WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We have a really 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:06.440 fascinating journey ahead of us today. We really 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:08.919 do. Yeah, we're taking a close look at a single, 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:12.640 highly detailed biographical source today. We're 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:16.000 exploring the life, the art, and the, well, the 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.660 complex career evolution of Michael Boyer II. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.640 Right. Though you listening right now, you likely 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.100 know him better by his stage name, Noda Verbs. 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:27.140 Yeah. Or, as he was known later in his career, 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:29.800 simply verbs. Exactly. He is an American Christian 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.460 hip -hop artist originally hailing from Phoenix, 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:35.880 Arizona. And he managed to carve out a massive 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:38.700 footprint in a really specific, rapidly changing 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:42.100 musical ecosystem. Our mission today is to sift 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:43.960 through the facts of his discography and his 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:46.179 timeline. We want to uncover the broader story 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:48.439 here. We're looking at what it takes to navigate 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:51.079 intense cultural pushback, how an artist evolves 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.420 their own identity in the public eye, and really 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:55.659 the mechanics. of becoming a vital collaborative 00:00:55.659 --> 00:00:58.399 force in your chosen field. Because on the surface, 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.600 you're just reading a standard biographical article, 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.299 right? And a list of album credits. But beneath 00:01:04.299 --> 00:01:07.200 that... You find the trajectory of an artist 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.340 who was attempting to build a platform in a space 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:13.099 that was, frankly, still trying to figure out 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:15.340 its own boundaries. Yeah, completely. You're 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:17.579 examining an individual who constantly had to 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:20.599 negotiate the tension between his faith, the 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:23.859 hip -hop art form, and the often rigid expectations 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.819 of his local community. And to really understand 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:29.000 that tension, I want to bring you, the listener, 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.099 right back to the very beginning of his story. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.159 Just imagine being 12 years old. Just a kid. 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.379 Just a kid. You've just discovered the thing 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:38.400 that makes you tick. You know exactly what you 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.040 want to do with your life. You want to rap. You 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.040 want to immerse yourself in hip hop. Right. But 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:45.079 when you bring that newfound passion to your 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:47.879 own community, specifically to the going by churches 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:51.319 you attend in Phoenix, they do not offer encouragement. 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:53.480 No, they don't. They literally laugh at you. 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:56.079 And the source points out. about this highly 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.519 specific, pretty brutal detail, they actually 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:00.719 exclaim that your chosen art form is a, quote, 00:02:01.069 --> 00:02:04.469 Pit of hell. It is such a striking image. I mean, 00:02:04.489 --> 00:02:07.049 to be 12 years old is to be inherently vulnerable. 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:09.569 Oh, absolutely. When you face that specific kind 00:02:09.569 --> 00:02:12.710 of vehement theological rejection from the adults 00:02:12.710 --> 00:02:14.909 and the community leaders you're supposed to 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:17.629 look up to, the psychological weight of that 00:02:17.629 --> 00:02:20.069 is just immense. Yeah. It wasn't just a matter 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:22.289 of them disliking the music. They were assigning 00:02:22.289 --> 00:02:25.729 a moral and spiritual failing to the art form 00:02:25.729 --> 00:02:28.969 itself. Which really sets the stage for a career 00:02:28.969 --> 00:02:31.960 built on friction. Today, we are going to explore 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:34.560 how Verbs pushed through that initial rejection. 