KJ-52 is a rare find in todays Christian hip hop world. A Caucasian American MC who has risen to prominence in a largely black arena, he is at once a respectful student of the art form and a genuine hip hop innovator, stretching the boundaries of both its sound and shape. And regardless of where hes workingfrom churches and huge Christian festivals like Festival Con Dios 2003 to the heart of the hip hop club scene, KJ can hold his own, with ease, against the best rappers in the business. Indeed, theres nothing that smacks of the poseur in KJ; rather, everything about his work screams the real deal.

This credibility has served to open doors for KJ-52 to media, to his peers and to his fans and KJ has met this opportunity with purpose. This sense of mission, more than anything else, is what sets KJ apart from the pack, driving his commitment to both grow as an artist and to use that art to communicate something of the good news of Christs gospel to his audience.

This passion for great art and true ministry is aptly displayed in KJ-52s new release Its Pronounced Five-Two, a cutting-edge 16-song set that perfectly captures the range that this extraordinary MC brings to his music. From wildly self-effacing humor and celebrations of forgiveness to deadly serious reflections on subjects like divorce and suicide, KJ has found both a way to make his music at once unquestionably accessible while allowing it to offer profound insights into life and, most importantly, faith. This combination positions Its Pronounced Five-Two to become among the most important and biggest selling hip hop releases of the year.

Perhaps KJs strongest asset, apart from the obvious compassion for his audience that drives his music, is the absolute respect (and delight) he brings to the hip hop form. KJ is clearly a student of the genre who has found a way to integrate the best of its various roots, while crafting something that is genuinely groundbreaking. Theres a near reverence in KJ when he talks about his place as a rapper in the hip hop pantheon. Hip hop is a black house, he explains, and Im a guest in it. Its more than just an art form, its a culture, and Im humbled to get to be a part of it.

This growing thoughtfulness and selflessness has led KJ to a lyrical approach that is always sophisticated, at times whimsical, and decidedly kind-hearted, reflecting an approach to writing that is clearly motivated by his interactions with his growing fan base. While reluctant to impose a specific agenda on his artistic expressions, it is clear that KJs intent is always to encourage, edify and challenge. In short, KJ has come to understand that an artists first goal is to serve both his music and his audience. This commitment manifests itself throughout this new release, disarming at first with its whimsy, and then, just as effectively, in its penetrating insight.

I use humor is a means to open the audience up to the more intense things in some of my songs. After all, 70 minutes of hard core heavy hitting on big-time issues is tough to take, at a show or on disc. By interjecting levity into the mixliterally and figurativelyI give us all a chance to take a deep breath. It makes the hip hop experience much more authentic, ultimately, in the same way that not blinking at the rougher edges of our culture does. Mind you, you dont have to scratch very deeply, even in the whimsical songs, to find deeply serious subject matter.

Its inevitable, too, that a young, supremely talented rapper in 2003 who happens to be white like KJ-52 will be compared to that other white rapper. The towering commercial and artistic achievements of Eminem are not to be sneezed at, after all. And for an artist like KJ, who is aspiring to the same level of artist excellence that Em has achieved but from a markedly different point of view the comparisons certainly could grow tiresome. And they did bother KJ for a time, but hes come to understand that they represent a kind of high praise for the Florida-based MC.

The comparisons have served as fertile ground for KJs art as well as he reflected on what he would say to Em in em if ever he had the chance. The first fruits of that reflection came with Dear Slim from last years Collaborations a track that produced a veritable frenzy of media interest, including a well-publicized, if one-sided, bit of exposure on MTVs Total Request Live. The song is followed on Its Pronounced Five-Two by Dear Slim Part Two, which continues KJs one-sided dialogue with Slim (Em has yet to respond to KJs songs).

"but a lot of people they just seem to get the song confused
see what I say to you I know it might even sound funny
but I never came at you just to paint you as the enemy
it wasn't about hating you or starting some controversy
it wasn't about blaming you or trying to make some money
I dont claim to know everything that youve experienced
Man I dont even know if youll even ever be hearing this
but I said it once and I still hold to this
is that a life without Christ is still a life that is never fixed"

The problem was, says KJ, that people understood Dear Slim as a big diss on him, when that wasnt my intent at all. It was really a reflection on the responsibility of the artist, and my heart for Em, my desire that the pain and confusion in his life which he expresses in his music might find their answer in a relationship with Christ, and that he express that to his audience instead of just giving them back that same anguish and confusion.

In a world that is largely ego-driven, KJ-52 is a rapper consumed by compassion for his audience. It is this commitment to being an agent of grace in the midst of a decidedly decadent and unyielding culturethat marks Its Pronounced Five-Two as a work of extraordinary import.