Lavoisier

Hip-Hop Myths
by Matt Hampton , Assistant Editor
Lavoisier’s concerts blend faith and hip-hop.

A Cambria Heights hip-hop artist has become a fixture on the local speaking tour circuit, talking to everyone from middle school students to prisoners in detention facilities.

Lavoisier, who grew up in Coney Island and lost both his parents at a young age, was raised by his sister and lived a troubled youth full of fights on the streets and run-ins with the law everywhere else.

Now, he uses those experiences to try and teach local children the difference between image and reality.

“When I talk to kids, their eyes open as I talk,” he said. “My background is just like the rappers I talk about.”

Lavoisier classifies himself as a gospel rapper, and tries to make sure when he speaks, whether it be in prisons, schools or churches, that the people who hear his message understand there is a difference between living a dangerous lifestyle and making millions of dollars recording music about it.

Since he first started speaking, Lavoisier said he has honed his style, and works hard to present the facts with no embellishment, weaving in religion and his experience into advice he thinks young people can take to heart.

“When I first started, the reaction was ridicule,” he said. “But I’m not just coming from the perspective that negative hip-hop is wrong. I created a curriculum to teach kids about the origins of hip-hop, and I started making the connection (between) this music and what I believe in.”

Lavoisier said that his earnest attitude and his past make it easy for him to connect to an audience.

“From the moment I start talking, you know where I’m from,” he said. “It’s not so much the content, it’s the perspective.”

The gospel rapper has taken his message to the Internet in documentary form recently, posting a 12-minute video on YouTube and MySpace that chronicles his discussions with local youth.

The video, which has received more than 16,000 views since being posted last month, includes lyrics from popular rappers and segments in which Lavoisier breaks down the lyrics, explaining the difference between image and reality.

“Every culture has its evils; it just so happens that I’m black and I’m hip-hop so that’s where I’m coming from,” he said.


http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19148993&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574905&rfi=6 - Queens Chronicle

Christian rapper says that hip-hop lyrics lie
By: Jessica Booth
Posted: 2/28/08
For years, rappers have constantly been under scrutiny for violent song lyrics that glorify a criminal lifestyle. It has been a question of debate on the effects these lyrics have on the kids that listen to them.

While many people have tried to put a stop to these rappers, someone has now taken a different approach-Christian rapper Lavoisier. Through Internet exposure on Web sites such as YouTube and Myspace, Lavoisier has been exposing hip-hop artists as liars and hypocrites and urging kids not to listen to these lies.

Lavoisier, who is also known as "The Rap Terrorist," hails from Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up living a lifestyle similar to those portrayed by today's rappers. He was introduced to hip-hop at the age of six by his older brother, who was later murdered on the streets.

Lavoisier grew up without a family, and turned to a life of crime. He was involved with gangs, drug dealing and robberies. At age 14, he began writing song lyrics because it helped him deal with all of the difficult things he had going on.

Lavoisier began turning to God for help and found a much better way of handling things-religion.

"I started seeing questions I didn't even think there were answers to, but I was finding them in the Bible," Lavoisier says. "I just became convinced about what I was reading."

He soon became a Christian rapper, and his music today is centered around God and how to deal with the struggles of everyday life. Not only does Lavoisier preach about God and Christianity, but he also teaches kids that rappers today are liars and that their music is usually not real.

Lavoisier made a 15-minute documentary where he interviews sixth- and seventh-grade Brooklyn students about what they think about rappers today. His documentary brings up several interesting points and questions, and also directly points out several rappers, such as 50 Cent and T.I. The video quickly gained popularity and just 48 hours after it was posted on YouTube got about 10,000 views.

"A lot of people watching the video don't know I'm a rapper, they just think I'm some guy," Lavoisier says. "In hip-hop the first question is, who do you think you are? You question my credibility, let's question your credibility. I had to begin to address these lifestyles, and these frontin and these fakings."

In the documentary, Lavoisier asks the students if they think that rappers today are real, and most of the students say they don't think that they are. He claims that rappers are liars because of one of two things: either they don't do any of the things they claim to do in their lyrics; or they do, and when pressed by the media about it, say that they don't.

"People say to me that rappers aren't fake, but people aren't really listening to what I'm saying," Lavoisier says. "I'm not saying that they're fake gangsters. What I'm saying is that you can't be a gangster and a good person. Rappers try to say 'I'm a good person, look at what I do.' I say that you can't have it both ways." Therefore, they are putting out a false image that many kids think is real and are trying to emulate.

When asked if they think rap music has a negative influence on kids today, every single student in the room raised their hands "yes." Lavoisier asks the students why they listen to rap music if they know that it is just going to negatively affect them, and the students respond by saying they just like the beats. Lavoisier seems to be trying to make the point that rap music does indeed have a negative impact on children.

"My focus is on the music and the children, and getting music into their heads that gives them something else to chew on, like that reading is cool," Lavoisier says.

"They lying to somebody. Either they lying to you on the records or they lying to the media to protect their identity," Lavoisier says during the documentary.

He finishes the video by claiming that rappers are the biggest hypocrites out there. They rap about living such violent lifestyles and then say that their music is purely for entertainment.

