Bizzle Breaks Down New EP, ‘Light Work’

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“Christian rapper. Man of God. Father and husband.”

These are the words Bizzle chose to describe himself. The God Over Money Records artist just released an EP, Light Work. “I wanted this project to be easy to digest and still be able to give people the gospel. I wanted the messages in this one to be easier for the nonbeliever and the new believer.”

Light Work has several meanings to Bizzle. “One is because a lot of the content is lighter and not so heavy and so deep. Two, Jesus Christ is the light of the world.” Bizzle is saying that a Christian’s work to spread the light of Christ is “light work,” in a sense. In addition, “light work is a term that’s used when you’re taking it easy. This music is more fun.”

After making a few more upbeat, fun songs, Bizzle wanted to turn them into a project different than his previous albums which he said have been “super-deep and thought provoking.”

“A lot of times people don’t feel like something is good for evangelizing unless I’m breaking down [a message] scripture by scripture.”

He wants people to listen to his album and know who Jesus is.

When Bizzle gets in the studio, he starts the session with prayer, “that the Lord would inspire me to give His people whatever they need.” As he listens to beats he thinks of melodies and verses. “The Lord drops something on me. I’ll start writing to that one.” After he writes his verses, he starts singing hooks. “If I don’t sound good on it, I’ll send it to somebody else to sing.” The final step is getting features.

Light Work begins with “Way Up,” featuring God Over Money label mate Sevin. “Sevin is my best bro… that’s always an easy thing when we get together.” Bizzle wanted to bring lyricism to the current “mumble rap” sound.

“Anybody who follows the movement, there’s only one place we’re taking them and that’s way up to the Lord.”

The music video was recorded the night of a concert. “We had an intermission in the middle of the concert where everybody went across the street in front of the liquor store and we shot the video. We had low-riders out there and all that stuff.” The police came to check in on the crowd, “we had the helicopters come over. It was interesting. The police came to try to shut us down a couple times… after the show whoever wanted to follow us, we hit a few more locations to shoot the rest of the video.”

The following song, “X,” features more God Over Money labelmates, Datin and K. Allico. “I literally was playing that beat super loud in the house… I’m walking around and playing around, joking with the hook. I’m like ‘Flexing on my ex, ex, flexing on my ex.’” What started as some random sayings turned into a song. “I actually recorded it to see how it would sound.”

The message speaks about how he is flexing on his ex-life before he was following Christ. “Outside of that concept, we’re using a bunch of words that start with ‘ex.’”

“OK, Fine” is a song reminding people to be careful of the company of they keep. “I’m talking about having people around who don’t really lend to your peace. They might always bring gossip. Every time this person comes around, they do something that brings you down.” Bizzle says that for those people, when they ask you how you’re doing, say “I’m okay. I’m fine” because they may just want to get in your business and spread negativity.

“Usually if you hear somebody singing on my project, I wrote the hook.” The following song, “Down,” was an exception to that. It features Joey Vantes who is “one of few artists that I let send me a record and then I’ll get on it. He came up with the hook on his own and its fire.”

Bizzle believes that as a Christian rapper, he faces a lot of challenges that try to bring him down. “It’s just dealing with some of the things I’ve gone through within the past few years as far as dealing with stress, insecurity, depression. A lot of times it’s the people that call themselves God’s people who are bringing this on us as artists.”

“I dropped the “Warriors” record and I’m waking up to messages like ‘Yo, Bizzle, you sold out,’ ‘Man, I used to look up to you,’ ‘Bizzle is with Satan. He sold his soul.’ Those are some of the worst things you can say to someone who loves Jesus Christ.”

Sometimes he feels like “one moment you bless me and my family, praise God for you. The next moment you’re done. You’re out of here because I think you did a hand symbol.” Having heard countless such comments over the years is a major discouragement to Bizzle and he has seen that some people “are never intending to understand.” He says that people have called him an enemy of God and a tool of the devil.

“Stay With You” hosts familiar features to Bizzle fans, J. Carter and Nina Sims. The song “is really dealing with the fear of missing out that people seem to have when it comes to spending time with God, as if staying here, spending time with God whether in worship, devotion, or in the Word, we’re gonna miss out on something.” He says that when you spend time with God, “there is no missing out.” Bizzle believes that if you’re friends are going out, it can often be better and is certainly worthwhile to spend time in prayer than to hangout.

“J. Carter always comes through. He’s one of the artists that if I send him a hook, it’ll come back sounding just the way I wanted it to.”

“Warriors” was the first single released from Light Work and was accompanied by a Golden State Warriors-themed music video featuring star player Steph Curry. “I linked up with Steph Curry just via him being a fan of the music.” A couple years ago, Bizzle told Curry that he was considering making a “warriors anthem.” “I wrote it last year, but I didn’t record it.”

In 2018 he wanted to get the song out before the NBA season ended. “I reached out to him [Curry] about getting in the video. You know his schedule is super-crazy.” Bizzle found a date that was in between a pair of home games and traveled to California to shoot it.

“I got a lot of love. I got a lot of funny comments from people who are not warriors fans.”

To be a warrior means “to be ready for whatever when it comes to the Lord, when it comes to the Gospel.” Bizzle wants people to listen to this song and be ready for a spiritual war with evil, to fight “the good fight” with faith. “The war on the spirit is so real that sometimes you get people who jump off the ship because they can’t handle the storm.”

The album concludes with “The Gospel,” a song breaking down the gospel message from the Garden of Eden to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Bizzle compares Light Work to a party. “We do the games. We do the food, all of that, but the whole time I knew I wanted to be able to share the gospel with you guys before I went.”

“I probably think that’s gonna be one of the most powerful songs I’ve ever done.”

God Over Money fans can expect to hear from every artist on the label in 2018. “You’re gonna get something from Bumps [INF], from Selah [the Corner], you’re gonna get something else from Datin, another one from me. You’re gonna hear Sevin and you’re gonna hear Jered Sanders.”

“I love ministering to God’s people. The way that we’re able to impact lives and the dope testimonies we get… it’s like a head-nod from the Lord, a wink from God.”

Follow Bizzle on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Get Light Work on iTunes, Amazon, or Google Play. Listen on Spotify.

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