Hostyle Gospel

History

Hostyle Gospel was formed in 2003 from a central Illinois group known as Elite M.O.C. It originally only had two members: Raynard Glass and Demetrius Morton. However, Fontaine Pizza joined the band in 2005. It also has several other members who work on music production, graphic design, and website management.

In 2013, Hostyle Gospel got together with the Champaign School of Music and hosted the Family Rock Jam Session for the Community of Champaign/Urbana. The event was the first Christian hip hop performance for an educational program in a Champaign community. After the success of the Family Rock Jam Session, the group made their first radio appearance on 97.9 Jamz WJWZ with their single Break. Later that year, Hostyle Gospel's album Desperation was featured in the gospel magazine Gospel Synergy in a list of new artists and new music to watch out for. On October 11, Hostyle Gospel performed with Christian rappers KB (rapper), Da' T.R.U.T.H., MC Jin at Flavor Fest Urban Leadership Conference 2014 in Tampa, Florida. To date, Hostyle Gospel has released three studio albums, four mixtapes and has worked with many of the top names in the Christian industry. The group is also being guided and mentored by Christian rap legend Fred Lynch from the Christian hip hop group P.I.D. On April 19, 2016 Hostyle Gospel teamed up with Christian Rapper John Givez and released a single titled Skittles & Iced Tea that talked about the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. The song addressed the importance of Freedom, Liberty, Justice and human rights for Americans. The group also teamed up with hip hop artist Gemstones and released a single entitled "Clap" which debuted on June 8, 2016.

Reception

In 2013, the group's album Desperation received a review of 3/5 from gospel music historian, Bob Marovitch, of the Journal of Gospel Music. Marovitch described the group as "a no-nonsense battle axe who loves the world and its people enough to help them mightily". On October 23, 2014, Brain Magazine (fr) released an article praising the group for being one of the benchmarks for how true Christian rappers should record music and conduct themselves in the music industry. In 2014 at the Flavor Fest 2014 Conference, Hostyle Gospel was interviewed live on the #1 syndicated Christian hip hop radio show, Jam The Hype with Chris Chicago. Their single Break was debuted and the group also talked about their future plans and projects. In 2015 their Desperation album brought the group international success. Cross Rhythms picked Hostyle Gospel's "Praise", "Turn It Up" and "Rock" to be featured on 101.8FM Cross Rhythms City Radio station in the UK.

Discography