Lavoisier is currently doing interviews, appearances and seminars so that he can get his message across to as many people as possible. He is committed to exposing the top rap artists as liars and hypocrites. He seems to be creating quite a following. It appears that maybe the best person to try to help the rap music industry is a rapper himself.


http://media.www.hofstrachronicle.com/media/storage/paper222/news/2008/02/28/Features/Christian.Rapper.Says.That.HipHop.Lyrics.Lie-3248318.shtml - Hofstra Chronicle

Lavoisier’s in-Studio interview w/ DJ Wade-O on the Wade-O Radio Show. Listen as Lavoisier chops it up with the man that people are calling "The Christian Funk Master Flex.”

http://www.illspot.net/forum/topic/show?id=1271544%3ATopic%3A63298 - The Wade-O Radio Show

DJ Press Play talks to Lavoisier live backstage at the "Emergency Room."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_qV4H04m4 - DJ Press Play

Lavoisier - Rap Terrorist Interview
By: Bert Bocachica
Published: 12/06/07

First of all, thanks for wanting to do this interview. I have known you for years and always digged your stuff. I won't say you are under-rated but perhaps are a victim of the horrible "under-exposed" Christian hip hop industry.

Bert :: Yo, Exposing today's top rappers? What made you go there?

Lavoisier :: Well in general, not just in Hip-hop, I think a lack of human accountability is one of the reasons why our society is breaking down the way it is. Nobody wants to be told anything. But particularly with today's rappers, I GENUINELY believe that rappers know that what they're doing is wrong. As you perform on 106 and Park and you look out at an audience of young teenage kids, and they're singing along to every word of your violent and misogynistic lyrics, you've GOTTA know something is foul about that. Eminem doesn't let his daughter watch his videos or listen to what he puts out (by his own account) yet he can come and perform the same material for other people's children. How? And every time they're called into account in the public arena, they use the excuse that those outside of the culture don't have the right to tell them anything because they don't understand where they're coming from. It paints the picture and gives the impression that EVERY person that is of Hip-hop descent (particularly those of color) endorses, sympathizes and agrees with the criminal behavior and sexually deviant lifestyles.

Bert :: Are you concerned about any negative feedback you might get from the mainstream market? You know YouTube...videos get to the media in a heartbeat.

Lavoisier :: Not really, I've been preaching the gospel of Jesus on buses and trains of NYC since I was a youngsta. I've had people threaten my life and tell me to shut the blankety blank blank up...lol..to my face.

Bert :: You shout out specific names T.I., Jay Z, 50 Cent, BET, MTV...hmm, are you prepared to take them on should they challenge you or give you some back talk on this?

Lavoisier :: Absolutely...that's why I'm the Rap Terrorist...lol

Bert :: Where was this documentary filmed…a public school?

Lavoisier :: No, it was filmed in a private school in Brooklyn, NY.

Bert :: OK, on a side note.... I have to ask...you always wear your ministry logo and carry around your AOmega Military poster around. Why's that? You even had some people holding a banner during one of your sets at a Rap Fest...fill us in on the concept behind that..

Lavoisier :: Sure thing; well the name of the record company and ministry that my wife and I started is called AOmega Global Military. Jesus said in the book of His Revelation (1:8 and 11) that He is the Alpha and the AOmega; the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. When I was trying to come up with a name, I told the Lord that I wanted a name that REALLY glorified Him and that's what He gave me.

Lavoisier :: We're a staff/family of 6 and are committed to building God's Kingdom through biblical principles of discipleship, accountability, diligent study of the scriptures, etc. We're trying to build a name that's synonymous with integrity. With so much falsehood and erroneous doctrines of demons out there, I can't vouch for EVERY one that raps in the name of the Lord, but if I can establish a name and wave a flag that let's people know, when you see this red seal, Jesus is in it, then I think I've done a good thing...A's up.Lol

Bert :: Were the students hand-picked? They seem to all be of African American descent.

Lavoisier :: No, not individually, but I DID want to talk to kids that 'look' most like the rappers and feel like they identify with the rappers the most. I believe the one's that see themselves in the rappers the most are the one's being most adversely affected.

Bert :: What are you doing with your ministry that can be a solution or way out for these kids? You know, we expose the lies to them but what are you doing to put the truth in their hands and hearts? Basically, was there a follow up or is there a part 2 in the works?

Lavoisier :: Y'know that's a really good question. Although it's not shown on the finished product, I actually preached the Gospel to these kids and declared the Word of God to them. I gave a call for salvation and the ENTIRE CLASS raised they're hands and accepted the Lordship of Jesus. I spoke to them about how the Bible says "What you behold you become" and "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." At the end I gave them all free gospel hip hop cd's and made myself available for contact through myspace, etc.

Bert :: You mention rappers talking about stuff in their lyrics but not really living those lives. Doesn't that happen in Christian hip hop as well? Rappers portraying a holy lifestyle but then acting foul when they off the mic? Not going to church? Bad relationships with their spouses etc.? How is it different or is it different?

Lavoisier : - Illspot.net