Zee connected with president and founder of Joined at the Hip Ministries, and Christian Hip Hop artist, Excelsius, to see what he's been up to within ministry, music and more.

Zee: What’s good Ex, what have you been up to? Thanks for accepting our interview request. How is life?

Excelsius: Big Zee! What’s up brotha!? Thanks for the opportunity to share with the DaSouth.com fam. Man, life is grand. A few months back, the Lord granted my wife and I a new baby girl, so that’s where my focus has been. Having a new baby in the house has really forced me to be more intentional with my time. I absolutely love being a husband and a dad. The responsibility that comes with the Husband/Father title is tremendous, but at the same time, it’s very rewarding. As a husband, I’m to model Christlikeness. As a dad, I’m to be an earthly representation of our Heavenly Father, so that my kids will know how to rightly relate to Him and others. Studies have proved that people’s perceptions of their earthly father is how they perceive God. Other than serving in the ministry of family, it’s the usual: Doing life with fam in Christ, creating God-honoring music, sharing the faith, discipling young cats, traveling to various places to preach the Good News. All of that good stuff . . .

Zee: Let’s get right into it. Your most recent album - Liberation. When I think of the name, it reminds me of the kind of name Bob Marley would have come up with. He usually approached things from a socio-economic standpoint – wanting people to “get up” and “stand up.” Was this album coming from somewhat of the same angle?

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Excelsius: Somewhat. I’m a guy with a heart for the culture, so sometimes that means taking the Acts 17 approach to living out my faith. But I think this album is different from my previous albums in one specific way. From the outset, the aim was to create something that would awaken the innate hunger man has for God. So I purposely asked about 100 people (many of whom do not care for rap music, but they love Jesus) to join my wife and I in praying for this project. I asked them to pray for two specific things: #1 - That the Spirit of God would truly inhabit this music & #2 - That God’s Presence would completely saturate every aspect of this album. That way, whether it gets into the hands of someone from the household of faith or into the hands of someone caught in the grasp of the enemy, through corporate prayer, our expected end is “Liberation”; thus the title of the album. I’ve never taken this approach to recording an album, so it’s been a treat to hear stories of how the Lord has used this project for His Glory.

Zee: You are notorious for always being in the studio working on something! What do you have coming down the pipeline?

Excelsius: (grinning) Let’s just say I’m still Kingdom Grindin’ in the booth. I’ve got several features I’m working on at the moment. Also, my man DJ 1 God and I are putting the final touches on our album, The Alpha Project. That will be ready later this year. I’ve got a free mixtape in the works and another solo album I’m working on as well.

Zee: You’ve been making albums for twelve years now, right? How many albums have you put out? Out of them, which is your favorite and why?

Zee: Have you been performing a lot lately?

Excelsius: Yeah, I’m in a season right now where the Lord is allowing me to minister on a fairly consistent basis.

Zee: Tell us about Joined at the Hip Ministries. When did you start it and what is it all about? Your wife works along with you too, right?

Excelsius: Again, you are correct. My wife does serve along side me in the ministry. The existence of Joined at the Hip reveals the manifestation of a promise God made in 1997. This ministry’s reality stems from experiences where various forms of discord brought about a brokenness that only God could mend. Thus, the foundational scripture for Joined at the Hip comes from I Corinthians 6:17, “But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” The Bible says in I John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” To this end, everyone we co-labor with in advancing the Kingdom of God is someone that we can be joined at the hip with. To be “Joined at the Hip” means that all parties involved aspire to walk in agreement, as we are fastened together in unity. This ministry extends beyond racial, cultural and social boundaries because the bottom line is we all need Christ and we all need each other. The Apostle Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 1:10 that we’ve been commissioned by Christ to be unified. The only thing that will stay together is that which God has joined together, so our desire with Joined at the Hip is to intentionally bring about such unification that the oneness of Christ’s Body binds us all closer to Him. Our aim is to edify the broken, encourage the lost and enlighten the believers by teaching the practical application of biblical principles through bible studies, conferences, devotionals, discipleship and urban gospel music.

Zee: How did you come up with the name?

Excelsius: The name has to do with the idea that in the Kingdom, everybody has something to contribute to the whole. When we walk side by side (being Joined at the Hip), we’re all equals. I’m not super special because I have this gift, and you’re not God’s favorite because you possess that gift. We’re all in this thing together.

Zee: We feature your devotionals on our site just about every week. They’ve blessed a lot of people. What is your process for writing them? How do determine what you’ll be writing on?

