Religion and Hip Hop have had a tumultuous relationship to say the least. With the misogyny, materialism and other vices that a lot of artists have shown over the years, religion and Hip Hop have more than once found themselves as adversaries. With that being said, there are Christians who live this culture and express their love for both God and Hip Hop in their music.

One of those artists is Armond out of Columbus, Ohio by way of the world. He went from using Hip Hop as a coping mechanism to now using it as a way to truly channel his creativity and just let people know that being yourself is the true meaning of "keeping it real" and this will be on full display with the release of his new album "Dreaming Out Loud" which drops on February 9th. I recently got a chance to interview him where he spoke on his beginnings, Christian Hip Hop and what keeps him grounded musically.


the9elements: Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Armond: My name is Armond. Some of you might've known me as epideMIC, I went by that alias from 2002-2007. I'm a writer, a speaker, an artist and father of two. I enjoy hamburgers, day old popcorn from the movie theatre and peanut butter M&Ms. I have a project "Dreaming Out Loud" that's being released February 9th courtesy of Elohim Media Group.

T9E: Your faith is a very important part of your life. It has a very heavy influence on your writing, especially for some of your latest projects. Have you worked with any other artists who may make gospel music or religious heavy music?

Armond: Honestly, nah not really. And that's not to say I wouldn't, because I'm sure in the future I will. The reason I used to do music was to hype myself up. I'm the illest, I'm the best. When really it was a front. I was a scared little boy. I didn't know who I was. I tried to authenticate myself through lies I'd tell in my lyrics. It's like nowadays, I see the same thing in a LOT of MCs and people in general.

My purpose for making music now is to show people it's ok to be you. We were all created different, yet we're choosing to act like robots. I think Christian Hip Hop has potential, but there's an identity crisis within the genre. You've got cats sounding like (Lil') Wayne and Jay. Then you've got other cats sounding like Kurtis Blow and Mellie Mel. Then again society as a whole has an identity crisis. People have to know who they are before any type of real change can occur.

T9E: Many artists credit going to church with having an influence on their music in general, is that something that you have experienced as well?

Armond: I heard somebody say "saying you're a Christian because you go to church is no different than standing in a garage and saying you're a car". The people in your life that you love, they are who they are because of the time you spent with them & the experiences you shared with them. And that's what God wants with all of us. Learn about God; who He is, what makes Him tick, the things He has for you. You can't just sit in a crowd once a week for 2 hours and experience everything that God embodies. While church is definitely necessary, what you do once you leave is just as important. You may be the only Bible somebody reads. You can go to church & once you leave nobody would have any idea that you even stepped foot in one. It's like taking a shower and you still stink once you get out.

Honestly a lot of Christians share the same disdain for religion that others do. We know the institution of church has become stagnant. We see the self-righteous and money hungry pastors. We see the lukewarm people condemning everybody to hell and still sleeping around. I don't think the world has really seen who God truly is. At the same time you'll never hear me claim to be perfect. We've convinced the world once you become a Christian you're instantly perfect. That's a lie. I still have problems, I still struggle, as a matter of fact I probably have MORE problems than you'd assume. But I'm good with knowing that God isn't gonna beat me up for falling short. It happens.

T9E: You've been working with the produced Doc for a minute, since about 2007. Are you guys personal friends, what is that relationship like? You guys seem to have good chemistry on records.

Armond: Doc's a good dude. There's a mutual respect between us. We just trust each other. I can't get beats from just anybody, I'm very picky. The glove's gotta fit. There's a trust factor. I trust Doc's ear for my style & Doc trusts whatever I do to his beats. If he sends me a wack beat I'll tell him. If my song is trash, he'll tell me. We push each other to get better because we wanna see each other succeed. He produced my first single "Rearview", as well as my favorite song on the album "Child Of God". We're gonna be doing a LOT more work together this year.

T9E: Who else have you worked with in Ohio and is there any artist in particular that you think have a chance to blow up on a national level?

Armond: Being a military brat and having served in the Air Force myself, I've been fortunate enough to travel around the world and work with a lot of artists. From Toronto to Chicago to Japan to Germany, DC, Connecticut, Turkey, NY, everywhere. I've only been in Ohio for maybe a year and a half. I think nowadays the goal for a lot of independent artists isn't even to "blow".

You look at Drake and he had the perfect setup and he's the #1 guy right now. But then you look at artists like Joe Budden who establish a solid fanbase, sell 20-30k everytime and do well off of that. The music biz is wide open right now. If major labels don't totally overhaul the business, they'll be gasping for air very soon.

T9E: What is the number one thing you find annoying in Hip Hop right now?

Armond: Only one?!?!?!?!? I would say the internet allowing a flood of mediocre music. It's getting harder to comb through the blogs to find dope artists. Everybody's got a youtube, everybody's got a twitter and everybody's trying to squeeze through the same door. Nobody's creative with their approach. What separates you from 9 million other artists?

T9E: Where can people find out more about you?

Armond: I blog…a lot. My website is www.armondwakeup.com, you can order "Dreaming Out Loud" there. Also I'm always on Twitter acting a fool all day at www.twitter.com/armondwakeup.

T9E: Koast wants to know if you still have the old "Hova" freestyle from back in the day? He said you can send it directly to him on twitter.

Armond: Nah I don't. Doc has it but he's gotta look for it. I don't have any of my old SOHH stuff. I don't want anybody making an album off that either (laughs).