Davis Absolute is a Christian hip hop artist who pulls no punches in his dedication both to excellence in his craft, and in presenting the absolute core truths of the gospel with unflinchingly honest conversations marking every track. His latest EP Absolutes epitomizes his approach to music and to ministry with seven hard-hitting tracks.

We talked to Davis about some of the songs, the unique artwork and over-arching theme.

Let's start with your latest single "Jericho." What's your heart behind the song?

"Jericho" is a testament to a lot of different things in my life. One of the main things to me was coming into Christian hip hop and observing a lot of cliques, a lot of different things that didn't have anything to do with Christ, and it was kind of off-putting. This song was built around the idea of how things can push us back or even set us off a little bit, but it's our goal to keep walking even in the face of adversity. 

When we think about Jericho and how they just walked around those walls, not really even knowing what was going to happen, but faithfulness drove them--that's kind of the progression of the song. Coming into a culture that I'm not really familiar with and seeing what may not be reflective of Christ on the surface, but then getting down to the meat of it and realizing that I'm walking by faith in this whole journey. 

Overall, I want the song to serve as an encouragement to people. To keep marching forward in faith knowing that the wide path is often chose, but it is also the one far from home. That's the heart or spirit behind "Jericho." Just perseverance in situations where you may not see God, knowing that he's put you there for a purpose. 
 
"Wolves" is definitely another one I appreciate. Do you want to explain what the vibe on that track was?

There was a reason why I didn't put "Jericho" on the EP, and I think a lot of it was because it shared a lot of similarities with "Wolves." "Wolves" was originally written during a period of time when there was a lot of stuff happening with people falling away from their faith. During the period that I wrote it, AsaiahZiv (formally known as KIDD) had actually stepped away from the faith, and another artist by the name of Tha Kidd Jopp ended up stepping away from the faith. Stuff came out that this other artist Jahaziel, who was pretty big in the UK, also stepped away from the faith. 

When they came out with their reasons why they were moving away, they were not all exactly the same, but a lot of them shared similarities. One of the things that AsaiahZiv had expressed was he felt he had been taken advantage of, and he felt that people within the church and within this community, this small community of Christian rap, weren't very genuine. He felt like there was a lot of deception. Long story short, he just felt hurt and betrayed. 

I felt that pain, and at the same time, I felt like someone has to say something about this. Not in a combative way, but to communicate some of this stuff. When I had originally written "Wolves," it was meant to be more conversational. Then when I linked up with Daniel Steele, who did the production, I was like "can we switch it on the second part of the track and make it more aggressive and bring up the tone of it?" That wasn't to increase combativeness or to put people on edge, but just to talk about this stuff in a really serious way. 

We have these people in this particular genre who, essentially to get influence, get fans, get fame (how ever little that may be), manipulate that outside of the cause of serving Christ. It was just kind of crazy to witness that, then have nobody really speak on it. The song was intended to start a conversation and to let people know where I stand. Where I stand is I'm doing music for Christ. At the end of the day, if I don't get any affluence, any fans or anything like that--that's fine, as long as I'm doing God's work. 

Obviously, that mirrored some of my thoughts and subject matter on "Jericho," and that's kind of why I didn't put those two songs together.  

"Last Supper" is another one people have different interpretations of. What made you incorporate this track into the EP? 

"Last Supper" was a song I had originally done produced by my friend Khompono. There is a conversation I want to have with it. The first verse was slower, with me just speaking on specific things. Some of those things can be kind of cryptic. The idea was like, you have all this stuff happening in the world. You have people selling drugs, you have people going out and killing for drugs, you have people fornicating, people cheating and people fighting. War, famine, poverty: all these things going on. We're bearing witness to it. At the end of the day, as a believer, are you engaging in that culture? 

The "Last Supper" is this idea of "who are you going to break bread with during the last days?" Are you going to be breaking bread with people who need it the most, or are you going to be too timid to do so? Even in the chorus, it talks about "While I break bread with those who ain't fed, Lord I'm so scared." It's depicting these images of the end times. 

The second verse is where the related artwork stems from; this track has Judas depicted with a golden head. The second verse says, now that you set this tone of who you're going to break bread with, where does that self-idolatry come into play? When I look at idolatry of self, I think of Judas, because of what he did. He essentially sacrificed the Savior for himself and made an idol of himself. He knows Jesus is the Son of God, he knows He's salvation, but Judas is more into putting himself in place of that. It's the story of someone who has fallen, someone going through the motions, and at the end of course is that redemption and acknowledgement that there is only one King, and that's Jesus. At the end of the day, when we're in the Last Supper (we're in it now), who are you breaking bread with? The people that need it, or will you be an idol of self and sacrifice the Savior? 

When you kind of look at the way the EP's track listing is laid out, it starts with the "Absolutes"--what's right and wrong? That leads into the "Last Supper," talking about the state of humanity and the state of the individual. "Wolves" discusses how that aspect of the world has gotten into CHH, with the rest of the track kind of telling that story. 
 
Something I thought was really dope was the individual artwork from track to track. You don't see that a lot. Who did the artwork, and what was that inspired by? 

I did all the artwork myself. The artwork was inspired as I thought about "Absolutes," with right and wrong, truth and not truth, what is absolute truth? The original concept came to mind from things we know are not absolute truth that we create idols out of. Each song has artwork associated with it of what we would create that idol to be, or what the thesis of that song is. 

The first track "Absolutes" has a golden calf. The golden calf could represent a lot of things, but it ultimately represents a false god. "Last Supper," Judas is an idol of self. "Wolves," it's just an idol of a golden wolf mounted on the wall, a prized possession--which could be ego, could be your affluence or your fame. That kind of stuff. The thesis of each song is kind of painted around the object which is made of gold, and that in turn is the idol that people are engaged with.

