Disciple (aka D.I.)

Marc Auguste aka Disciple is quoted on his website as saying, "My music is for one purpose only. To bring praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to minister to the people who are not fortunate to know him." On the evidence of this album he is a man of his word. The title 'Day 3' was inspired by the fact that on the third day when Christ rose again he commanded his apostles to "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28 v19). There can be few rap albums which carry such a prominent and clear gospel message. Aided by a clear (but competent) flow which makes it is easy for even a listener not well endowed with hip-hop to make out the words Disciple does not stray from his mission. Making it clear to the listener that Jesus is the only way, truth and light. Even rarer is the fact his rhymes are backed up by great thumping bass lines guaranteed to get your head nodding and comparable to much of what mainstream producers have to offer. Perhaps the album's only weakness is it could have been two or three tracks shorter. Towards the end of 'Day 3' the beats and concepts start to get a little repetitive, but that said ultimate track "Champ" is a marvellous finale with its more melodic tune and Disciple reminding listeners for one last time that "J-J-J-J-Jesus" is the only way. - Paul Woodward

Straight Ahead Ministries is a national Christian Para-church organization that works with juvenile offenders in lock-up facilities and when they return to their community. We have been in existence in Boston since 1987. Recently our Boston site was chosen as a national demonstration site by Public Private Ventures under the Department of Labor and Juvenile Justice in Washington D.C. for continuing research.

Mark Auguste has become a very important part of the chemistry of our work in Boston. We have a very diverse staff of 10 who listen to Christian Rap and Hip Hop but we all believe that Mark is the best we have heard. All the youth in the lock-up facilities in Boston that have heard Mark all want his C.D. He is able to communicate the Gospel to the high-risk youth that we work with like nobody else can. His music is anointed and crosses over or rather breaks-through the race and culture walls in our facilities. He is not only anointed but he is a young man of integrity and communicates to us and our kids that he has a passion of Christ and his walk is real.

If I had the funding I would offer Mark a full-time job with us just producing music and ministering in our detention centers. Just a few months ago Mark was able to perform in the Judge Connelly Detention Center where all the different programs in the facility were able to attend this event. Youth from rival gangs were brought in along with high-level DYS staff as well as the Metro Boston Chaplain who is a Catholic priest. This was a first-time happening in the area. Everyone was impressed with Mark. Most importantly God used him to open up the hearts of the youth present.

If you would like more information feel free to call me on my cell at (617)212-2786. You are welcome to speak with any of our staff at our Boston office.

Sincerely,

Rev. Claire M. Sullivan

Rev. Claire M. Sullivan
Metro Boston Director - Rev. Claire M. Sullivan

To Whom It May Concern,

This letter serves as a recommendation for Marc Auguste also known as “Disciple”. In my two years of working with him in ministry, Disciple has profoundly demonstrated his love for God by reaching out to predominately high risk & troubled inner city youth.

Disciple has ministered through hip-hop, assisting in bible study and developing church services geared towards young people. One of his many contributions to the youth is his dedication to serving Department of Youth Services residents at the Judge Connelly Youth Center in Roslindale, MA. In my time of personally knowing him, Marc has been consistent and effective towards winning souls for the Kingdom of God.

Through the DYS ministry, Disciple has ministered through hip-hop & bible studies with our young. Disciple is not only effective because of his gift of rap, but it’s also how through his message , young people can feel it and relate to it. Through his ministry he encourages the young men to receive God through Christ and lets them know that there is no future in the streets.

Disciple, as many know him, has also come to our church on numerous occasions to minister to our youth. Disciple also held his album release at our church. I and many others truly appreciate the gift of God that resides and operates through the ministry gift of Marc Auguste “The Disciple”.

If you need to speak to me for any reason, please feel free to contact me at the office 617.474.9871 or via email stomp@thekingdomchurch.com.

In His Service,

Min. Jason LaPlanche

Youth Pastor / Director of STOMP Youth & Young Adult Ministry - Min. Jason LaPlanche

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter to endorse Disciple as an artist/minister that would be a great addition to your outreach event. On March 10th, I invited Disciple to be the closing minister in an event that my organization, Arts for the King, hosts here in Connecticut. God definitely used him to minister to the kids that were there, Christian and non-Christian, with his music and his ability to make his testimony relevant to the listener. However, what really impressed me is that during the time of prayer for the kids at the altar, he did not just sit back or got to his merchandise table but he was helping the pastors with praying and encouraging the kids to follow Christ. In short, Disciple is a man that you can trust with a microphone to promote Gospel and not himself.

If you have any further questions or need more info call me at (860) 997-9460.
May God Richly Bless You.

Charles Reece
President of Arts for the King - Charles Reece

Disciple isn’t the first MC to praise God, but he might be the first street-savvy rapper who’s not going to hell.

Since finding salvation as a troublesome teen in ‘94, Boston’s premier bible b-boy has dropped the most gangsta gospel rap imaginable, complete with vivid ghetto imagery, drug charades and profanity-free slanguage. Unlike ordinary gospel singers and Christian rockers, Disciple paints the yin and the yang by juxtaposing his block against the church. Basically, he calls it how God sees it: “It might be me spittin’ the lines, but it’s not me talking’,” he explains in a freestyle.

It’s Saturday night and Disciple’s booked to perform three tracks at the First Haitian Baptist Church on Blue Hill Avenue. He does these types of gigs nearly every other week—headlining bills stacked with traditional singing, dancing church acts. The head minister says the only ground rule is that everybody participates, and within moments the congregation transforms into the livest crowd you’ve ever seen dancing in pews.

When Disciple steps to the altar, church girls get giddy and dudes pump their fists. The cafeteria-grade sound system crackles, but the acoustics in God’s house bang like Olufsen. Young boys sport shiny neckties and grown men pimp their Sunday suits; Disciple sports a giant white T, limited edition size 8 uptowns, loose blue Dickies and a matching fitted—backwards. The gear—like his music and performance—is strictly hip-hop for a reason.

“We minister to hip-hop culture,” Disciple says. “And if you’re going to minister to a culture, you have to speak their language. When you’re rapping, you’re not changing the gospel; you’re just repackaging it in a way that people can hear it and understand it on their own terms. When we rap gospel we basically speak the way we speak and talk the way we talk and still represent God. That’s just us showing that serving the Lord isn’t corny.”

Disciple’s not the first MC or producer to bring integrity to gospel rap. Christian crews such as Mars ILL and L.A. Symphony have garnered tremendous followings in both religious and crossover crowds, and even attracted significant alternative press. In the more conservative tradition that Disciple subscribes to – in which Christ rises in every bar, line and hook—the Philadelphia based Cross Movement holds the crown. “I heard the Movement after I started rapping, but they did inspire me,” Disciple says. “They made me step my game up 100 times over lyrically, spiritually, theology wise and everything else.”

Even though he’s influenced by scripture rappers, Disciple’s approach is unique in its accessibility. On his first album, last year’s Engraved 4-9-1-6 and the upcoming Day 3, he issues pop references (“God brings more home improvement than a half-hour show with Tim Allen”), similes (“Christ was hung up like a cell phone in a basement”) and carefully strung puns (“Without Christ you don’t need to swing in the circus to get trapped with ease”) to deliver his message, which is essentially that if you don’t find salvation you’re yearning for a burning.

Although his only true beef is with Satan, Disciple proudly defends his mission against disbelievers. Paraphrasing a Cross Movement song, he says, “The street feels our hip-hop is too gospel and the church feels our gospel is too street. People in the street say, ‘You can’t rhyme and be nice with it and represent God.’ But we beg to differ. Trying to say that God can’t move you like that is like putting God in a box.” Firing back in the most Christian way he knows how—issuing pity rather than death threats—Disciple even reaches out to the unreachable, suggesting 50 Cent “get saved or die tryin’.”

Considering how much low-grade cliché hip-hop being manufactured in basements from Mattapan to Cambridge, MC’s should hesitate before challenging this particular crusader. He doesn’t hose down crowds with holy water, but Disciple competently holds down Christ and the beat. His backdrops – which are mostly self-produced – are arresting, composed of dizzy keys, awesome bass thuds, anxious snares and synthesized organs; and as far as image, let’s just say he looks more like U-God than he does one of God’s representatives. Disciple says, “The music is only the avenue—Jesus is what I’m trying to get you to see,” but any soulless heretic who digs heavy hip-hop would no doubt enjoy the ride.

With a product that’s a viable alternative for anyone torn between boom-bap and the Lord, a new album dropping December 9, shows booked at 1,500-plus person venues and congregations citywide hungry for his ministry, it seems as if there are infinite reasons to trade the sword for the Lord and the heist for Christ. But if you ask Disciple, there’s only one reason to rep Heaven’s ghetto.

“I’ve been told that if I was a secular rapper I’d have been signed by now,” he says. “My response to that is basically that God died for me, so why would I sell out for him.” It’s tough to argue - CHRIS FARAONE