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Rapper extraordinaire T-BONE might be appearing in Hollywood movies and rubbing shoulders with film stars but he's still in touch with the music of the streets.
 It was in the 90s that many first came across T-Bone's music. Back then this Latino holy hip-hop pioneer from San Francisco's mean streets was a demon dissing rapper with a penchant for rapping about spiritual warfare. Throughout the '90s and into the new millennium a series of albums - 'Redeemed Hoodlum' (1993), 'Tha Life Of A Hoodlum' (1995), 'Tha Hoodlum's Testimony' (1997), 'The Last Street Preacha' (2001) and 'Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic' (2003) - cemented T-Bone's reputation amongst the hip-hop cognoscente as possibly the most gifted (and certainly the fastest) rapper in Christendom. Since then he's also dropped Bone-A-Fied (2005) and Bone-Appetit: Serving Up The Hits (2007).
Sometimes it's been a battle to carry on ministering. In the early days, churches were very suspicious of rappers. He remembers, "Back in the day when we started we were getting kicked out of churches doing what we were doing because they didn't think it was from God. We continued to trailblaze and continued to open up doors and gradually other people were able to step in and continue to do what we'd been doing for so many years. It just started catching on. Nowadays I go into Christian bookstores and you see an entire Christian rap section, which is something that I never thought I'd see. So it's pretty amazing. Everywhere I go, when I'm touring and travelling, I just run into so many people that are doing Gospel hip-hop. It's pretty amazing."
In Christian circles, particularly in America within the record labels and the radio stations, there's still quite a lot of resistance to hip-hop. Even today, it gets a shameful lack of Christian radio exposure. However T-Bone is untroubled.
Living on the west coast gives T-Bone easy access to Hollywood. He's beginning to get work after the success of The Fighting Temptations although it turns out that the part he played was originally intended for Nelly. "They couldn't work it out with Nelly. Next thing you know LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Petey Pablo, Keith Murray - all these people started coming out and auditioning for the movie. I ended up doing a small audition and they ended up lovin' it. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had actually referred me for the part and said, 'You know what man? That's this guy's life. That's what he does. You guys should check him out.'
So the directors flew me down, I did my performance thing and they actually loved it. They went crazy. So the rest is history man! That same day they said, 'Hey, we love what you're doin'. We love the fact that you're bilingual so let's put you down. Let's make this thing happen.' I'm so grateful that the Lord opened that door because that was just an amazing door to be opened in my life and it has opened up a lot of other doors. I was able to build some great relationships and minister to a lot of the people on that set and lead people to Christ there as well. Cuba Gooding, Beyonce - all of them became really good friends. For me man, it's just about building relationships. I was able to pray with Cuba every day. Beyonce, I was really able to minister to her, give her some books. I led one of The O'Jays to the Lord; I led little Zane to the Lord. Me and Montell Jordan spent a lot of good-quality time in prayer. So it was a great thing man. That's what it's about, just lovin' on people and being a light in dark places."
It isn't just in movies that T-Bone has been able to prove his acting and rapping abilities. Since the release of his last album, he's also been involved in the American 'Hero' musical.
Speaking of his own mentor, the legendary christian singer Carman, he says, "Yeah, God used him in my life for several years. He was a mentor and now I know he's kind of doing his own thing right now. I haven't talked to him for a bit but we still remain friends. He was definitely a huge blessing in my life. I always tell people, what do you look for in a mentor? You look for someone who's already been where you're trying to get. And Carman at the time, he'd done movies, he'd done a whole lot of stuff, so he was a perfect candidate to mentor me. When I got to a roadblock he'd be able to look down and say, 'Hey, you know what man? This is what I did in this situation.' He'd already been there. He was definitely a person that God definitely used in my life in a major way."
2006 saw T-Bone starring in the Paramount movie Rumble.
Obviously the movie success of The Fighting Temptations has made an impact on his life. "I think it's definitely changed for the better man," he chips in. "I mean, I've been able to do a whole lot more mainstream stuff. That's what we're doing with this record. This record is about crossing over, man. So for many years - the best way for me to explain it is - I've been in my ministry for 12 years, but now God has really called me to my evangelistic ministry. Stepping outside the four walls of the church and going into the clubs and going into the highways and the byways. Just being able to share Christ with people who don't know him. I've always said for years and years that my ministry has never been a ministry that has been one to preach to the choir. I mean, it's great to go to the churches and encourage people but my ministry is a soul-winning ministry. So in order to win souls you gotta go out to where the souls are, you gotta go out to where people are lost. So that's what it's about for me. The Fighting Temptations and Rumble and these records and different collaborations that I've done with different artists have been able to help me just go out and accomplish that mission that God has called me to do; to be evangelistic and to reach these people for Christ."
T-Bone has obviously been successful in leading people he's been working with to Christ. He shares his secret to it.
"There is really no secret," he explains. "The key to that is just loving people. When you love people amongst their flaws, you love people amongst their mistakes and you let them know, 'You know what man? We're all human. Just like you've failed, I've failed.' The key is not trying to put yourself like you're any better than anyone else. The only difference between me and you is that I have the answer - Jesus Christ. I'm a sinner saved by grace. You know what man? For me, celebrities are the easiest people to lead to the Lord because they're not looking for all that stuff no more. They've already found the money, they've found all the women, they've found everything that this world can offer - the fame. But they're still not happy. They know that there's got to be something more.
"I think the other key is, someone that they can respect, someone that they feel is talented and they respect as an artist. When you earn that respect then they tend to listen to you. So then it's like, You know what man? This is one of my peers. He's not a guy trying to preach at me and cram the Word down my throat. He's not trying to judge me, he's just lovin' me and sharing his experience; what God has done for him, and just sharing how God could do the same thing for them. So it's just saying, 'Hey man, God loves you. And you know what man? If you wanna pray I'm here for you.' Just being a person that's there to encourage them and to love them. Above all, love wins everything man."
That's how we've got to be towards people. No matter what people do, no matter how many times they fail - no matter all that - we gotta remember that God didn't give up on us so we can't give up on them."
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