Anyone who grew up with me knows how much I'm into the gospel singer/rapper, TobyMac.
If you spend enough time with me, you'll hear about him eventually.
If Toby is a missionary for God, you could call me a missionary for TobyMac.
Anytime someone asks me how I got into rap, I always say I listened to a lot of "Christian rap" growing up.
I'll always remember listening to DC Talk's Free At Last record over and over again with my family in the late '90s.
I often think that's where it all started.
My favorite DC Talk member for the longest time was actually Mike.
My friend couldn't find Mike's solo CD when the group went on hiatus.
She gave me TobyMac's solo debut instead.
I saw him in concert (Mike was there too!) for the first time when I was 14.
I have to give Toby a lot of credit for my interest in rap.
Toby may be the single biggest influence on my career path.
When I was younger, I fantasized about being signed to Toby's label, Gotee Records.
I've known for the last ten years that I want my own record label just like Toby.
He's probably the first artist with his own label that I looked up to.
I might not sound anything like Toby or share his belief system anymore, but he's influenced me in so many ways.
From the joy of knowing what hip-hop is...
Getting to know some of his biggest influences (The Police, GAP Band)...
And most of all, his unwillingness to compromise his beliefs and what he stands for.
To me that's a universal theme that I've been able to relate to in my own ways.
When DC Talk was a potential crossover hit from the Christian market to secular mainstream, Toby said:
"I've always said, if we crossover - we'll take the cross over."
In the '90s he started a non-profit called the E.R.A.C.E. Foundation because he was so fed up with how white people were treating People of Color.
He talked about an old white guy shaking his hand after a DC Talk concert but refusing to shake Mike's hand because of his skin color.
He's always talked about racial reconciliation and sent subtle messages to his white audience that we need to get our act together.
His themes of diversity are so universal in his music and reflected in his life.
I take pride in my circle becoming increasingly more diverse.
I always look to Toby as a big influence on that.
The more I find out about Toby's story, the more I fall in love with it.
His career started before I was born.
There was no internet documenting it.
I've found bits of his story through a breadcrumb of interviews and articles over the years.
I continue to unravel the mystery...
As a teen, Toby would go out on the weekends to early rap shows in the diverse Washington, D.C. area...
He said he was often "the only white boy" at those hip-hop shows in the early '80s.
His dad couldn't afford to send him to college, so Toby became a great golf player and won a scholarship to a private university.
He produced the first demo tracks for his rap group D.C. Talk.
Always the entrepreneur, Toby went around his college selling the tapes.
They sold out like hot cakes.
I have so much more to write but the reason why I'm writing is because his oldest son, also an artist, passed away this week at the age of 21.
I was looking forward to Truett's career so much.
My heart breaks for Toby.
Sending my condolences to Toby McKeehan and his family...
Toby featured his son Truett on all of his albums except his last one (The Elements, 2018).
In lieu of a feature, Toby wrote the song "Scars" about their relationship.