00:02:34.780 --> 00:02:36.879 We'll look at the foundational years he spent 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:39.979 paying his dues, his unique lyrical approach 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:43.039 that defied the extremes of his genre, a major 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:47.280 branding shift, and... Well, a deeply unconventional 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.400 decision to put a thriving commercial career 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.479 completely on hold. A huge pivot. Yeah. And finally, 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.939 we will break down the massive network of collaborations 00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:58.780 he built. OK, let's untack this. So the early 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:01.319 days are crucial to understanding his later resilience. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.699 The source notes that his journey into the industry 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:05.979 didn't just magically begin with a solo record 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:08.180 contract. Right. He was putting in significant 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:12.099 groundwork long before he was the main act. By 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:14.379 the mid -90s, he was actually spending time dancing 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:16.599 with the group Jirits. Which is wild because 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:18.699 he wasn't even front and center with a microphone 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:21.419 at that stage. Exactly. He was physically participating 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:24.580 in the culture adjacent to the music. He was 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:27.560 experiencing the grueling reality of tours and 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:30.300 stage performances before his solo recording 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:32.960 career even took off. He was putting in the sweat 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.900 equity. That physical participation demonstrates 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.180 a profound dedication to the hip -hop culture 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:40.789 itself. He was learning the rhythm of the industry 00:03:40.789 --> 00:03:43.590 from the inside out. But then we return to that 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:46.469 massive point of conflict. He's trying to merge 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:48.990 this authentic hip -hop expression with his faith, 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:52.349 taking it to those nearby churches, and the reaction 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:55.050 is visceral. What's fascinating here is the sheer 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:57.310 difficulty of trying to pioneer something new 00:03:57.310 --> 00:03:59.689 when the hardest pushback comes from your own 00:03:59.689 --> 00:04:02.490 backyard. Yeah, that local resistance. We tend 00:04:02.490 --> 00:04:05.009 to think of innovators battling faceless corporations 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:08.770 or broad market trends. But the most paralyzing 00:04:08.770 --> 00:04:12.150 resistance is usually local. It's the people 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:14.469 in your immediate vicinity telling you that your 00:04:14.469 --> 00:04:17.790 vision is fundamentally flawed. Because in a 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.149 religious context, the stakes are elevated from, 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:23.350 hey, this won't sell to this is inherently wrong. 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:26.009 Right. That kind of localized pressure would 00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:28.470 force most young creatives to simply conform 00:04:28.470 --> 00:04:31.129 to whatever their community deemed acceptable. 00:04:31.370 --> 00:04:33.230 Most people would just put the microphone down. 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:35.629 Right. But he required an incredible amount of 00:04:35.629 --> 00:04:38.759 internal validation to keep going. Since he wasn't 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:40.740 getting any external validation from those nearby 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.660 churches, he had to rely entirely on his own 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:45.959 internal compass. He had to trust his own gut. 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:48.439 He had to trust his own conviction that the culture 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:51.079 of hip -hop and his personal faith were not mutually 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:53.579 exclusive, despite the laughter of the adults 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:55.800 in his life. I want you to think about that for 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:06.830 a moment in the context of your own life. It's 00:05:06.830 --> 00:05:10.970 terrifying. It is. It requires a rare kind of 00:05:10.970 --> 00:05:13.170 stubbornness to hold your ground when the people 00:05:13.170 --> 00:05:15.290 closest to you are telling you to abandon ship. 00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:17.949 And that specific kind of stubbornness eventually 00:05:17.949 --> 00:05:21.209 translated into a viable career. He ultimately 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:23.790 signs with Goatee Records, which was a label 00:05:23.790 --> 00:05:26.170 that was crucial in developing that specific 00:05:26.170 --> 00:05:30.660 market. In 1999, he releases his debut album, 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:33.639 The Syllabus. Classic. And he follows it up just 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:36.620 one year later in 2000 with his sophomore project, 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:39.660 The Action Figure. The titles themselves feel 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.019 like a direct response to those early years of 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:45.019 friction. Like, The Syllabus sounds like he is 00:05:45.019 --> 00:05:47.720 establishing his curriculum, laying out the foundational 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:50.279 arguments for why his art deserves to exist. 