Excelsius: I write them as the Spirit leads. I like to think in advance about what I want to write, but I’ve had to learn over the years to put my plans in pencil because the Lord often comes through with His eraser and totally rewrites what I had in mind. I’m usually working on multiple devotionals at a time, so from one week to the next, I really don’t know which one I’m going to send out. When applicable, I try to tackle current events but even then, it’s still as the Lord leads.

Zee: You recently wrote a piece called “Dear, Holy Hip Hop” and we featured it on our site. R-Swift had a song with the same title, but I doubt it was the reason for your write-up. What sparked you to write that? Have you seen or heard of some things recently in the game that sparked this?

Excelsius: There wasn’t any specific incident that sparked it. I honestly believe that editorial was overdue. Over the years, I’ve made mental notes & observations related to this genre, and I felt like it was time to gather those thoughts and share them. What’s been interesting is the feedback I’ve gotten because apparently many other people have had some of those same convictions. I chose the name “Dear Holy Hip-Hop” because I think R-Swift’s song clearly communicates some similar musings.

Zee: I think we’ve made a lot of huge strides. We have great music from exceptionally talented artist and we also have a passion for ministry. I agree with you that we’ve got to put these competitive boulders to the side and be Kingdom-minded. Undoubtedly. But also… in my opinion, another thing we lack is solid business sense. We know how to milk the cow and bottle it up, but we don’t know how to mass produce it, market it and get it to the masses where we can have an impact on market. Do you agree with that? Give me your take.

Excelsius: I agree wholeheartedly with you. And you know what? If cats will be honest, a lack of awareness to business savvy is one of the big elephants in the room that often gets ignored. But I’m encouraged because as I see & talk to more people who are really pursuing God for their individual lane to run, I think we’ll see more people burdened with a passion to understand business strategies, which in turn can propel us even further.

Zee: I got one for you. Doctrinal views. Why is there so much war going on over differences in doctrine? Is it possible for us to live peaceably with one another despite our varying beliefs?

Excelsius: It’s very possible for us to live peaceably with others who may not hold our view on various doctrinal issues. For most of us, though, our personal preference is consensus to conviction and unity to truth. In my experience, it’s a combination of 2 things that keep those fires raging. #1 – Pride. The underlying truth that keeps these discussions brewing as hot-button issues is that no one wants to admit what they believe and what they’ve been taught may be wrong. Man’s inability or unwillingness to admit failure is rooted in pride. And this is why Jesus tells His disciples to “Take up your cross daily". Pride must be undone on a regular basis. #2 – Missing the big picture. Some doctrinal issues are paramount because they’re foundational to our faith. But most of the dissention I’ve observed is related to doctrinal issues that are NOT foundational. We’ve got to quit majoring in the minors and making mountains out of molehills. If the foundational pieces are in place, we can agree to disagree on the non-essentials.

Zee: Which artists have you been checking out lately? Who are some of your favorites today?

Excelsius: Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot more sermons than music. But if you were to turn on my Ipod, you’d find music from The Warriors, Sho Baraka, Chris Tomlin, YPJ, Big Nate, Braille, Tye Tribbett, Dre Marshall, Morph, Hillsong, Mo Jones, Evangel, D-Maub, Paul Baloche, the lower case emcee, Bumps Inf, Brinson, Mark J, Israel & New Breed, Frontlynaz, and a whole gang of remixes from my man DJ Primo. I’ve also been listening to some older stuff from Stephen the Levite, Knine, Viktory, Timothy Brindle and some of those classic Cross Movement joints.

Zee: We like to peer into the views and opinions of the artists we interview. What’s your current take on the current president, Barack Obama?

Excelsius: I think his success in office will be directly related to the people he’s attempting to lead running in their respective lanes. Normal Cousins said "In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility." In the grand scheme of things, a lot of what we’ve seen and what we’ll see with President Obama will have very little to do with him and a very much to do with us. Whether or not he’s doing a good job is an unfair question because he’s only been in office for a couple of months, and most of what he’s tackling is residual policy from the previous administration. I will say this though . . . He’s got his work cut out for him!

Zee: How should we as Christians view the state of the economy today, more specifically in the US?

Excelsius: We should view it with the proper perspective. In a crisis, we are prone to set our minds on the desired outcome. We fix our gaze on the preferred result and ask God to accomplish it. But in Luke 12, Jesus tells us to set our minds on the Kingdom. Regardless of what happens here on Earth, God’s Kingdom is not in a recession. I think the current state of the economy is testing some people’s faith and strengthen the faith of others. But at the end of the day, God’s glory is the issue. If I lose my job or my home, neither of those things change the fact that Jesus loves me and died that I might know Him and make Him known.

