Lucy Chihandae
20 November 2008
Kampala — LISTENING to these young men brings on the nostalgia for the late Tupac Shakur. This is because they have decided to use hip-hop to convey their missionary message to the world.
They prefer to be called 'urban missionaries' rather than gospel rap artistes, Richard Tumukunde (aka Renee) and Ivan Wobusobozi (aka Hell 01). They make up the incredibly talented gospel hip-hop group Levite Clan, a name they derived from the book of Leviticus.
"The Levites were priests who worshiped God on behalf of the people in the Old Testament. We are musical priests in this generation, bridging the gap between the streets and God; doing discipleship outside church borders," explains Renee.
Starting out as a four-man team, their unwavering aim was to reach out to the urban youth. Their style has not changed in spite of the criticism about their music.
"We have a vision and have been called by God to reach out to this young generation affected by the hip-hop culture where sex, 'bling', women and money rule."
Now down to a duo, their first rap song together No Gay was inspired by the story of Gene Robinson, the Anglican homosexual bishop in the US. They claim the song shuns homosexuality and not the people who engage in it.
These two young men have been reviewed internationally alongside big gospel names like Kirk Franklin.
They say because of their music, many people have became born-again Christians and been delivered from various addictions.
Their debut 15-track album, Christ in the Youth Culture, which was released last year was sponsored by an American professor who helped register their company Levite Media.
The duo are going solo and will release separate albums next month. Ivan's album Divine Therapy is about divine healing, while Renee's collection S.A.G.E (an acronym for Saving a Generation Endangered) is inspired by the sages of A.W Tozer and Leonard Raven Hill, also an extension of his blog.
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