It's a challenge to navigate creating really dope, God-glorifying art that's going to be relevant on all levels, from the mixing to the production to the lyric choices to the artwork, even to the way it's printed or the way it's distributed. We do a disservice when we just say, "this is the standard, I'm just going to give in to the standard because that's what everyone is doing." 

I have a desire on my heart to present what I am discussing in every aspect, as much as I can. There are no music videos that I've done for any of this music yet, because I'm still wrestling with how I am going to portray this the most effectively, the most professionally and obviously with a budget in mind. That's a process. When someone gets something that a lot of effort was put into, it really stays with them, versus something that just may be in and out of their life. I think people really value music. I'm hoping and praying that the effort I put into it, that God would use that to bless people even more abundantly in some kind of way. 

You've kind of bridged away from the standard CHH of trap music, and I compare you to the likes of artists over at Lamp Mode Recordings, where their music is based on theology. Do you want to speak on why your music is more theological and scriptural based compared to the norm of CHH these days?

I know the music I grew up on was always very challenging and thought-provoking. There are times when the music you can dance to, or music you can get "turnt" to, I don't think it is the most thought-provoking, even though there is a place for it. I think the music I'm called to make is set to stand the test of time in the sense of lyrics and everything that is put into it. 

Like people from Lamp Mode, I can pull up an old S.O. record or an old Shai Linne record, and I can listen to it 5, 6 or 7 years later, and it still has that same impact. I feel the same way about Humble Beast. Even Lecrae's stuff, I feel it has that staying power and staying value. When people get caught up in the trend of popular music, it may take away from that in the long run. Mind you, you may be able to have a profound impact with someone in the short run with that. Especially if they're transitioning from what's popular in the mainstream to what's popular in this genre. If you're going from hip-hop with a lot of cursing and transitioning into CHH, it might be a little bit smoother if you have a sound that is similar or representative of that trap sound. For me, that's just not what I'm called to do. I think the music that I do put out, I think it's going to touch people and effect people, I pray, for years to come. If God wills it, it's going to move. If He says it's not relevant anymore, that's fine. 

I feel the music that we put out should be representative of who we serve and the quality that He's called us to actually have. When someone listens to my stuff, even if they do not like it, I want it to make that impression of like, "wow! This dude is a Christian, and he cares about his art to a high degree." In 5, 6, 7 years, the music that I put out now will still have that relevance and staying power and won't be something like, "that sound is like played out." I don't want to point fingers or say some people may sacrifice that just for that trendy sound, but that's not something I'm called to do. 

How do you find value in listening to secular/mainstream artists like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J. Cole, while filtering through all the vulgarity?

It's kind of a mix of things. However, mainly for me it's varied seasons of taste. If I go into listening like a Kendrick Lamar album, I'm totally prepared to be like, "okay, there is going to be vulgarity, there is going to be topics I do not agree with, but I'm not going to make it something I put on repeat for 24 hours a day." I can't do that for myself. 

If you look at the majority of the stuff I listen to, it's largely instrumental. Straight up, I notice if I listen to a lot of secular music and I listen to it on repeat constantly, I'll end up falling into a habit of saying things or doing things that are out of character for me.  

It's not so much I want to listen to this to stay relevant or be up to speed on what's going on. Sometimes, I listen to music that I'm really not that fond of. I go in with the mindset of I'd love to hear how he would approach this on his flow, I'd love to hear the lyrics he is using or rhyme patterns that he's using or how it's mixed. How the engineer puts stuff together sonically, or how the producer changes up instrumentation. A lot of it is like, they do this really well, and I want to pull that piece of it into what I'm doing. 

You always have to be mindful of what you're getting yourself into. I look at it very similar to like eating out. If you go out to McDonalds three times a day, you're going to put on weight and might have health problems. If you go out maybe once or twice a week, that's going to be a little bit different of an experience. Maybe mentally prepare yourself and be like, "hey, I'm not going to be making this a habit, maybe I'm just going to do this right now."

On that same note, there are CHH artists that I listen to on a daily basis that maybe counter it, that give me that taste of the same inspiration, and I'm able to enjoy myself comfortably. That's coupled with a lot of instrumental music. You definitely have to be mindful. I'd be very concerned if I was going to perform at a show, or if I was getting ready to serve in any type of ministry capacity, and someone was playing music with a lot of vulgarity in it. Also, if it was a very heavy subject matter with a lot of negative things. Listening to a Kendrick Lamar song is one thing, but listening to--I don't want to throw anybody under the bus--maybe 2 Chainz, it would be very different. I would be mindful of that for anybody that is going to do it. Make sure you're going into it prayerfully, compared to just being like "I want to do this or listen to that."
 
Any kind of teasers you want to give for stuff coming up?

I do have a project coming up with one producer that I could probably reveal, Santosh, he did some stuff with Andy Mineo recently that he dropped. I'm doing a short project with him. Also, I'm doing a project with another producer. I have a lot of things planned for 2017, a lot of new music, a lot of cool features. I'm very excited for 2017 and what it's going to bring. No album yet, the album may come towards the end of 2017. Definitely some new projects, mixtapes, EPs, and all that good stuff. One of the things I'm really excited about is trying out different styles. I'm going to explore, sonically, what I can do. 

My favorite track, the track that most defined me thus far in my career, would either be "My Life" or "A.O.T.V." (Anthem of the Valley) off of the Absolutes EP. Everything about both of those tracks defines how I've wanted to make music for a long time. I've wanted to make music like this, production, style, and flow pattern, for 15 years.