Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
Christian Hip-Hop/Reggae Artist Steven Malcolm, Jesus Is ‘The Lord of My Life’

Christian Hip-Hop/Reggae Artist Steven Malcolm, Jesus Is ‘The Lord of My Life’

Last updated on: July 2, 2019 at 1:12 pm by Kate O'Hare

Christian Hip-Hop/Reggae Artist Steven Malcolm, Jesus Is ‘The Lord of My Life’ 2019-07-02T13:12:33-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Steven Malcolm/Curb|Word Entertainment

The son of drug dealer and an alcoholic, Steven Malcolm loved basketball, girls and Snoop Dogg, and slid by on barely-good-enough grades in high school in western Michigan. In 2010, the college freshman — his father long gone, and his mother having moved away — walked into a hip-hop worship service, and his life changed forever.

Over lunch in a Hollywood restaurant, he recalls, “I was just a normal dude. I played basketball, and I would go out on the weekend, party. I was the party/athlete guy. Didn’t have no kids. I wasn’t in and out of jail, wasn’t selling dope. I wasn’t in no gang. Me, I was like, ‘I’m a good guy. I’m going to Heaven. I’m good.’

“Then I walked into this hip-hop church, and it was literally the first service that I actually heard and paid attention to in my life. The topic was about sin, but there’s a difference between what’s good on this earth and what’s good from the perspective of the Lord. That’s what really convicted me.

“All this time, I’m like, ‘Man, I’m good. I believe in Christ, so I’m good. I’m in there.’ But I’m not walking in the real world of my Creator. Jesus became more than just my Savior — that I didn’t want to go to Hell — but he became the Lord of my life. I realized that, and it convicted me, and I found purpose in that.

“My story about growing up fatherless — I was always looking for a sense of purpose, a sense of identity. When you grow up without a dad, it’s like, ‘Man, who’s my hero? Who do I want to be like?’ But that’s gone, so God just became that owner. There’s a male figure that died and loves me, so I just accepted it.”

Malcolm recently released a new album called under the 4 Against 5 imprint, part of Curb/Word Entertainment, called The Second City (the nickname for Montego Bay, Jamaica, where his father came from). Have a listen:

Malcolm says he’s gotten good response from reggae, hip-hop and Christian-pop fans alike.

“You wouldn’t necessarily know it’s Christian ’til you listen to the lyrics,” he says, “til you dissect the lyrics, even on the reggae aspect of things. Reggae music, essentially, is always uplifting, peaceful, unity-type talk. What I actually did with this project, finally, is get people to connect the dots that I’m Jamaican, and I’m not just doing reggae music to do reggae music.”

After his personal revelation, Malcolm turned his musical talents to a higher purpose.

“I used to rap for fun,” he says. “I always had the talent to rap. But, then in 2010, I went to a hip-hop church, and that’s where I gave my life to Jesus.

“After a year of just basically getting rooted and knowing what it looks like to really be a Christ follower, my pastor was like, ‘Yo, how do you want to serve the church?’ I was like, ‘I’ll help on the worship team and read worship.’ At the hip-hop church, our worshiping is hip-hop. That’s where I learned the foundation of leading worship.

“We would take songs, as you hear, Good Love or Even Louder, that’s the kind of music we would do at my church every weekend. That’s where I would write music, where I’d perform my covers of praise songs. That’s where that comes from. Then, me being Jamaican, I just always listened to reggae music. It’s just full circle.”

Some of Malcolm’s old friends didn’t quite buy his transformation at first.

“A couple of my homies,” he says, ” they were let down. They were upset. Or I stopped hanging out with them, so they would say, ‘You’re fake now.’ It’s just like, ‘Nah.’ But, now they understand. Now, I’m the guy that gets the call when they’re struggling, or they need advice.

“It was growth. I see the growth from me becoming a man, because of what I chased. Then, a lot of my friends stayed stagnant. But it’s cool.”

In an homage to Malcolm’s Jamaican roots, here’s his rendition of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song:

Asked what he’d like people to take away from his music, Malcolm — who just got married last August — says, “I honestly hope people just get inspired. There’s something special that comes with somebody that’s talking about something real. When people rap about, ‘I got this. I got that,’ it’s like, ‘No, you don’t.’

“So, go to rapping about stuff that I actually live about, stuff that I’ve experienced, not only just Christianity stuff, but life stuff. Life stuff that has taught me lessons that are just on truth. There’s beauty in speaking truth that just … yeah, man.

“If you’re looking for your purpose, if you’re looking for your identity, if you want to feel something, if you want to feel complete … you’re created. Your Creator is the one who knows your purpose.”

As for his contemporaries that are “spiritual but not religious,” Malcolm says, “I just tell them, ‘Yo, that’s not the way to go, man. You don’t have to say you’re religious to love your wife or to love a friend. But, just know that I’m in love with the person who created me, which is the Lord, and I believe in the Scripture.'”

Click here for Malcolm’s official site. He has upcoming tour dates in May; click here for those.

Image: Curb|Word Entertainment

Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe to all that I write at Authory.com/KateOHare.

And, head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog, and our YouTube channel.

About Kate O'Hare

Based in Los Angeles, Kate O'Hare is a recovering entertainment journalist, social-media manager for Catholic production company Family Theater Productions and a screenwriter. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

April 20, 2019

'The Beverly Hills Dog Show': The Spirit of Dogs (and People) for Easter

Next Post

April 30, 2019 'The Chosen': Crowdfunded Series Takes a Very Human View of Those Who Met Christ

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz