Getting Ready For Marathon...

After all the events of the past two years and the heightened visibility of the award wins, I'd been seeking God for my next step, musically. You see, every goal I'd started out with for my career, God has blessed me to achieve, and as exciting as that feels, it also caused a little bit of "What now?" anxiety. I wanted to travel and work with the best in music, and I've been blessed to do that...I wanted to have #1 records and I can now claim that as well. The only thing from a career standpoint that I still desire to accomplish is winning a Grammy, and I firmly believe that if God can bless me with a Dove and Stellar Award as He has, a Grammy is coming up soon as well.

Having said that, I'd been quietly working on a pop/R&B album, and had several songs completed for it that I felt captured my vocal ability and the sound that I heard in my head for my first solo album. The few people I trusted to let hear the first single had positive feedback regarding the song and the sound, but it just didn't feel....right. I am not one of those Christians who feels that "church people" should only sing/write/produce Gospel music by any means, but I DO want to make sure that, with this being my first real opportunity to step out front since the days of my Gospel group Serenity working with the talented V. Michael McKay on our unreleased debut album, people get the impression of me as the artist that I would like them to have from day 1. For whatever reason, doing the pop project just didn't feel as though that's where I'm supposed to be right now.

As I prayed more and more about direction, I kept working on projects for other artists/labels, one of which was for a label based out of Atlanta, whose CEO, Michael Lett, sat next to me at the Dove Awards. Michael said after the awards show that he wanted to get some work done with me and was going to fly out to Houston so we could work. 2 weeks after the Doves, Michael and co. arrived in the H, and during our first session at Barron Studios, as I was laying down the hook on a Christian song called "Miracles", he called me out of the booth. I assumed that he wanted me to change the vocal arrangement or that he wasn't happy with something I'd recorded, but he instead asked me if I could just add singing verses on the song (that was supposed to be a rap song with a sung chorus) and make it my own single, which he would then push via his label and have the video for it played on BET. He'd already paid for the BET spot and had the radio and colleges lined up for the project he hired me for, and now was offering me the chance to have the first single off that project be my own.

In the booth at Barron Studios about to record "Miracles" (That's the engineer, Chris, behind me adjusting the mic)

Mixing down "Miracles"

After the session signing all the Songwriter Agreements with the CEO

After finishing the song that night, doing the paperwork, and dropping the CEO back at his hotel, I came home and began asking God if this was the direction that He wanted me to go, because there is definitely a such thing as doing the RIGHT thing at the WRONG time, and as long as I've waited for the opportunity to sing to present itself to me again, I didn't want to do it out of God's timing. But during my prayer I heard God in my spirit say that this is my season, and that the opportunity to step out front now is exactly what He promised me when He laid out the plan for my life. God promised at my lowest point that He would allow me to go thru that tough time to be my testimony, and that He would then elevate me to the heights so that I can better lift HIM up and be an even more effective witness for Him. This was but another step towards that destiny. I shared with those in my inner circle the direction God had given me, and felt the peace that surpasses all understanding (from Philippians 4:7) upon my decision....a decision to follow Christ and trust Him with my dreams.

From that point, God began speaking direction into my spirit...my album is to be called Marathon, after Ecclesiastes 9:11 ("I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong...") and Matthew 24:13 ("...but to the one who endureth until the end..."). This Christian life is not a sprint (short-term thing), it's a marathon (lifelong journey). He revealed to me the layout for the cd cover, as well as the imagery to be displayed and the meaning behind it all. I'm still in awe at how quickly it has all come together, and just this morning received a call from the CEO of the label asking me when I will be able to go on tour (answer: asap). Besides finishing my work on Lecrae's next album Gravity and the couple of indie projects I'm producing, finishing and promoting my album Marathon is my #1 priority. There's nothing like knowing that you are finally in God's perfect Will for your life...nothing comes hard, because He's already done it all. All you have to do is show up.

Link to a snippet of the first single "More Like You" from my album Marathon

My album title also reflects the fact that this has been a long journey for me personally...one with heartache, pain, as well as emotional and physical suffering along the way, but also one with lifelong friendships, love, happiness, and ultimately success. Earlier today, my brother and writing partner JayTel and I were discussing the day for us to get back to work on both Lecrae's album and my project, beginning with the creation of my first single, "More Like You." I can't wait...this has been my dream since I can remember, and God is bringing it all to pass before my very eyes.

#STAYTUNED