In the early days of Bizzle’s career, he was hustling hard to get a breakthrough, paying to open for acts like Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana. It had taken him three years to complete his first album, but after investing all that time, he couldn’t put it out. The artist then known as “Playboy” found himself struggling to pretend to be the same guy who glorified the street life and vices like pimping and prostitution. An encounter with Christ had changed his heart. In 2008, he converted to Christianity and took on the moniker Bizzle.

“I naturally make Christian rap because I’m Christian, and when I rap what’s in the heart is gonna come out,” he told REVOLT shortly before releasing his fourth studio album, Crowns and Crosses. “I took a year off just growing in the Lord, getting in the word…I didn’t have to consciously try to be a Christian rapper, I’m just being me, and it comes out.”

What he found, after taking a stand, was top producers like Boi-1da offering to help him for free and a path to making music that was filled with less strife. All of his albums charted high — on rap and gospel charts — and eventually, Bizzle started his own record label, God Over Money. He even put out an album called Well Wishes whose proceeds he donated entirely to building wells for clean water in Mozambique. It seems people are here for his “truth music,” as he calls it.

“Right now if you turn on the radio you don’t get to choose between positive and negative; you get to choose between bad and worse — it’s almost like this election,” Bizzle said with a laugh. “So now I just wanna throw something else in there so you have another route to go if you choose.”

Watch our full interview with Bizzle below:

Real Talk | Bizzle on “Crowns and Crosses”