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:53.360 Right. And then The Action Figure suggests taking 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.120 those concepts off the chalkboard and putting 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.009 them into dynamic motion. The source notes that 00:05:58.009 --> 00:06:00.430 both of these early albums were fairly successful 00:06:00.430 --> 00:06:03.750 for gospel rap, which indicates that he was successfully 00:06:03.750 --> 00:06:05.689 carving out an audience. He was transitioning 00:06:05.689 --> 00:06:07.470 from the kid who was laughed out of the sanctuary 00:06:07.470 --> 00:06:11.230 to an artist with a measurable commercial footprint. 00:06:11.470 --> 00:06:13.589 But the most revealing detail in the text is 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:15.930 the specific description of how he actually wrote 00:06:15.930 --> 00:06:19.110 his music. The source states that his lyrics 00:06:19.110 --> 00:06:22.459 took a middle ground approach. So what does this 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:24.399 all mean? Well, the text defines this middle 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.819 ground as sitting somewhere between the explicit 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:29.560 doctrine of a group like the cross movement and 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:33.319 the poetic musings of grits. Got it. To understand 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.819 the tightrope he was walking, we have to understand 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.680 the musical spectrum of that era. On one end, 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:40.839 you had the cross movement. There were that gritty 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.920 East Coast boom bap sound focused heavily on 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.160 street preaching. Very direct. Highly direct. 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:49.160 Unambiguous and unapologetically instructional. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.120 It was theological declaration over beat. On 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.000 the other end of the spectrum, you had grits. 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:57.060 They brought a funkier southern alternative vibe. 00:06:57.220 --> 00:06:59.279 Their lyrics leaned heavily into the abstract. 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:02.120 It was about the feeling, the metaphor, and the 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.839 artistic ambiguity of the human experience. But 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:06.939 doesn't trying to find a middle ground usually 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:10.240 risk alienating both sides? Usually when an artist 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.500 tries to please the purists who want direct messaging 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:14.860 and the creatives who want artistic abstraction, 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:17.500 they just end up with a watered down product 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:20.220 that nobody really loves. How did he avoid that 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:22.439 trap? That is the danger of the middle ground 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:25.699 if it's treated as a compromise. But for Verbs, 00:07:25.819 --> 00:07:28.779 it wasn't a compromise. It was a synthesis. He 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:31.639 figured out how to deliver clear, substantive 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:34.939 messages without sacrificing the sonic and poetic 00:07:34.939 --> 00:07:37.220 elements of hip -hop. Okay, that makes sense. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.459 He wasn't just giving a dry lecture over a drum 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:42.480 loop, nor was he hiding his core beliefs behind 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:45.500 layers of confusing metaphors. He found a way 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:47.980 to be understood clearly while maintaining a 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:50.550 high level of artistic credibility. Which relates 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:52.970 so directly to how we all communicate, doesn't 00:07:52.970 --> 00:07:54.449 it? Whether you're listening right now and you're 00:07:54.449 --> 00:07:56.250 drafting an important email or you're giving 00:07:56.250 --> 00:07:59.110 a presentation or creating art yourself, finding 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:01.089 that balance between being perfectly direct, 00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:04.269 that explicit doctrine, and engagingly creative 00:08:04.269 --> 00:08:06.389 with the poetic musings is a universal challenge. 00:08:07.009 --> 00:08:08.829 Absolutely. It's the difference between being 00:08:08.829 --> 00:08:11.649 heard and being felt. He managed to do both. 