In a word, independent artist Christon Gray is versatile. Perhaps best known for his neo-soul influenced album School Of Roses, Christon has spent time behind the mic while with the group The Elevationists, collaborated with many of the top artists in Christian hip-hop as part of the W.L.A.K. collective of artists and has a penchant for dropping beautifully lyrical hooks.

Recently, Christon took time out of a hectic studio session in Toronto while working on his latest release to give NRT an exclusive interview. In the interview Christon talks about the current state of Christian hip-hop, where he fits as an artist and the direction his career is moving into, and the new EP. 

The Demos is available exclusively on The Overflow App until May 12. For more about Christon and what he's got going on, you can check out www.ChristonGray.com.

Give me your thoughts on the current state of Christian hip-hop and gospel music.

I've been around Christian hip-hop for probably the past 13 years. I've seen a lot of progression honestly in the craft--the types of artists, the variety, and really just the reception from people both in the Church and just in the mainstream. I can't complain about that. I think it's been very interesting to be a part of it. I was a fan of a lot of the artists and then now to kind of go through it and be appreciated by certain people, and then find myself kind of transition a little out of it has just been interesting. 

What I've seen most is progression from the standpoint of when it started it was little to nothing. There weren't that many artists, not that many fans, but now it seems to be its own movement.

You alluded to your transitioning out of it. So how does your music fit in that spectrum between Christian hip-hop and kind of more the gospel sound?

I think the easiest way to look at it is just me being a singer and the hip-hop genre as a whole being more so a rap genre. Obviously there are a lot of R&B singers who can just stay put in the hip-hop or R&B style, but I really see there being more opportunity to branch out and do more with my voice to write different types of songs other than just hip-hop songs or collaborate with artists that are just not hip-hop artists.

As far as content, I've always written the same way whether I was singing or rapping, so I don't think that that has ever changed or ever will change. If it's to be classified as Christian or not is usually up to the consumer or the industry itself.

I somewhat consider Mali and SPZRKT the same class as yourself, the same genre almost, but they seem to have moved away from being specifically Christian artists. Is that the direction that you're headed in?

No. I had a fan tweet me a couple of months ago and they asked me are you still a Christian rapper? I tweeted them back and said, "Yes." I've never wanted to shed the title. I love being a Christian. I love being a rapper. I love being a Christian rapper. I love being a Christian singer. I love being a singer. I'm in danger if I leave the very reason why I do music, which is my relationship with Christ. I know there may be a little speculation as to my goals in music, but at the end of the day it's all to glorify Christ. 

That's all that matters. I've listened to a couple of tracks from your new EP, The Demos. The T.D. remix and "Open Door" specifically. They're kind of more pure hip-hop tracks and honestly I don't remember hearing you just straight drop verses like that. Is this your new sound or are you just trying something new on the EP?

We're definitely expanding our sound. Prior to the attention that I've received over the past few years for projects or collaborations, before I was really brought into the Christian hip-hop genre, I had a group and it was a Christian rap group and we had it for eight years and I was a rapper. It's been refreshing to be able to kind of show people that, but at the same time I'm not like we're dropping this demo EP and it's going to be a rap album. 

I've heard from a couple of people that I'm decent and that I'm not terrible at it, but I definitely prefer to sing over the rap, but as long as the gift is there, I don't want to be at the end of the day facing God and talking about buried talent. There's a little bit of that on there. It definitely won't be too heavy.

What other kind of differences are people going to hear on demos versus School of Roses or Even with Evil with Me?

On Even with Evil with Me, there are a lot of jazz and fusion references to the musicality of that album. We pulled back on that extensively for School of Roses. You still felt the soulful element of the music. I don't ever want to lose that either, but I'm definitely gearing my sound more towards a pop sound than just an R&B sound or a hip-hop sound. I guess you could say that instead of me trying to really dive into a neo-soul market, I would much rather be in the pop industry from the standpoint of popular music, not the pop sound. I think it gives me a little more leverage when I do decide that I want to sing a ballad versus if I want to jump on a song and rap or if I want to write a country song because I love all of that stuff and I think this demos album will help to show that range.

Any plans right now for a full-length album?

