Shai Linne (born August 21, 1974) is an American East Coast

Christian rap 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 Stat ...

per, author, and assistant pastor. Linne has been collaborating with other Christian rap artists and releasing studio albums since 2002. Linne has recorded studio albums under the Lamp Mode Records label.

Early life

Linne was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

for most of his childhood and dates his

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

to 1999. Linne is

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

in his

soteriology Soteriology (; ' "salvation" from wikt:σωτήρ, σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and wikt:λόγος, λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of Doctrine, religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special sign ...

(doctrine of salvation), and his 2008 album ''The Atonement'' included a song "Mission Accomplished", which defended

limited atonement Limited atonement (also called definite atonement or particular redemption) is a doctrine accepted in some Christian theological traditions. It is particularly associated with the Reformed tradition and is one of the five points of Calvinism. ...

Career

Linne has collaborated with

Lecrae Lecrae Devaughn Moore (born October 9, 1979) is an American Christian rapper, singer-songwriter, actor, and Record producer, recording producer and Music executive, executive. Since having begun his career in 2004, he has released ten studio alb ...

Trip Lee William Lee Barefield III (born December 17, 1987), better known by his stage name Trip Lee, is an American Christian rapper, singer, songwriter, and poet. Signed to Reach Records, he has recorded both as a solo artist and as a founding member ...

, Timothy Brindle,

Flame A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasm ...

, Hazakim, and numerous other Christian rappers. He appeared on the

116 Clique The 116, formerly 116 Clique (pronounced one-one-six click), is an American Southern Christian hip hop collective originally from Dallas, Texas signed to the Atlanta-based Reach Records. The group performs a wide variety of contemporary hip h ...

album ''

13 Letters 13 Letters may refer to: * 13 Letters (artist), a solo musical artist * 13 Letters (album), a 2007 compilation album by 116 Clique * 13 Letters (film), a 2021 Nigerian romantic film {{dab ...

''. In 2011, Linne was featured on "The Lord is a Warrior", the tenth track from

Matt Papa Matt Papa is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, hymn writer, author, and worship leader. In 2009, his album ''Your Kingdom Come'' charted #46 on the ''Billboard'' Top Christian Albums and #33 on the Top Heatseekers chart ...

's ''This Changes Everything''. In 2013, Linne released a single called "Fal$e Teacher$", in which he criticized

prosperity theology Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, seed-faith gospel, Faith movement, or Word-Faith movement) is a belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial bl ...

, and named false teachers, including

Joel Osteen Joel Scott Osteen ( ; born March 5, 1963) is an American pastor, televangelist, businessman, and author based in Houston, Texas, United States. Known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books, Osteen is one of the more ...

Kenneth Copeland Kenneth Max Copeland (born December 6, 1936) is an American televangelist associated with the charismatic movement. He is the founder of Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. (EMIC), which is based in Tarrant County, Texas. Copeland has also ...

Creflo Dollar Creflo Augustus Dollar Jr. (born January 28, 1962) is an American pastor, televangelist, and the founder of the non-denominational Christian World Changers Church International based in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Dollar also hea ...

T. D. Jakes Thomas Dexter Jakes Sr. (born June 9, 1957) is an American non-denominational Christian evangelical pastor and motivational speaker. He was the senior pastor of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch in Dallas, Texas, fro ...

Benny Hinn Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (born 3 December 1952) is an Israeli-born Palestinian-American-Canadian televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades"— revival meeting or faith healing summits that are usually held in stadiums i ...

Paula White Paula Michelle White-Cain (née Furr; born April 20, 1966) is an American televangelist, nationally known evangelical leader in the Charismatic movement, and longtime spiritual advisor to President Donald J. Trump She also is married to famed r ...

, and

Joyce Meyer Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Movement, Charismatic Christian author, speaker, and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband, Dave, have four grown children and live outside St. L ...

. In addition to being recognized as a pioneer in "lyrical theology", Linne has been touted for the complexity of his

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

s when rapping. According to a study performed by a Finnish doctoral candidate, Eric Malmi, Linne placed as the fourth as measured by rhyme density. The study took the lyrics of 94 artists and plugged 10,082 songs into an

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

that Malmi created to detect assonance rhymes. Linne was preceded in the rankings only by

Inspectah Deck Jason Hunter (born July 6, 1970), better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper and hip hop producer. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface. He has acquired critical praise for his intricate lyricism, ...

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim (), is an American rapper. He is one half of Golden age hip-hop, golden age hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, with whom he released four albums: ''Paid in Full ...

and

Redrama Lasse Mellberg (born 2 October 1977), better known by his stage name Redrama, is a Finnish rapper. He made a breakthrough in 2003. Redrama, who performs primarily in English, but also in Swedish and Finnish was part of a hip-hop group Alien Alli ...

Ministry

In 2016 Linne, along with Brian Davis, planted Risen Christ Fellowship in Philadelphia. Linne served as an assistant pastor and elder at Del Ray Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, having previously been a member of

Capitol Hill Baptist Church Capitol Hill Baptist Church is a Baptist church located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., six blocks from the United States Capitol. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of the church, w ...

in Washington, D.C., and Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. Following his two-year tenure at Del Ray Baptist Church, Shai Linne took a step back from touring full-time. In May of 2024, he launched a podcast with Lamp Mode, cohosted with The Ambassador and Ben Otero, called The Halftime Podcast. Later in the year he also served as a guest

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

and speaker at various conferences.

Personal life

Linne is married to Blair Wingo, and together they have three children.

Discography

Studio albums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linne, Shai 1974 births African-American Christians African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers American Calvinist and Reformed Christians Living people American performers of Christian hip-hop Rappers from Philadelphia 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Converts to Protestantism from atheism or agnosticism 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians