Teen idols come and go. They have the looks, the hits, and the adoring fan base to propel them to superstardom, but it’s all a man-made illusion: As soon as the music fades and the machine behind them ceases to operate, they quickly die out, their lifespan reduced by the sinking sand on which they’re built.
When
21:03 first hit the urban gospel scene in 2005 with their debut,
PAJAM Presents Twenty One O’ Three, they were slowly finding their voice and place in an already cluttered marketplace. Their sophomore follow-up in 2008,
Total Attention, cemented their identity, assuring the world they were not to be forgotten by racking up a Stellar Award and a Grammy Award nomination.
Evin Martin, Torrence Greene and Jor’el Quinn have grown up right before our eyes and the maturity that comes from experiencing the ups and downs of life is heard throughout their third CD,
Evolved: From Boys to Men, releasing Tuesday, September 6, 2011.
Recently, NewReleaseTuesday.com met up with the Grammy Nominated group 21:03 in Boise, Idaho where they were performing at the Youth and Adult Empowerment Concert at Agape Christian Worship Center. Sisters, and guest NRT contributors, Cate Morris and Promise Joy asked them about their ministry and upcoming album.
We are so excited that your new album is finally coming out! Share with us a little about this project.
Evin Martin: Our new album is called Evolved: From Boys to Men and is releasing on PAJAM who is Walter Kearney, Jay Moss, and Paul Allen with Verity Records. The album is us coming of age and showcasing our growth in maturity, spiritually, our growth vocally, our ministry, professionally and more. The title is significant in that everyone has an evolution in their life. You grow as a believer as as a young man, evolving from boys to men; or from a girl to a woman. We have songs on the album that speak to a lot of the things that young people deal with regardless of culture. We all have those moments that shape our faith--those moments that cause you to go from just hearing to believing. And that’s what this album symbolizes.
Jor’el Quinn: I am excited to see our audience’s response to this album. We believe that our audience has grown with us through the years. Those who started off listening to us when they were in their teens are in their twenties now. We have had these life changing experiences and we trust that they have as well and what we have learned can encourage them. It can be a testimony. It was a joy and pleasure recording it and we put our hearts into this record.
Let's talk about some specifics. Are there any songs on the album that identify with your personal stories?
Evin: One of the songs on the album is a personal testimony of mine. The song “Still Here” says that through every adversity, everything I have been through and everything you have gone through, I am still here. And you are still here. That is only because of the goodness and grace and the love of God.
Not too long ago, I lost my mother to Multiple Sclerosis and that was really, really hard. There was a point when I wanted to give up and quit everything. I was angry at God. But He undergirded me, He loved on me and He allowed me to continue. By His grace I continued to minister to young people all across the country. But not too long after that, my father passed of brain cancer. It’s still hard and there are still some days I don’t want to get out of bed, but the song is true that says
“I’m still here” because of the blood of Jesus. The Bible says we have a High Priest who was touched with the feelings of my infirmities (
Hebrews 4:15). Because of that sacrifice, He paid for every pain I would feel. Every ounce of His blood was shed for me and those hard times.
“I am still here because the Blood still has its power.” That’s an example of me going from faith to faith…of the evolutions from boy to man.
Torrence Greene: We were involved in the writing and production of this album and all of the songs came from the heart and from our experiences. The one that stands out to me would also be “Still Here” like Evan just mentioned. I also recently went through something. We were coming back from Buffalo, NY and my appendix ruptured on the plane. It was nothing short of a miracle that I made it off the plane to the house then to the hospital. I waited another hour and they finally saw me and rushed me right into the Emergency Room. They said I was supposed to be dead. I’m thankful for God’s covering that He has over my life, and especially the prayers of the righteous—the prayers of my brothers and my sisters, and my family. That song really does minister to me. I am still here because of the Blood that covers, the Blood that keeps, that Blood that Jesus shed for us.
Jor’el: There is a song on the album called “Hear Your Voice” and it talks about getting into a place where you are able to discern God’s voice from all the other voices that you hear. We are a generation heavily involved in social networking. We like to make friends, and we talk to a lot of different people. Sometimes our vision and hearing can get cloudy. We have movies, music, tweets, Facebook messages. We’ve got a lot of things coming in and things can get jumbled up. One Sunday we were at Straight Gate International Church in Detroit, Michigan, and Bishop Mary was preaching on having anointed ears to hear the voice of God, and I was just sitting there thinking
"I need this message to go." I can always buy the audio tapes and DVDs, but I needed it in a musical form. So we were in the studio a few days later discussing what we wanted to talk about. What did we want to address on this album? We felt it necessary to encourage people to hear the voice of God and be able to say
"this is God; this is not." So from that was birthed this song “Hear your voice”. It says I just have to shut off my BlackBerry sometimes. ‘BBing (Blackberrying) is sweet and cool but sometimes I can’t talk to you 'cuz you’re not saying what I need to hear.
I need to hear your voice God, give me anointed eyes to see and anointed ears to hear so that I can filter out the junk. It has a really nice beat to it too, but the message is very impacting as well.
You three are not brothers and come from different backgrounds. What kinds of things bring you three together besides music?
Torrence: Laughter. Laughter is one of the biggest things that keeps us going. Being on the road, being away from home can be stressful--living out of a suitcase, going from hotel to hotel and not remembering which hotel key goes to which room. We get up to minister and then have to pack our bags and take long trips back home. It can be stressful sometimes. The laugher that we share with each other is what keeps us going. Jor’el is the biggest comedian, and the funniest dude you could ever meet. Laughter just springs out of his pores.
Jor’el: We share good food. We can’t be singing all the time, you know. Tonight, after the show, we’ve got to eat! So, we share laughter and we like to eat!
Evin: Our church upbringings are the same for Jor’el and I—we go to the same church. We have a great relationship with Torrence’s church too--Greater Grace Temple. I not only see these guys on the road, or at rehearsals, I see them at church. Being brought up in church gives us a lot of things in common.
What are the ways you maintain your spiritual walk with God on the road?
Evin: I have the Bible on my Blackberry with awesome translations. Having technology with me is so good. I listen to Podcasts of Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen. But beyond that, prayer is important and worship. I fill my iPod with good music. We try finding messages and beauty in everything. We talk to one another and let iron sharpen iron.
We also serve. We all serve at our own churches. We don’t just “go”. I am the youth worship leader for the youth department of Straight Gate Church and Jor’el is the music director. We are working with the kids and young people and help cultivate their lives.
Jor’el: Because we work in the youth department, we are able to stay relevant to what the issues are that 16-19 year olds are going through. At our rehearsals we get to talk with them and find out what is going on in their lives. We are also going through things or have been through things ourselves, because we are in our early 20’s.
It’s always different being in a hotel room in the morning than being at home. If you have a routine in the morning at home—I get up and pray and shower—it feels different at a hotel. I have to make it intentional. I have to wake up and command my day. I have to make sure that I work my schedule for the day, even if I have to wake up early in the morning and talk to God first. It has to be very intentional. If I don’t, I find myself discombobulated throughout the day. You have to intentionally, read and pray and make a commitment to start your day off with God.
Evin: It’s hard. Sometimes you just don’t feel it. We are always reminded that you can’t pour into other people if you are empty. There are times I have been burned out. Sometimes I don’t feel like praying, but I have to get back into the Word and let it work like jumper cables on my heart.
21:03 With Interviewers Promise Joy and Cate Morris