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:13.850 He managed to thread the needle. He kept the 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:16.269 listener engaged with the artistry, the poetic 00:08:16.269 --> 00:08:19.230 side, while ensuring the actual substance of 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:22.149 his message landed, the explicit side. It is 00:08:22.149 --> 00:08:24.910 a mature artistic choice, especially for a genre 00:08:24.910 --> 00:08:27.149 that was still suffering from an identity crisis, 00:08:27.389 --> 00:08:29.829 trying to figure out if it was a ministry tool 00:08:29.829 --> 00:08:33.289 or a legitimate art form. Verbs essentially proved 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:35.950 it could be... Both simultaneously. And that 00:08:35.950 --> 00:08:39.110 maturity leads right into a major turning point 00:08:39.110 --> 00:08:42.070 in his career timeline. After establishing himself 00:08:42.070 --> 00:08:44.590 with the syllabus and the action figure, we see 00:08:44.590 --> 00:08:47.730 a distinct shift. He drops the nota from his 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:50.370 stage name. Right. He transitions from nota verbs 00:08:50.370 --> 00:08:53.269 to the much sleeker, more streamlined verbs. 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:56.590 Rebranding is a tricky maneuver. Usually signals 00:08:56.590 --> 00:08:58.549 an artist wanting to shed the novelty of their 00:08:58.549 --> 00:09:00.669 early work and step into a more confident, focused 00:09:00.669 --> 00:09:03.350 era, he's paring down the moniker to its core 00:09:03.350 --> 00:09:06.669 action. Just the verb. He begins preparing his 00:09:06.669 --> 00:09:09.409 first album under this new name, a project titled 00:09:09.409 --> 00:09:14.009 Unlocked, slated for a 2003 release. But the 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:16.250 source material includes a detail that completely 00:09:16.250 --> 00:09:18.590 disrupts the standard music industry narrative. 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.580 It really does. The album was delayed, and the 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:24.580 delay wasn't caused by label disputes or sample 00:09:24.580 --> 00:09:27.740 clearance issues or creative block. It was delayed 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:30.100 because Verbs made the decision to spend six 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:32.220 months in South Africa on a mission with his 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:35.120 home church in Nashville, Tennessee. If we connect 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.159 this to the bigger picture, you have to realize 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.840 how incredibly rare this is in the entertainment 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:42.559 business. Let's look at the momentum he had built. 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:45.679 He survived the early rejection, he secured a 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.500 deal with Godi Records, he dropped two successful 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:51.559 albums back to back, and he had just executed 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:54.019 a fresh rebrand. He was on fire. The industry 00:09:54.019 --> 00:09:56.399 playbook dictates that you never step off the 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.100 gas when you have that kind of traction. You 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:00.799 tour endlessly, you stay in the studio, and you 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.740 keep your name relevant. Because it is an industry 00:10:02.740 --> 00:10:05.620 built on the fear of being forgotten. To intentionally 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:07.740 leave the country and step away from the microphone 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:11.000 for half a year is almost unheard of for an artist 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.600 on the rise. It speaks volumes about his internal 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.659 hierarchy of values. In a culture obsessed with 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:19.519 relentless career momentum, he actively chose 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.159 to hit the pause button. He recognized that his 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.460 personal grounding, his faith and his commitment 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:27.500 to his home church in Nashville superseded his 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.659 album release schedule. He chose global service 00:10:30.659 --> 00:10:33.850 over commercial capitalization. How often do 00:10:33.850 --> 00:10:36.129 you feel pressured to just keep producing and 00:10:36.129 --> 00:10:39.340 moving forward? it forces you to wonder how valuable 00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:41.379 it could be to hit pause for a higher calling 00:10:41.379 --> 00:10:44.340 or just a grounding real world experience. And 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:46.820 you have to wonder how that trip impacted the 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:49.399 thematic arc of his later work. Definitely. Before 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.919 he left, he was gearing up for Unlocked, a title 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.080 that implies breaking out, launching the new 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.600 solo identity. But when you look at the titles 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:58.500 of the work he released after returning from 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:01.440 South Africa, the tone shifts entirely. He does. 