doesn't matter what the rest of the world says, I'm going to do it," Dee-1 told The Christian Post. "That's exactly what that decision was because I had never gotten paid for doing a show when I walked away from teaching. So I walked away from stability, from a salary, to an industry where I've never gotten compensated."
With a mission to restore balance to the hip-hop community and inspire people with profanity-free lyrics, Dee-1 is educating people in a different way. Now, he's letting people know about the good news of Jesus Christ and that the Christian faith can be in your life.
Although he's made a name for himself with 10 mixtapes under his belt, Dee-1 has raised the stakes with his latest EP, 3's Up. The six-track record feels different for the rapper who is now being backed by RCA Inspiration and hoping people walk away inspired after purchasing the EP that touches on themes of being real, righteous and relevant.
The rapper insists these three things are a universal theme that the younger generation can look to in order to navigate a world filled with mixed messages pumped out by the entertainment industry.
"There's a lot of stuff in the media and just the entertainment business that we are presented with nowadays. I had to live enough to realize that only a few things really matter in life," he told CP. "For me, wanting to be real, wanting to be righteous and wanting to be relevant came up in my professional life, in my educational endeavours as a student, but then also when I was a teacher, in my personal life, in my family life. So I was like wow this is a universal principal."
It is with those principals that Dee-1 touches on real-life stories of tragedy in songs on the EP like "My Student Got Murdered" where he knew both the victim and the person who pulled the trigger. In "I'm Not Perfect," he proudly proclaims "I'm A Christian" in the hook of the song that speaks about trying to live righteously despite his imperfections, struggles and temptations.
While the rapper is not compromising his faith, he is living proof that young people can be saved, live for God and still enjoy life.
"I'm friends with celebrities, I get to go to cool events, I get to travel, I get to write and perform music for a living. At the same time, I don't have to glorify negativity," Dee-1 insisted to CP. "I don't have to boast any of those false things up."
The New Orleans native feels liberated when he tells these stories, and seeks to impact others with his personal records. Some of Dee-1's peers in the rap game, like Compton, California, native Kendrick Lamar, proclaim their Christianity while mixing rhymes with profane tales from their lives that some believers argue isn't beneficial to the kingdom of God.
However, Dee-1 does not hesitate to make his stance in the debate clear while explaining his reasons for staying away from writing profanity-laced lyrics.
"I think that the basis of that debate for me starts with what matters more: Is it your personal walk with God or is it acceptance by the industry standards and then wanting to squeeze in a godly walk or a godly message? I think when your personal conviction with having a walk with God precedes your desire to fit into the industry, then those decisions will get made because of your personal desire to please God," he told CP.
The rapper has made the conscious decision to please God by purposely telling stories about real-life struggles without glorifying any sinful nature just to sell records and capture the ears of unsaved listeners.
"Even if there's certain things I'm struggling with, I don't want to glorify it with anything negative in my life. Now as I go into the industry, I'm not going to compromise any of those principals that I had as my standards of living as a man," Dee-1 revealed to CP. "A lot of times you have people who get into the industry and try to find themselves while immersed in the industry. For me, finding myself preceded getting into the industry."
The rapper's foundation in his faith was built in college when his girlfriend of five years cheated on him, one of his best friends was murdered, and his hometown of New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina all around the same time. Now that his faith has grown, he is seeking to enlighten those who will lend an ear to the vivid rhymes featured on his EP 3's Up.
Although paying for a record may not appeal to those who can easily access music in other ways, Dee-1 stressed the importance of doing so to bring about change.
"If anybody knows the type of music that I have waiting for them in those six songs, they'd be more than happy to purchase it," he said. "We say we want a change in the content, so we have to literally support the people who are bringing about that change. We have to support those change agents. It's the price of a happy meal, literally, but it's going to feed your soul."
Dee-1's 3's Up was released Feb. 17 and is available wherever digital albums are sold. For more information about the rapper, please visit http://dee1music.com.
