An Interview with MC Zappa –

MC Zappa’s forthcoming LP, Critical Times, rises from four years of upheaval, self-reckoning and sharpened conviction. His decision to create what he dubs the first Christian Bit-Hop album didn’t arrive through marketing strategy or genre novelty, it emerged from the starkest corners of lived experience. Severe depression, a traumatic brain injury, material fixation and a mounting sense of moral collapse pushed him to reassess everything he thought he understood. That reassessment led him towards faith, scripture and a pressing need to interrogate the contradictions he saw in religious culture, personal behaviour and wider society. In this interview, he traces the genesis of Critical Times, the emotional architecture behind tracks like Why?, the spiritual mentorship that shaped the record, and the cinematic ideas gathering pace behind the scenes.

What first sparked the concept for your upcoming LP, Critical Times, and how did the idea of creating the world’s first Christian Bit-Hop album start to form for you while you were stepping back from releasing music?

It only takes a single second for your whole world to change. So imagine what can happen in four years. The last album I released was “Do You Mind?!” in 2021. Although it’s a mostly instrumental album that tells surrealist stories and presents absurdist scenarios, it was still deeply personal to me, and in some ways unconsciously reflected my state of being in real life. “Apathy” is an unconscious mirroring of the anhedonia I was experiencing as a part of my severe depression. “Take Me To The Mall“, on some level, reflected the obsession with material possessions that I had developed, and the shopping addiction that I had developed. “More Bullets” indirectly pointed to the unhealthy obsession with firearms that I was nurturing around that time. These things didn’t get better with time, they got worse. I was Travis Bickle in braids.

Without going into too much detail, the culmination of my poor choices, my depression, the traumatic brain injury I had received two years prior, all came to a head and led me into a very bad spot in 2023. I subsequently had a wakeup call, and decided to give up my iniquitous ways and start following Jesus Christ. Now, with this decision came observations and realizations. I quickly came to realize that the “Christianity” I had been seeing and hearing about all my life had little to do with the life, teachings and examples of Jesus Christ and His apostles. I realized that just as it was, those who would follow Him would have to pick up their cross, deny themselves and become “new creations”. I learned that the entire Bible could be summed up into two simple commandments—to “Love God with all of your heart, mind, body and soul”, and to “love your neighbor just as you do yourself”. But every day I was being mistreated by people who claimed to be Christian. The same people that would go out of their way to belittle and humiliate me in front of a crowd would turn right around and talk about their plans to sing and worship in church later on. They mocked those whose worship was sincere, calling them “strange” and “extreme”. They even had the nerve to mock His Holy name, JEHOVAH. The selfsame ones that used me and viciously lied on me (just to come back and ask for my help later on, at that!) would often say with 100% seriousness, that they loved God and that God favored them and everything they did! But what was really deep was realizing that while I was protected by God and therefore should not despair about the abuse, it was actually their welfare that I should be concerned about, because the fact that they were acting so cruelly indicated that they needed serious help. On my phone, my feed was awash with sordid articles of male faith leaders who preached sexual purity and “family values” while sexually abusing vulnerable young men and pressuring their underage mistresses to have abortions. Megachurch pastors bought jets and fancy cars while teaching damnable heresies. It was always worthy of derision when I was growing up (which is a part of why I was so comfortable blaspheming, and why it took me so long to convert!), but now that God had called me to be one of His children, these things now filled my heart with a burning; yea, a burning of righteous anger. These wicked things reflected a lack of love towards both God and neighbor, so I felt obliged to rail against them the best way I knew how. So I picked up the mic.

After reading the Bible, developing a personal relationship with God and fellowshipping with the saints became a part of my daily life, I knew there were things I wanted to make songs about, but somewhere along the line it all just coalesced into an idea for an album. At first I was scared, and I prayed to God constantly, seeking definite confirmation from Him that it was okay. Not only did I receive it, but my conscience led me to realize that everything else had to be pushed aside to prioritize the release of “Critical Times”, because the message was so crucial.

You’ve said the new album marks a shift in tone and approach. What kind of material are you exploring on Critical Times, and how does it sit apart from what you’ve released in the past?

