The leaves on the trees recently began dropping, and so did the hip-hop beats at Biola. On Friday, Nov. 4, the annual Sola Soul concert attracted a crowd of about 200 — a conglomeration of students eager to worship God through hip-hop, rap, slam poetry, and dance.

At 7:00 p.m. the Sola Soul party started. Alain Datcher, 2011 Biola graduate and previous MCR Chair, was the MC of the night; he came out on stage rocking a fake mustache for “No Shave November.” Datcher pumped up the crowd by teaching them what he called “Gospel-Aerobics,” including two-step lessons and making sure everyone put their hands up in the ay-er.

Artists use hip-hop to glorify God

“I love Sola Soul, and everything it represents — Christian hip-hop,” said Datcher. “Holy hip-hop is a genre I’ve been blessed by. It changed my life, so, when Sola Soul comes around, I’m always down to help.”

JÜK, the first rapper on stage, had twenty minutes to wow the audience with his rapping and dancing. He rapped “Matthew 5,” a track off his album, “Hip Hop Holy Bible,” which was released in July of 2010. He encouraged crowd participation by inviting everyone to take out their New King James Version of the Bible and rap along with him.

From the first act, it became evident that the night was all about glorifying God, not esteeming the performers themselves. JÜK’s lyrics set the tone: “It ain’t about this white dude trying to rap. It’s all about Jesus.”

Concert sends encouraging message to audience

The following acts included a spoken word poet named Eric Vaughn, a 21-year-old UCLA student with over 50,000 views on his YouTube videos. Vaughn poured out his passion for Christ through his poetry.

Performing after him was the Catalyst Dance Team, who did a routine to “Beautiful Things” by Gungor. Prior to the performance, the Catalyst Pastor said, “We want to tell you that there is a God who wants to breathe new life into you if you would just let Him.”

GS, the newest member of God Over Money, performed a song and then invited Bizzle on stage to rap with him. Bizzle got to close out the Christian hip-hop concert and took the time to exhort the audience in between songs, encouraging people to follow their dreams and trust in God’s will for their lives.

“I really enjoyed the energy of Sola Soul because of how pure it was,” said junior Nicole Adams. “To see such genuine artistic expression was really refreshing, and I was more drawn into the concert than I expected to be.”