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:04.419 He drops an EP in 2006 called The Groundwork 00:11:04.419 --> 00:11:07.440 3P, and then his next major... major studio album 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.100 in 2007 is called The Groundwork Theory, released 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:13.100 under a new label, 1280 Music. The shift from 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:16.399 unlock to groundwork is telling. It suggests 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.279 an artist who went from focusing on his own breakout 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.899 potential to focusing on what holds everything 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:25.009 together at the base level. You don't spend six 00:11:25.009 --> 00:11:27.610 months doing mission work in South Africa without 00:11:27.610 --> 00:11:29.750 it fundamentally altering your perspective on 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:32.210 what truly matters. Yeah, that changes a person. 00:11:32.470 --> 00:11:34.690 It seems to have grounded him, shifting his focus 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:37.289 away from the industry treadmill and back to 00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:39.450 the foundational elements of his life and art. 00:11:39.610 --> 00:11:41.690 He stepped away from the microphone to physically 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:44.429 live out the lyrics he had been writing. But 00:11:44.429 --> 00:11:47.230 while those solo albums from the syllabus up 00:11:47.230 --> 00:11:49.850 to the groundwork theory are impressive, here's 00:11:49.850 --> 00:11:52.250 where it gets really interesting. When you look 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:54.990 at the source material. the most extensive section 00:11:54.990 --> 00:11:58.049 isn't dedicated to his solo career not at all 00:11:58.049 --> 00:12:00.570 it is the staggering list of his collaborative 00:12:00.570 --> 00:12:03.190 work the sheer volume of his guest appearances 00:12:03.190 --> 00:12:05.690 paints a picture of an artist who functioned 00:12:05.690 --> 00:12:07.950 as a structural pillar for his entire musical 00:12:07.950 --> 00:12:11.200 community he wasn't operating in a silo Let's 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.480 look at the breadth of this network. His connection 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.740 with Greets obviously didn't end with dancing 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:19.080 in the 90s. He is deeply embedded in their discography. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.960 He's featured on their album Factors of the Seven, 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:25.220 tracks like US Open and Hopes and Dreams. Right. 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:27.879 He appears on Grammatical Revolution on the track 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.399 Strugglin'. He's on the Art of Translation and 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:33.720 their album Quarantine. That is a recurring multi 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.039 -album creative partnership. And that is just 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:39.470 one group. The list extends rapidly across different 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:42.470 sounds and subgenres. Oh, it's massive. He works 00:12:42.470 --> 00:12:45.009 extensively with the R &B group Out of Eden. 00:12:45.230 --> 00:12:49.330 He is a staple on DJ Mage's mixtapes. And we 00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:52.190 have to remember, in the late 90s and early 2000s, 00:12:52.190 --> 00:12:55.029 mixtapes were the lifeblood of hip -hop discovery. 00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:57.250 The absolute core of it. Verbs is featured on 00:12:57.250 --> 00:13:00.470 DJ Mage's Wax Museum, Full Plates, The Ringleader, 00:13:00.769 --> 00:13:03.690 Boogie Root, and Sabbatical Transit. He is collaborating 00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:07.620 with KJ52, Camp Quest, and Petity. He even crosses 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:09.980 genre lines entirely to work with the rock group 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:12.120 Pillar on a track called Galactic Groove and 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:14.419 collaborates with the alternative band Silage 00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:17.240 on a track titled, appropriately, Verb. When 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:18.940 you look at that diverse catalog of features, 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:23.320 you see a masterclass in versatility. Going from 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:26.740 the southern alternative bounce of grits to a 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:29.039 rock track with Pillar and then holding your 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.919 own on a DJ Mage mixtape requires an incredibly 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.700 adaptable skill set. He became the connective 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.700 tissue of the Christian hip hop ecosystem. But 00:13:37.700 --> 00:13:40.059 what is the strategic value of being that connective 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:42.460 tissue? Does spreading yourself across so many 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:44.759 different projects dilute your own solo brand? 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:48.279 Actually, in an era before algorithmic playlists 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:50.799 and streaming recommendations, it was the ultimate 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:53.649 form of cross -pollination. A fan who bought 00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:56.269 a Pillar CD for the rock music would hear Verbs 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:58.450 on Galactic Groove. That makes a lot of sense. 