Andy Mineo has made waves in the mainstream and Christian music worlds with recent comments that he'd like to connect with Kanye West.
Mineo—part of Lecrae's Reach Records artist roster, one of the best-selling Christian rap artists of 2013 and a multiple WE LOVE CHRISTIAN MUSIC AWARDS nominee—told MTV this week that he is inspired by Kanye's "unique place in his faith journey."
"I'd love to get in a room with Kanye at some point, have a conversation, and see if something cooks up," he told MTV News on Jan. 7. "Obviously he's a legend already. His track record is amazing and ... seeing his live show I'm like, 'Wassup? What's going on with you, man?' I think it would a great conversation and obviously a collaboration over that would be dope," he said.
The comments caused mixed reaction from Mineo's fans on Facebook. While some people said Mineo's reaching out was an example of his being "salt and light" to the world, others took issue with the rapper's interest.
"There is a huge difference working at a job, going to school and collaborating with the world," one commenter wrote. "We as Christians do need to be careful who we hang with, certain jobs we can't work at but trying to make Christ and satan coexist doesn't work. Christ reached out but didn't conform."
Another commenter evoked one of Mineo's songs in his support: "You go, Andy. Go where the wild things are. Some of you people on this thread are summed up in one of Andy's lines in 'Wild Things': 'I talk about Jesus and all the Christians love me. I walk like Jesus, now they wanna judge me ain't it funny?'"
Mineo, who currently is performing on the six-week Roadshow Tour, had this to say to MTV about his personal ministry to mainstream hip-hop: "I think my presence in hip-hop, if we were able to mix it up would lead to some good conversation, probably some good music too. A lot of these dudes grew up in churches, a lot of these dudes have some kind of history, but they refuse to talk about it and that might create some space for us to talk about it on record. I think that would be really cool to see happen in hip-hop."