“Critical Times” is the world’s very first Christian Bit-Hop album. With that being said, “Critical Times” is about various facets of the Christian life, as I see them. At the conclusion of the matter, all having been heard, the underlying message of the album is that Jesus Christ is coming back soon, but when He does, it will be to judge the Earth and wage righteous warfare on those who hate Him and His Father. His birth, life and death were all prophesied (and all of them came to pass just as it was written), and so was His return. You can either be His friend or His enemy; there is no in between or “riding the fence”, for “whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters” (MATTHEW 12:30) The choice is 100% yours and it is absolutely not my place to force the Word on you, but I do have an obligation to at least let the people know what’s happening and what’s about to happen (EZEKIEL 33:8, 1 CORINTHIANS 9:16) All I can do is tell you that the Word is faithful and true, and I can tell you how my own life and testimony bears witness to this.

I talk about a lot of things across this record, matter of fact there was so much material that I had to cut it short and cap it, or else the album would have like 40-45 tracks. “Meats Fa The Belly” (taken from 1 CORINTHIANS 6:13) is about sexual immorality and how it leaves you more and more empty the more you engage, despite it deceiving you into craving it. “Money To Burn” is, for all intents and purposes, the first diss track I will have ever made over my decade-long career. It is an all-out polemic against the religious grifters, the prosperity pimps and false teachers who bleed my people dry and intentionally lead them astray with false doctrines, all “for the love of money” (1 TIMOTHY 6:10) “Shake It Off“, (taken from MATTHEW 10:14) is a short yet funky track about how when you preach the Gospel, some people will laugh in your face and some will actually get angry and despise you for it, but you are not to despair, but instead move on and find those who are receptive and eager for the Word. “None But Jesus” is my personal testimony of how I was alone and lost, profoundly lost, but Jesus had mercy on me and saved me, because only He could; I was completely and utterly incapable of saving myself. And of course you already know that “Why?” is a series of rhetorical questions intended to provoke self-examination and conviction about whether or not our faith is sincere.

I want everyone to know that while my subject matter is radically different, please don’t think for even a second that my style has changed or that I’ve “gone soft”. If anything, I kinda felt like I had to go harder than ever before with the 8-bit boom bap on this album, for the simple fact that many people see Christian Hip-Hop as “corny”. To which I reply: ask yourself why it’s “cool” to talk about sexual immorality, love of money, and hatred of your neighbor when every rapper out is talking about these things, but talking about picking up your cross, denying yourself, protecting the vulnerable, seeking justice and correcting the oppressor is “corny”? One gives you things because he wants you to destroy yourself, while the other One wants to take away the wicked and unprofitable parts of you so He can fill you with life, true life. I’ve experienced both at this point, and it’s a no brainer. But that’s on you.

When you listen back to Why?, what moment in your own life does it feel most connected to, and how did that spark the writing of the track?

“Why?” is not so much connected to a single moment so much as it is a lifetime of observance and patterns. Nonetheless, if I absolutely had to pick a single moment, it would probably be the day I found out that this older guy I used to work with, who seemed nice and always wore a large silver cross, was arrested for committing a heinous sexual crime against a vulnerable victim (which “Christians” covered up and swept under the rug for PR purposes, but that’s something else all over again!). All I could register was shock and horror. Then it occurred to me that he probably was wearing that cross when he did the abominable act. I think that incident was probably in my mind when I wrote “why are we quick to rock a cross and scream Jesus/but forget His death by means of which He redeemed us?”

The questions that I ask on this track are related to things that I’ve seen on both a micro and a macro level. When I say “why is it every day I’m forced to witness injustice/when my soul and conscience can only take so much of this?”, I’m referring both to the evil that is being wrought by religious leaders across the world, and also to the corruption and abuse of authority that I personally see around me on a daily basis. When I say “why is loving correction conflated with hatin’/don’t you realize, that’s just another tactic of Satan?”, I’m referring to the broader societal trend of all wise counsel being misinterpreted as “hating” and therefore dismissed, but I am also referring to the times when loved ones attempted to give me wisdom and solid Biblical counsel, but I rashly refused it because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, and had to learn the lessons the hard way. This is how I know that the Holy Spirit inspired me to write this song, because every time I hear it, I myself feel convicted.

There’s a voice running through Why? that adds an unexpected emotional weight. Who is the older woman featured on the track, and what does she represent within the wider album?

That is someone who I met as a coworker, and who has now become a dear family member. I affectionately refer to her as “Auntie Molly”. I first met her in 2022, and she was one of two people that treated me like their own child, consistently shared the Gospel with me and encouraged me to leave my sins behind and follow Jesus. She is one of my two main spiritual mentors and has been there every step of my way through my walk with Christ, and as such it seemed good to me to ask her to contribute Scripture readings and vocal contributions throughout the album. She has a very distinctive flavor to her speech, which adds personality to the Scriptural truth that is proclaimed on “Critical Times”.

After taking four years away from releasing music, what pulled you back to putting new work into the world, and how did the break shape the album’s themes?

Well, while I was trying to straighten up, I was working on new music here and there the whole time. It’s just that I was so distracted, overwhelmed and scatterbrained that I couldn’t really focus on anything long enough to finish any projects or make any coherent decisions. But as I say, my conversion and subsequent experiences caused me to have a zeal and a deep desire to share what I had learned. I don’t say this to sound egotistical, but I forget more ideas than the average person comes up with. You know, Jesus once told a parable about a man who found a priceless pearl, and sold everything he had to purchase it. Similarly, I pushed all the plans I had to the side so I could prioritize “Critical Times”, as it is, in effect, an offering to God.

As far as how the break shaped the album’s themes, that’s easy. You know, I’m 26 years old. I started making music when I was 16. So according to science, my brain wasn’t even fully matured until last year! With the things I had seen and experienced, I realized that I was misguided in some ways. Social justice, equity and condemnation of hypocrisy has always been at the root of my music. Dig it; I’ve only shot two music videos thus far, and one of them is for “Call The Law”, my protest song about police brutality. I have always wanted marginalized people to be treated fairly, although in years past I had a very obnoxious and self-righteous way of expressing it. I was raised by a pro-black, socially conscious mother. I knew all about colonialism, misogyny, police brutality, institutionalized racism, and poverty. But what I’ve come to realize is that all movements that gather under these banners are “vanity”. I’ve said since I was a teenager that if you want to solve a problem, cut the root, not the branch. Think about it. There’s at least one person who has the means to end world hunger singlehandedly, and he just…didn’t do it. Ain’t we been fighting against racism and sexism since the 60s? And now look…not only did these organizations and movements not solve the problems, but in some cases they actually introduced additional problems! (BLM money laundering, anyone?) The fact is that all these problems stem from our collective failure to keep the Second Great Commandment: “love thy neighbor as thyself”. But you can’t legislate people into loving either God or their neighbor; that’s a heart change that has to happen from within, and what’s more it has to happen on a global scale. We as humans are utterly incapable of solving the mess that we’ve gotten ourselves into, for the simple fact that we still have the same underlying problem that’s caused it. Only God, our Redeemer, can put a complete and thorough end to all these evils. DANIEL 2:44 and ECCLESIASTES 3:14, that’s all I can say. I’d rather redirect my efforts and my limited time towards a permanent solution (cutting the root) than to keep wasting my time on vanity (cutting the branches, which will only grow back)

Your filmmaking always carries a distinctive tone. What usually kicks your creative brain into motion when you’re crafting ideas for your visual work?

Thank you, I appreciate that. In the past, myself and my crew would more or less just pick up the camera and pick whatever locations were most convenient. But now, I’ve carefully studied the old masters (Scorcese, Tarantino, Kubrick, Leone, Raimi, etc.) I instructed myself in the art of writing screenplays, the intricacies of lenses, shots, film stock, focal lengths and lighting, and I can’t just do things willy-nilly anymore. So now, things typically begin in my mind with a single visual motif or concept, and everything else gets carefully built around it.

But I would say that more often than not, my screenplays are more behavior-driven than they are image-driven. In other words, my mind’s eye imagines people doing things, and I wonder what kind of effects their actions would have depending on the scenario. I’m still a student of course, but I have hallmarks of my own directorial style, one of which is anachronism. I love to subtly clue the viewer in by dripping minor exposition details. For example, I have a feature length urban drama called “Vanity” that’s in pre-production, about a bookish young Alabamian woman named Jasmine whose struggles and misguided attempts to find meaning in life lead her to faith. Early in the film, Jasmine’s best friend, Brooklyn, shows her a picture of the Twin Towers that she took while on vacation. Later on, someone mentions listening to Megan Thee Stallion on their Walkman. Later still, Jasmine’s friends chide her for blowing off hanging out with them, saying “Blockbuster, Blockbuster! All you ever wanna do is go to Blockbuster!” So it makes you wonder “wait a minute, what decade does this movie take place in? Is this even reality?” These things don’t align with the way things are in the real world, so it kind of jolts and disorients the viewer, which is what I want. If I can jolt you, that means you’re paying attention.

You hinted that you’ve got more film projects on the burner. What can you share about what’s forming behind the scenes, and how do these projects link with the themes of Critical Times?

Yes, I do! I love talking about film, I wish more people would ask me about it. At this present moment, I am working on my PSA series called “Get Right“. The Get Right series highlights that the endtime prophecies that Jesus made 2000 years ago are being fulfilled before our eyes every day, so it’s time to get right with God through Jesus Christ. But I don’t wanna make stuffy, preachy content. I’ll save the dust for the drums. I like to make real engaging stories with real people that you can engage with. I have already shot and released PSA #1, “Time Is Not On Your Side“, on my YouTube. The one that’s in (pre)production right now is actually #3 (“Face The Music“), but I’m shooting out of sequence. The basic concept of Face The Music is a young man seeing an ad on his phone for a beatmaking contest, getting to work on a beat and scratching it, then being interrupted by a knock on the door from an unseen yet luminous visitor. I’m actually somewhat frustrated because although I’ve had the equipment and the set prepared for quite some time, I’m having a little trouble casting talent. I had a young man scheduled to shoot with us a few weeks ago and although we confirmed with him twice, on shoot day he flaked out and didn’t tell anybody anything. So I’m feeling a little discouraged on that front, especially since I pay all my lead actors $15/hr (which is good money for a side project in GA!), and this role is easy as pie, so I’m not understanding what the issue of finding actors is. But my casting director is handling that for me on the side, so I’m grateful for that. These are just challenges associated with being an independent filmmaker, I reckon.

That’s the short term. Now as far as the long term, I have an anthology series called “Word On The Street” that I’ve been working on for roughly the past year. Think “The Twilight Zone” and “Black Mirror“, but faith-based. I’ve written two whole episodes thus far. Each episode is 15-20 minutes long, begins with a relevant verse or two, and illustrates the natural (or supernatural in some cases!) consequences of going against God’s standards. For example, the episode “Every Idle Word” is about an externally beautiful woman who takes pleasure in belittling and verbally abusing those who she sees as “below” her, yet tries to make an outward showing of being pious and nice. The title cards display MATTHEW 12:36 and 15:11. Anyway, the woman gets 3 supernatural warnings from God about her acid tongue, but scoffs at them all. I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say that at the end she finds the passage about “what comes out of a person’s mouth being what defiles them” to be horrifyingly true. I don’t know why, but I seem to have a particular knack for writing screenplays with elements of horror; they keep cropping up in almost every serious story I write. I also have an idea for a Spaghetti Western called “Cowgirl Christ, or the Acts of St. Rose“. But being that I’m currently having trouble even shooting this short film that only has a single character, at the moment I don’t see how I’m going to get these more intricate features shot. In any case, there is one central theme across all my cinematic projects: You are more than welcome to reject God, His wisdom and His counsel, but just know that there are natural consequences. Life is much easier (and more meaningful) with Him on your side than it is when His face is against you. This message can be extrapolated from “Critical Times“, so I guess you could say it all ties together.

With the album on the way, how are you approaching the roll-out, and what kind of experience do you want listeners to have when they step into this new chapter of your sound and storytelling?

I’m still getting the hang of this whole “marketing and promotion” thing, but thus far, by the grace of God, I managed to drum up anticipation for the lead single a month before it even came out. Now, “Why?” seems to be getting a good bit of attention, so I know there’s anticipation for “Critical Times“. But as far as the rollout, I’m just talking to as many people as I can about the record, and I want to create a strong brand identity around it. That said, I’ve stepped up my visual game, creating visualizers and shareable lyric graphics.

In a recent review for “Why?“, it was described as a “spiritual gut-check”. Well, that is the effect I’d like all of “Critical Times” to have. I want people to experience “Critical Times” as a one-two punch: first you get struck by the ill Bit-Hop beats, then you rewind for the conviction in the lyrics. Just as you’ve heard it said: “one time for your mind, two times for your soul”.

Discover MC Zappa on all major platforms via this link. 

Interview by Amelia Vandergast