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Standing firm in your belief system can be trying. When the world
around you is succumbing to a revolving door of trends, it takes
dedication to stick to your guns and keep your feet planted. Bobby
Bishop fell in love with hip-hop as a child. Raised in a quiet Boston
suburb, it took some digging around and frequent trips to the city to
wrap his head around the passion he heard from the mouths of his
favorite emcees. As he grew, he realized his desire to participate,
and share his own thoughts and convictions through rap. Authenticity
is a funny thing, however. In all reality, typical hip-hop topics
weren’t exactly a vibrant picture of the life he’d experienced growing
up. With the need to follow his own conviction, Bobby began serving
teenagers as a youth minister in gritty Lynn, Massachusetts in 1996,
and has been there ever since. He began writing and recording rap
music as a teenager himself, and the fusion of his faith in God and a
passion for rap was a natural one. He realized his experience as a
youth mentor and minister gave him the opportunity to reach out using
hip-hop, particularly as he discovered his knack for storytelling. A
church plant ensued in 2001, with the vision of pursuing a neglected
city, and rap demos and independent CD’s were penned in conjunction
with his community experiences. The determination to stay true to his
initial convictions meant deliberately balancing national touring with
day-in-and-day-out street ministry. Hip-hop’s pioneer’s birthed a
sound expressing everyday life, struggle, determination, and
redemption. Bobby was adamant from the beginning not to forget
hip-hop’s roots, but to offer the hope of Christ as life’s solution.
Amy’s Song, the true story of a teenage rape victim, began to
unexpectedly set the stage for Bobby’s national career, as it gained a
tremendous amount of attention and exposure upon its initial release
in 2002. Several indy projects and national tours later, and Bobby was
offered his first national recording contract. Government Name
released into the marketplace in 2005, and Bobby hit the ground
running, balancing his local youth ministry with touring the country.
Mtv, in particular, took to the record, and placed nearly the entire
project into rotation on some of the network’s most popular shows
(Pimp My Ride, Next, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Date My Mom, and more).
One Shot, Bobby’s second nationally distributed project, was released
into the marketplace in 2006. Presented as a rap “hip-hopera,” this
project tells a fictional story based on true events that took place
in Bobby’s neighborhood, and is a start-to-finish musical story with a
startling conclusion. Bobby’s new label home, Philadelphia-based
Chosen Records, has brought this project to the screen in the video,
One Shot. Utilizing this short film, Bobby and labelmates The
Wrecking, have been traveling the country as The One Shot Tour.
Bobby's new LP, Everyday Man, dropped in July 2009!
Bobby’s goal is to bring a music ministry presentation with heart, on
the strength of community service and countless hours of stage
experience. The aim is to be approachable and real, and to continue
making honest, Christ-centered music.
Resume:
-Years of youth ministry fused with hip-hop tours have resulted in
trust-relationships with youth pastors across the country, where Bobby
has been the key-speaker in conjunction with the music act.
-Bobby has several independent and two previously released national
projects that formally introduced him to a broad marketplace.
-National tours with The Seven Project, spot dates, festivals and
tours nationally, shared stages with countless Christian music artists
(from John Reuben to Jars of Clay.) Bobby is also steadily appearing
in Boston's underground rap scene.
-Authored for American Bible Society, FEED Magazine, CMCentral, On
Course, About.com and more.
-Recorded songs with KJ-52, Pigeon John, Sev Statik and more.
-Featured on multiple nationally distributed projects including:
DJ Maj The Ringleader (Gotee Records/EMI)
Beatmart Records Best of the Submissions Volumes 1,2&3 (Beatmart
Records/Sony BMG)
Pee Wee Callins Street Soul (Beatmart Records/Sony BMG)
Fresh Digress (Beatmart Records/Sony BMG)
Strength in Numbers (Beatmart Records/Sony BMG)
Michael Sweet “Stronger”
Present:
Bobby is yet again lacing up his Timberlands in anticipation of the
2009 hill to climb. With tour dates on the books, church ministry to
tend to, and a nine-to-five social worker gig, it's going to be a
grind. His new record, "Everyday Man" is done, and on-deck. "Everyday
Man" is slated for7/14/09 release with Philadelphia-based Chosen
Records, to be distributed by Executive Music roup/Universal Music
Christian Group.
With production from DJ Shok, JbRye, The Abolitionists, DJ Bombay,
Battleaxe, and more, this project brings a blend of hard hitting
boom-bap, modern hip-hop, live instrumentation, and mature lyricism.
Bobby went back to basics with this one, as he let the trenches do all
the talking.
The video for the single "Please" is out now! |