Disciples of Christ were an American

Christian hip hop Christian hip-hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip-hop or holy hip-hop) is a cross-genre of contemporary Christian music and hip-hop. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United State ...

group that originated in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, in the early 1990s. They released three studio albums on Star Song Records from 1991 to 1994. The group later formed their own record label, We are One/Throne Room Records, and released an extended play in 1998 and a fourth studio album in 2003. Alton Hood and Michael Brown of the group formed Nimisilla Park in 2016, carrying on the D.O.C. tradition of Christian rock and hip hop with a twist of soul.

History

Beginnings

The core of the group was Ben Reges (born Alton Hood) and Absalom (Kelvin Harvey) who were attending Oberlin College on football scholarship and friend Prophet (Michael Brown). Hood says of that time,

"Basically we were into the world. We both had scholarships to play football. We didn't have Christ in our lives, so we began to party and live the high life, hanging out with girls, that whole party life. We had this void in our lives. So what happened was that I was introduced by some friends to the
occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
. It got pretty serious."

Hood credits God with cleaning up both him and Harvey from drug addictions born out of their use in occult rituals:

"Praise God, through a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit, God's power came down right there in the room, saved me, delivered me right there on the spot...".

Following their conversion to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, the duo began performing raps and beat-boxing at parties. A year later they met third member Prophet (Michael Brown) at a Canton church which they now attended having moved to the Northeast Ohio area.

Deal with Star Song

Former rock band drummer Matt Stevens was the final member to join. The band met him while in the studio making a demo recording on the advice of friends. According to Hood, they didn't really think anything would happen with it:

"We were never into rap for the business or industry standpoint. We were just doing it as a tool. It was just a good idea to send ur demoout, it was not like we put our hopes behind it-it was just something to do. We were content to be just in the northeastern Ohio area ministering, but God saw fit, because of our faithfulness to Him, to take it abroad."

The demo was noticed by Star Song Records who included the group on a 1990 sampler. The group's debut studio album ''So How Ya Livin'?'' was released in 1991. Also that year the group's Alton Hood, Jr made a guest rap appearance on labelmate Whitecross's album ''In the Kingdom'', rapping on the song "Holy War". In 1993, the group released ''Pullin' No Punches'' and did another Christian metal collaboration, this time for

Bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed. When marrying, if the bride's future spouse is a man, he is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, ...

's cover of

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

's " God Gave Rock and Roll to You". The song "Innocent Love" was released as a single during that year. With their third album, ''Righteous Funk'', in 1994, the group began to resist the rap label and emphasize the 70s funk sounds they grew up on. ("We come from the '70s era of funk: Parliament, Earth, Wind & Fire, Heatwave. So, it was really great that we were able to express and come forth with that and introduce the Christian market to something they might not have ever known about.") The songs "Hollywood" and "Wind Me Up" featured funk legends

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of ...

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American Keyboard instrument, keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with ...

and Fred Wesley. The album earned the group a Grammy nomination.

Forming We are One/Throne Room records

Reduced to a duo of "Hoody Roc" (Alton Hood) and "Disciple Paul" (David Brooks) and based in Cleveland, Ohio, the group formed their own record label, We are One/Throne Room Records, through which they released the EP ''Birth of the Rapusical Era'' in 1998 and their fourth studio album ''The Antidote'' in 2003. The album was promoted with a tour merging their music with mime, poetry, dance and drama in a package the group called a "Rapusical".

Discography

Studio albums *''So How Ya Livin'?'' (1991) *''Pullin' No Punches'' (1993) *''Righteous Funk'' (1994) *''The Antidote'' (2003) Singles *''Innocent Love'' (1993) Extended play *''Birth of the Rapusical Era'' (1998)

References

{{Authority control American hip-hop groups Christian hip-hop groups Musical groups established in the 1990s