00:13:58.669 --> 00:14:00.769 That fan might then track down a DJ Mage mixtape 00:14:00.769 --> 00:14:03.009 to hear more of him. And suddenly they're introduced 00:14:03.009 --> 00:14:04.850 to an entirely different segment of the hip -hop 00:14:04.850 --> 00:14:07.649 scene. Verbs serve as a bridge between disparate 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:10.570 fan bases. It redefines what success looks like 00:14:10.570 --> 00:14:13.350 in the music industry. His footprint wasn't just 00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:15.269 measured by the albums with his face on the cover. 00:14:15.409 --> 00:14:17.830 It was measured by the fabric he wove with his 00:14:17.830 --> 00:14:20.899 peers. You do not get invited into the studio 00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:23.700 by that many different artists across that many 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:26.460 different genres unless you are bringing something 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:29.000 highly valuable, professional, and ego -free 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.059 to the table. And that brings us full circle 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:35.500 back to his middle ground approach. Because his 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:38.940 lyrical style was balanced, neither too aggressively 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:42.139 dogmatic nor too abstract, his voice could fit 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:44.960 seamlessly into almost any context. Right, he 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.440 was adaptable. He could complement the lead artist's 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:49.820 vision without clashing with it or overpowering 00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:53.220 it. His artistic balance made him the ideal collaborator. 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.399 It is a remarkable journey when you view it from 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:57.440 a distance. We started by looking at Michael 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.340 Boyer II. A 12 -year -old kid in Phoenix facing 00:15:00.340 --> 00:15:03.500 down the harsh reality of nearby churches, laughing 00:15:03.500 --> 00:15:06.179 at him and labeling his passion a pit of hell. 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:08.759 A localized rejection that could have easily 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:10.980 ended his artistic pursuits before they even 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:14.720 began. Yet from that friction, he built a massive 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.500 legacy. He put in the physical work dancing for 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:20.480 grits. He pioneered a synthesized lyrical style 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:23.460 that bridged the gap between explicit East Coast 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:25.639 street preaching and Southern poetic abstraction. 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:29.000 He achieved tangible commercial success with 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.480 records like The Syllabus and The Action Figure. 00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:34.379 He then demonstrated a rare clarity of priorities, 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.179 evolving his identity to simply verbs and proving 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.320 that an artist can step off the commercial treadmill. 00:15:40.809 --> 00:15:43.470 He paused his momentum for six months to do mission 00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:46.110 work in South Africa, an experience that seemingly 00:15:46.110 --> 00:15:48.389 influenced his later focus on laying down the 00:15:48.389 --> 00:15:50.309 groundwork. And he proved that ultimate impact 00:15:50.309 --> 00:15:53.269 in any industry often lies in becoming the ultimate 00:15:53.269 --> 00:15:55.830 collaborator. He left a sprawling fingerprint 00:15:55.830 --> 00:15:58.289 across the discographies of his peers, acting 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:00.870 as the vital connective tissue that helped legitimize 00:16:00.870 --> 00:16:03.889 and expand his genre. The source noted his lyrics 00:16:03.889 --> 00:16:06.190 took a middle ground approach between explicit 00:16:06.190 --> 00:16:09.710 doctrine and poetic musings. When you are trying 00:16:09.710 --> 00:16:12.049 to communicate your own deeply held beliefs or 00:16:12.049 --> 00:16:14.809 complex ideas in your life, do you lean towards 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.710 being blunt and explicit? Or do you rely on poetry 00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:20.409 and nuance to get your point across? And more 00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:22.629 importantly, what might happen if you tried to 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:25.009 find the middle ground? That is a fascinating 00:16:25.009 --> 00:16:27.370 question to leave you with and something to seriously 00:16:27.370 --> 00:16:29.250 consider the next time you look at the landscape 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:31.769 of modern media. Thank you for joining us on 00:16:31.769 --> 00:16:34.190 this deep dive into the source material. We always 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:36.129 appreciate you coming along for the ride and 00:16:36.129 --> 00:16:37.769 we will catch you on the next one. Take care.