Yeah. We've got more than enough. It's just a matter of when we actually sit down and collect our thoughts and get through this next season and hopefully we'll have time to pin it down soon.

How would you think your music is impacting culture at large, as well as Christian culture?

I hope for it to impact the culture at large or impact more people. That's definitely the goal. I think that there's an innocence about my music and there's a humanity about my music that I want everyone to hear. It's not abrasive. I'm not trying to attack anyone. I'm actually trying to welcome people to the table be it Christians or non-Christians and I'm very intentional about the way I write or even who I work with in order to try and achieve that. It's affected by culture, so it's in turn just a response to culture.

I've been affected in large part by art and culture and I really want to just show how I process that through a Biblical worldview, if you will, and it usually comes out in a variety of ways. 

To go to the second part of that question -- if that was a little ambiguous I apologize. I'm definitely open to more discussion on it, but as it pertains to Christian culture, I'm really the type of person who wants to explore the entire Bible, not just sections of it. So I like to contrast what is popular in Christian culture. The idea of certain pockets or trends of Christian culture, it amuses me on one hand and on the other hand it sometimes annoys me because it seems a little counterproductive. So I have a conviction to go against the grain. I know a lot of people say that, but it's definitely not some like I want to stand on my soapbox and make people feel bad. It's just I think we're missing certain things and sometimes people have to be reminded that there are 66 books in the Bible and not 8.

I want to explore what that looks like and I think it provides the perfect amount of inspiration to create so many forms of music and just art in general, which is then the art that I take to present not only to the church or the body of Christ, but also to culture at large. 

An album like School of Roses comes out and is completely different than anything that's on the market or even those tracks that are there on SoundCloud, it is completely different than anything that's out there now. How does that feel when there are features and hooks and it's got a Christon Gray-ness to it? No other way to describe it, but it's kind of your sound and other people are starting to copy or mimic it. 

It excites me because again, I'm just responding to what's inspired me. To see other artists not be so closed minded to that sameness that you mentioned before. I just feel like I'm being used as a conduit really for God's intentions to be exposed with the art of music. I think sometimes we forget that he created art. He's the inventor of it and music is included in that.

To really take everything He created and just put it in this little box of what it's supposed to sound like in order to be safe or a certain demographic, I don't know. It hurts. It hurts as an artist who really just want to explore the vastness of what He created.

So for people to explore different sounds, whether it's my sound or whether it's anybody else's sound and gain inspiration from it and start to try some different things that they may have secretly always wanted to do, it excites me. I usually don't take it as an insult ever, like they're trying to be like me or they're trying to do the Christon Gray sound. No. I'm just happy to see different people in the Body pay attention to the other parts of the Body, if that makes any sense.

If you could choose one artist to collab with and I don't care what genre they come from, but if you could just collab with one artist, who would that be?

Stevie Wonder.

I was thinking as I was listening to some of your stuff last week, after this opportunity came up. I was like it sounds like Stevie Wonder a lot. 

Yes.

What's one book other than the Bible that has had a profound impact on you?

I'd have to go with a book called In, but Not Of by Hugh Hewitt. It's a good book. Basically it's geared towards any Christian aspiring professional in any industry to learn how to really pay attention to the business and to stay inspired in the area in which they feel called. It's really helped me out in the past few years. It's kind of a hidden gem. I haven't heard many people talk about it, but a friend of mine referred it to me and it's really helped me.

One last one, one bonus question from my nine-year-old daughter, because I had to ask my girls last night if you could ask Christon Gray one question, what would it be? Her question was, "How did you learn to sing so darn good?"

Nice. That really warms my heart. That was better than the Stevie Wonder compliment. My mother and my father. My mother is an incredible lyric soprano and my father has written music since I was born and I grew up around it so much. They've helped me develop it since I was a kid. I grew up in the type of home where if you were in the shower and you sing flat, then you'll hear about it from the kitchen. They'll tell you you're sharp or you're flat. I'm like I'm just trying to sing a song here.
We grew up with a lot of critics. If you're going to sing, even hum a tune, it better be right. I have my parents to thank for that.

How can the NRT family be praying for you?

The biggest thing now is consistency in all areas of my life, be it just my walk with God, my family, and the adventure of being in the music industry. To be consistent. Be not weary and well doing. That's the prayer.