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Hip-Hop artist Sivion talks about his career in Christian rap, his future plans, and current artists he respects now. Read part one of this interview where he talks about Deepspace5 and his album Dark Side of the Cocoon

What has changed about music since your last release (4 years ago)? 

Sivion: Right now I think it is crazy how many artists have figured out a way to make a good living doing rap music full-time. Even in the underground, artists are tracking their streams and using all of their analytics and resources better. Many have started tapping into licensing and other income streams. It's really encouraging to watch. The independent market has really forced the record labels to do things the right way if they want to stay relevant in representing artists and getting the opportunity to earn revenue from their talents. Illect Recordings has been treating me right for nearly a decade and a half, so I have no complaints. Seeing some of my label mates get licensing placements for entities like ESPN, Fox, etc. is super cool to me. 



As someone who has been in Christian Hip-Hop for about 20 years, how do you feel the landscape of it is now, compared to where it was back then? 

Sivion: The landscape has changed a lot. The big difference I see between now and maybe back in 1998-ish (when I first started appearing on guest features), is the talent level. Back then it was kind of night and day between the secular and Christian artists. Christian Rap was way behind and most of the biggest names really didn't have talent that measured up to the secular. But now it's arguably the opposite. There are more Christian acts doing bigger things in a more professional way than some of the secular rap that can seem kind of lazy and disengaged. I really dig the fact that so many barriers and walls have been broken down by Christian Rap in the past five years or so. It is funny though, how some Christian artists push boundaries now that we used to get BLASTED for even tiptoeing close to, back in the days. And we'd get ridiculed for not being Christian enough. Nowadays there are Christian artists who don't mention anything Christian in their music AT ALL. I'm not knocking any of them for that because sometimes it's about just tackling a topic in a Christ-like way, even if you don't mention where your godly perspective comes from. But it's still super funny to me because of the reactions we used to get for having songs that didn't have enough Jesus in them...Fun times.

Are you familiar with the upcoming rappers now and who are some artists that impress you? 

Sivion: I am familiar with some of the newer stuff out. Some cats I'm really feeling these days are dudes like James Gardin, Armond Wakeup, Taelor Gray, Ruslan, Beleaf, Jet Trouble, Yaves, Social Club, Dream Junkies, Middle Clash, JGivens, etc. I'm also feeling some of the stuff out by vets like Beautiful Eulogy, Propaganda, Krum, The Battery, Derek Minor, Sho Baraka, Sareem Poems, etc. And don't get me started on this new Ozay Moore record that hasn't dropped yet. OOOOWEEEEE. Y'all ain't ready. Read More ...
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Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

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