215Sha Talks Finding God, Leaving Worldly Rap & His Wild Lil Uzi Vert Story

North Philadelphia has never lacked for rappers with something to say. From Lady B putting Philly rap on wax in 1979 to Schoolly D’s pioneering gangsta street records, The Roots, Beanie Sigel, Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert, Philadelphia has developed one of Hip-Hop’s most distinctive bloodlines. Period.

The city also has history in Christian Hip-Hop. Philadelphia’s Cross Movement emerged in the 1990s, while nearby Camden’s Tye Tribbett built a career by pushing gospel toward Hip-Hop, R&B and contemporary sounds. Christian rap itself dates to the 1980s, when artists began using Hip-Hop as a vehicle for explicitly Christian messages. Well, we have one more.

215Sha is attempting to bring those worlds together in his own way.

The North Philly rapper, producer and – surprise – Philadelphia firefighter/EMT says an injury, isolation and personal loss pushed him toward God and away from the secular music he’d made for years. In a revealing conversation with AllHipHop’s Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur, Sha talked about being injured rescuing someone, teaching himself production, getting bottles thrown at him during an XRumble performance, going to school with a young Lil Uzi Vert and forgiving the person who killed a woman he once loved.

His description of himself might say it best: “I’mma basically be like a Tupac rapper. Gospel rapper, you feel me?”

AllHipHop: Before we even get to music, how are you doing?

215Sha: I’m doing okay, even though I’m battling an injury right now. I got a bad neck, bad right shoulder. I’m a firefighter, EMT, City of Philadelphia. I injured my shoulder lifting somebody from the second floor. They were paraplegic, so they just dragged on my neck and shoulder.

I don’t really sit back and think, “Dang, I’m running into a fiery building.” The training be nice. I don’t even think about the fires like that. I have seen some stuff though. (Below is an edited Q&A. Watch the video for the entire conversation.)

AllHipHop: I saw “gospel rapper and producer” listed under your name. I did not expect that. How did you arrive here?

215Sha: I just recently became a gospel rapper, honestly. I’ve been rapping for about 15, 16 years. I had plenty of songs in the catalog, but this year I took a whole new turn and transition.

I gave myself up to God and I let Him run the show. Like I said, I feel like I’m signed by God. He gave me every blessing that I have, so I just want to give back to Him in the best ways that I can.

I stopped doing a lot of bad habits. I built my own studio. When I put Him first, He helped me build my own studio brick by brick. Now I’m recording by myself. Recording, mixing, mastering, producing, I learned all this year by myself, well, with God.

AllHipHop: Did something happen that caused the change?

215Sha: I was injured. I’m injured right now. The injury messed me up, and then I lost my dog last year that I wasn’t supposed to take care of. I lost my dog and I was just stuck. I ain’t had nobody to turn to, so I turned to God.

He just took over and I dropped all my bad habits. I’ve been drinking less. I’m still going through stuff right now, but that’s life. He gonna get me there. I gotta put my trust into Him.

AllHipHop: What kind of artist were you before?

215Sha: I was more of a secular artist. I was cursing in my raps. I try not to curse in my raps now. I try to live like I’m going to heaven, like how I’mma act in heaven. I act like Jesus is around me.

I don’t want to talk about hurting nobody, anything like that, because it’s redundant and played out at this point. Nobody want to hear about somebody hurting somebody 24/7.

I’m here to uplift people and bring them closer to God. I’m one of God’s ambassadors.

For more on 215Sha, follow him on Instagram.

AllHipHop: Do people ever hit you with, “Here he goes preaching”?

215Sha: I feel like people sometimes come off and be like, “Yeah, he preaching.” But I just leave that part up to God. I’m not really supposed to worry about things like that.

His message is going to get delivered, and that’s a fact. I’m not going to stop my blessings and I’m not going to stop saying His name.

My reward is in heaven. My Father’s rich.

AllHipHop: Gospel rap has evolved. Years ago some of it didn’t necessarily connect musically with regular Hip-Hop listeners. What’s your approach?

215Sha: I’m from Philly and I’m gritty with it.

I try to be blatant. I try to tell stories with my raps. I try to be more relatable. I don’t want to just sound like I’m praising and all glorious. I’m not perfect at all.

I’mma basically be like a Tupac rapper. Gospel rapper, you feel me? I’ll tell some stories and touch heart to heart with people.

AllHipHop: We have to talk about XRumble. During one of your performances, you had an incident with ( television personality / social media influencer) Tommie Lee. What happened?

215Sha: She threw a bottle at me. The video did go a little bit viral. It’s crazy because she threw the bottle twice.

She threw the bottle at me because I threw a T-shirt at her.

AllHipHop: But you weren’t trying to hit her?

215Sha: I was just trying to give away a little T-shirt, but my shoulder can’t get that high because I messed it up. My shoulder messed up. She took it the wrong way.

Somebody said it didn’t even hit her. They said it hit her boyfriend or spilled over a drink. I don’t know what happened.

During the performance, I didn’t even know she threw it at me. I found out when I got offstage. Everybody was like, “Yeah, she threw something at you and was trying to get you.”

I was like, “I ain’t seen nothing.”

I was in the zone. I had all red on. I told people I was covered by the blood. I ain’t get touched.

AllHipHop: You also told me something crazy about Lil Uzi Vert.

215Sha: I went to school with Lil Uzi.

We were playing basketball just by ourselves. We was cool. I only knew him for like three weeks. We probably had to be like third, fourth grade.

We was playing basketball. I was like, “All right, he all right. He little fast young boy.”

Then he just ran home. He never came back to school. This is a Catholic school that you had to pay for. He never came back to school. I ain’t seen him after that. I never seen him since then.

I ain’t know it was him until I Googled his name one day. Somebody was like, “Yeah, he went to school with you.”

I was like, “That’s crazy. That was the young boy that ran away from school that one day.”

AllHipHop: You’ve talked a lot about forgiveness. That’s easy to say, but much harder when something truly horrible happens.

215Sha: I try to settle everything in my past, especially with some of my exes. At least we can be on a good foot. I try to make sure they have a good heart because you’re not really supposed to go into heaven with a bad heart or any hate in your heart.

Even when people are lost and the killer still out there, you still got to learn to forgive them.

I had a best friend. She was my ex. She got shot 13 times. Somebody followed her home. She got shot 13 times.

AllHipHop: She survived that?

215Sha: No, she’s dead. She passed away. That happened probably like two, three years ago.

I got to live with a killer that’s out there. But I learned to forgive them. It is what it is. I can’t live in the past. Ain’t nothing can bring her back.

AllHipHop: That’s actually more powerful than revenge.

215Sha: Yeah.

AllHipHop: What’s next?

215Sha: I’m working on a couple projects. I’m trying to drop one October 1, probably a single. I’mma just be dropping singles and music videos on my private website.

I could drop a gospel album, but I’mma just flood everything that I got.

I could put out old tracks, but I don’t even want to do that because that’s putting out bad energy to the world. I ain’t really gonna do that.

I might work on a book. I’ve been writing a lot. Writing and reading, trying to get people closer to God.

That’s my goal. I want to get everybody to heaven.

AllHipHop: Any final words?

215Sha: If you need to get closer to God, get closer to God. This is your message today. Get closer to God.

Work on yourself. Always try to get better every single day. Take it brick by brick, one step at a time. You can do it. Just pray to God.

And this is a message for the world. It’s a hard thing to get across, but fornication is wrong. You fornicate, you’re going to hell.

That’s the final word.