Apparently the music industry can be taxing on the soul and some of its biggest stars had to make a change. Whether that meant leaving the game entirely or switching up their style they decided to devote their energy to a higher power. Check out some artists and musicians who came to Jesus, Allah, or Moses.
1- Ma$e
Ma$e was on course to be the next star of Bad Boy for a minute. He had a distinct voice and style that we hadn’t heard before. Plus, I know he was a rapper and all but the brotha had one of the cutest smiles this side of heaven. Yes he did. There was a time when Ma$e was featured everywhere. His first solo album, “Harlem World” did very well, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts. (You remember “Feel So Good”!) Then just two years later, after his second album he was ready to give it all up. Ma$e said he felt he was sending a message that was leading people straight to hell. Dang, well that’s deep. He went on to become a born again Christian and pastor. He came back around with a cleaner image in 2004 with “Welcome Back” and “Breathe, Stretch, Shake”. The songs were cute but didn’t do enough to put Ma$e back on top.
2- Loon
Bad Boy changes people. That could be an entire post of it’s own. But dark skin cutie Loon couldn’t get down with the rap game any longer. After a moderately successful rap career (see “I Need a Girl Pt. 1) he left the game to find peace and leave a lifestyle that was becoming less and less pure in his eyes. He’s said that “He was paying for the disease when the cure was free.” Unlike his former Bad Boy Ma$e Loon changed his name to Amir Junaid Muhadith left the rap game alone and now devotes his time to speaking to teenagers. I never really paid too much attention to Loon as a rapper but to see and listen to him speak about his conversion, he seems so grounded and happy. And brotha is still fine, beard and all. See for yourself.
3-Vanity aka Denise Matthews (of Vanity 6)
The emergence of the R&B trio Vanity 6 was about sex from jump. In fact, rumor has it that Prince wanted to name the group Vagina and pronounce it (va-GEE-na). Fortunately that didn’t happen. (You know Prince was very much on the wild side back in the day.) Eventually they toned it down with the name Vanity with a touch of raunch in the number 6, representing the number of breasts in the group. Prince had an extensive relationship with lead singer Denise Matthews which may or may not have influenced her ultimate decision to forgo filming “Purple Rain” and sign with Motown. Matthews had less success with Motown and eventually ended her musical career. But just because her carer was over, Matthews still lived like a rock star. She was addicted to crack cocaine and almost died from its effects on her body. It was this near death experience that influenced her decision to become a born again Christian in 1994. Matthews had said that she’s embarrassed by her life as Vanity and has cut off all ties to the music industry and dedicated her life to speaking at churches around the world.
4- Prince
Speaking of Prince… Did you ever wonder why he stopped sporting those butt-less chaps? Well the artist has endured quite a few changes throughout the duration of his career and becoming more mature in his faith just so happened to be one of them. He’s now a Jehovah’s witness and won’t even sing some of his raunchier songs from back in the day. Which sucks if you liked to get nasty with the purple one. You’ll just have to pop the album in. After he left Warner Brothers and started his own label, he brought bassist Larry Graham to his label. Prince has said that Graham has served as a spiritual role model for him.
5- Shyne
What I say about Bad Boy? Remember that whole altercation at the nightclub? Well Diddy certainly couldn’t take the fall for that and “somebody had to go” (Kevin Hart voice) guess who that person was…Shyne. Even though the rapper had one massive hit in Bad Boyz, your career may have a tendency to fall off when you hit a jail cell.During his incarceration, the Belizan born rapper he became an Orthodox Jew, changed his name to Moses Levi and now lives in Jersusalem. But unlike some others, Shyne hasn’t given up rapping. He says nothing in Judaism says that he can’t live the artist lifestyle he became accustomed to. “There’s nothing in the Chumash that says I can’t drive a Lamborghini,” and “nothing in the Halacha about driving the cars I like, about the lifestyle I live.”
6- Rev Run
Rev Run is the only one on this list who was ordained as a minister while his career was still hot. He changed his stage name from Run to Rev Run and can legally marry and bury people but doesn’t have a church of his own. Instead you can find him spreading the good news on Twitter @RevRunSimmons
7-Houston
“I Like That” singer Houston wasn’t that bad looking until he gouged his eye out. Yes, remember in 2005, at the height of his popularity, the singer said the industry got to be too much for him. He’s spoken very little about what he now calls the eye injury but I do remember something about it having to do with a particular Bible verse, Matthew 5:29 to be exact. “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” The last we heard from Houston he was campaigning against sodomy in prisons… yeah. So technically he didn’t turn his life over to God but perhaps God had something to do with his departure from the game.
