Our friend, YB, sat down with JBo from the BOOST morning show to talk about his life growing up with a father who attended church but didn’t reflect Christ. Because of this, his siblings wanted nothing to do with God. YB grew up making a conscious decision not to follow God even though he believed he was real. Check out this amazing testimony of how God transformed his heart from being indifferent to a sold-out Christian.
View this video with YB, and other interviews with BOOST artists videos on the BOOST Radio YouTube Channel.
YB Interview Transcription
YB:
So grew up not in a Christian home. My father was very active in the church and he was the loudest, he clapped the loudest, but when he got home, he lived a completely different life. So all of my older siblings, it’s eight of us total. So four down the middle, four older, and then the four younger.
JBo:
Wow.
YB:
The four older wanted nothing to do with God because it was like, if that’s what Christianity looks like, I want no parts. Well then me coming up, I always knew that God was real, but I had made a conscious decision that I didn’t want to follow him because I knew that came with a cost. So I was like, I’d just rather ride the fence. So I did that all the way up until about my 11th grade year. And then God, I start to feel the tug of like, hey, I have more for you. You making this decision to ride the fence. You don’t know the launch pad that I have set up for you. So I started to see opportunities, and at this point I’m known as a class clown. Teachers see me and they sigh, they like, “Oh man.”
JBo:
Oh, here he come.
YB:
One teacher, she was like, “Hey, I hear about you on campus and I know what they say about you. I believe that there’s more,” she said, “so here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to put my name on you and I want you to write a rap, and I’m going to broadcast it on the school news for black history.” And I’m like, wait, what? So, of course, excited. I get home, I write the song. I had a producer do all of that and the song plays on the news maybe 48 hours later. And as it’s playing on school news, whole school, everybody’s looking at the TV and when the song goes off, it’s quiet in the class and they look at the back of the class.
JBo:
Attention on you.
YB:
And they like, “I know him. I have no idea who is that.”
And then that’s when it opened my eyes like, man, maybe I can be an encouragement. Maybe I can be a light. So from high school to college, that’s where God is just molding. And then of course, January 1st, 2013, I said, “Yes” at Passion and we haven’t looked back.
JBo:
We, you and the Holy Spirit.
YB:
Yo. Yeah.
JBo:
So run this back real quick. You had said that you didn’t want to follow God because you knew it required a lot more.
YB:
Yeah.
JBo:
At the time, what do you think that required of you?
YB:
So for me, just my nature, I have a obsessive nature. If I’m going to the gym, I’m going six times a week. I’m not going to just do X, Y, and Z.
JBo:
Yeah. One rest day. That’s all you get.
YB:
Right. So for me, I’m like, if I follow God, I want to be fully committed. Well, I still had a lot of my own desires. I enjoyed being a class clown. I enjoyed not applying myself. So when I said I knew it came with a cost, I knew it was going to cost me stepping up with character. I knew it was going to cost me moving with integrity, and I got to respect my teachers now. And that’s what I say is I can’t say I follow God and then my life is still all out of whack.
JBo:
Sounds to me like you’re saying you felt like you had to fix yourself before you can go to God.
YB:
I wouldn’t say fix myself, but I knew if I say, “God, I’m going do X,” I got to get in line with what he… Cause there’s a bar, there’s an expectation.
JBo:
Oh yeah, there’s a standard.
YB:
So I can’t just be, oh, they see me on Wednesday night, but man, Thursday morning, man, here you go again. So I knew that I didn’t want to get off of that fence at that time. Yeah.
JBo:
I respect that because it’s easy to be like… And I think especially in the country that we live in, people be like, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian,” because it’s just like your grandma was a Christian. You know what I’m saying? You went to church every once in a while, but there’s actually the standard when you’re actually living that lifestyle. So I respect when you were like, “I don’t want to commit myself because I know there’s a standard.”
YB:
Yes.
JBo:
Now you said it was January 1st.
YB:
2013.
JBo:
So what grade were you in then?
YB:
Oh, so that was at the top of my second year of college.
JBo:
Okay. Okay. So 11th grade, teacher looked at you and said, “There’s something more to you.”
YB:
Oh, praise the Lord.
JBo:
And she opened that door for you to start rapping and kind of-
YB:
Yeah.
JBo:
So you weren’t doing Christian rap?
YB:
No, no, no. I was doing regular rap for years. Yeah, so I started rapping. Free styling is how I started all of this from age eight. I mean, pretty much up then. But at this whole time, I’m just looking at Soldier Boy, I’m looking at all of these artists at that time frame that was just making a lot of noise. And I was making mix tapes and doing all of that stuff, but it was never for God. It was never for the greater purpose. So then when she heard about it, she was just like, mm, you got something to talking about. And it’s not what you’ve been talking about.
JBo:
I’m telling you sometimes I know growing up, I just needed that one person. And even now as an adult, if somebody says, “Hey, there’s more, there’s just more you’re not putting out. You’re doing great, but there’s more.” And not for the sense of achieving for them to applaud me, but just they see something in me that God has place there. And it’s impactful as a child and as an adult. So you go to Passion.
YB:
Yeah.
JBo:
Now did you get dragged there or did… I mean, cause you said God was working and he was tugging.
YB:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
JBo:
But you found Christ at Passion so that means somebody had to drag you.
YB:
Yeah. So 11th grade year, I’m like, okay, I want to follow God. He loves all of me, but I ain’t made the commitment.
JBo:
I hear you.
YB:
So I go to college, and when I get on a college campus now, at this time, we’re talking 2010, 2011. Christianity just ain’t something like, oh, I’m excited to be a follower.
JBo:
That’s facts.
YB:
But when I get on campus, I’m seeing real deal Christians and they not popular. And they getting like, oh, these people doing X and they making fun of them. But for me, I’m looking at, man, they still show up the next day and they still serving pizza and they still doing X. So I’m like, the class clowns and the people that’s doing all that, that’s easy. But the people that’s showing up boldly that keep serving y’all, I’m intrigued with them. So I got closer to the real Christians on campus and they was like, “Hey, come to the college ministry.”
When I got to the college ministry, I met Drew Foster. That’s the guy who was just like, “Hey.”
JBo:
Come on.
YB:
And college student, you don’t really have no money. I’m in a small town. There’s nothing to do. So when he called me, this is after maybe nine months of just following, showing up to college ministry, he said, “Hey, I pay for your food. I pay for your travel. I pay for your hotel. Just give me a yes that you’ll come.”
JBo:
Come on.
YB:
And I said, “Go where?” And he said, “To Passion.” And I’m green, I’m like, “What’s Passion?”
JBo:
I got chills. I’m really like I got chills throughout my whole body.
YB:
He tell me what Passion is and man, he paid for everything. He kept his word, but when I got there, 60,000 people praising God?
JBo:
Fire.
YB:
60,000.
JBo:
College.
YB:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, 60,000 college students.
JBo:
Right. Not your grandma, not your auntie.
YB:
Oh yeah.
JBo:
People who look and think like you.
YB:
Exactly.
JBo:
Who going through the same thing you’re going through.
YB:
Exactly. So when they cut the music out in the stadium and it’s just voices, I’m in that moment and I’m like, this can’t just be a brand, or this just can’t be something that people say, “Well, I have nothing else to do. I’m going to just…” No, no, no, no, no. This is real. And yeah, that was a easy decision for me. Easy decision.
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