Zee: Back to the music… since you’ve been in the game so long, what advice would you give to up and coming artists? What should be their focus?

Excelsius: #1 - Continue to pursue Christ vigorously. When a hunger for God and a trust in Him take center stage, everything else will fall in line, and His will becomes a lot easier to discern. #2 – Know that what you lack in natural ability, you can make up in spiritual discipline because ability may get you to the top, but character will keep you there. #3 – Before you get knee deep in the game, seek out wisdom and insight from those that have been doing it longer than you. Even Jesus of Nazareth had 30 years of preparation, growing in wisdom before He began His work. #4 – Learn the difference between operating in His power and operating in your self-reliance. There is no limit to what God can do through you, provided you do not seek your own glory. Lastly, I would say that if God has birthed a vision in your heart, know the day will come when you will be called upon to make a sacrifice to achieve it. And you will have to make the sacrifice with no guarantee of success. The sowing of great sacrifices is required for the reaping of great rewards.

Zee: Oh man, I just remembered something. Tell us about that day you wrote about in one of your devotionals. You told of doing a freestyle in front of a NBA basketball team or something didn’t you? What exactly happened, and which team was it? (laughs)

Excelsius: (laughing) I was doing a chapel for the SMU Mustangs football team before their game with the University of Houston. The SMU chaplain asked me to give the guys a freestyle. Usually, I have no problems freestyling, but on this day, I fell flat on my face. For some reason, I had a really tough time pulling my thoughts together quick enough to articulate the point I was trying to make. So for what seemed like an eternity (really it was only 30-45 seconds), I found myself tongue-tied while staring into the faces of these burly football players who stared back at me like "Are you going to say something?" The embarrassment on my face clearly showed my frustration with how things did not go as planned. However, after realizing the true root of my frustration, God later used my wife to shift my perspective by challenging me to give thanks for my apparent failure. Charles Spurgeon said, "To be where others can observe our faults is a healthy thing though painful." On this particular day, those words were never more true for me . . . that was until I remembered my son attended the chapel service with me. My son got to see me fail forward, and in the process see that I'm flawed. What greater gift than my imperfections in plain view could he witness in order that he might seek beyond me and strive for the Flawless One? I now view that incident with great joy because of what my son got from it. Believe me though, it wasn’t joyful when it happened!

Zee: Man, I wish I could’ve been there to see that! (laughs) How did you get so closely involved with sports? Your wife is too, right? Isn’t she a basketball coach?

Excelsius: Yeah, my wife is a high school basketball coach here in Houston. She used to coach with the Houston Comets back when they were winning WNBA championships (and before the franchise disbanded). She’s actually the catalyst for my involvement with sports ministry. The FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) was instrumental in helping her grow as a new believer when she accepted Christ during her sophomore year in college. After we got married, we agreed that FCA would be a good ministry fit for us to be able to volunteer together. As a husband, I feel a sense of indebtedness to the FCA because I get to reap the benefits of that ministry sowing into my wife’s life when she was young and impressionable during the formative years of her faith. Had they not poured into her life and really challenged her to grow, we’d probably have a lot of struggles in our marriage related to issues of faith. After several years of service with the FCA, I was approached about becoming the chaplain for the Houston Rockets. I’ve been doing that for the last 5 years.

Zee: What has the Lord been showing you lately? What does the future hold for you?

Excelsius: Right now, the thing I keep being reminded of is “Jesus is enough”. Whatever it is I place too much value in, when I have to sit and watch it crumble I’m forced back to the reality that Jesus is enough. As far as the future, I honestly have no clue what the Lord is going to do. Like I said earlier, I’ve got some ideas about things I’d like to see happen, but I’ve learned to write my plans in pencil just in case He comes through like a Pink Pearl. Lol! Sometimes when we make plans, God laughs. I subscribe to the belief that it is after God brings you to a place where He has separated you to recognize something in who He is that He then reveals what He is doing. I’m still in the thick of that process.

Zee: How do you like DaSouth.com?

Excelsius: I love it bro. The content is updated regularly. There are tons of articles & interviews. There are the music leaks, the videos. Yeah, it’s hot. One other thing I appreciate about the new layout is it has great visual appeal. I can see how the site could still garner interest and make people who are not from the household of faith want to frequent it. The new DaSouth layout is a sort of Super Wal-mart for all things holy hip-hop.

Zee: We appreciate this interview, man. Any last words for our members and visitors?

Excelsius: If I could leave the DaSouth fam with one final thought, it would be this: What you enjoy today is a direct result of what you invested in yesterday. So, if you want the future to be different, start changing what you are doing NOW!