Today we’d like to introduce you to Saint Dru.
Saint Dru, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Andrew Smith; people call me Drew. Rapping was a passion of mine since high school. The style of the genre grew on me. As I got older, I decided that I wanted to write lyrics serving the Lord, aiming to integrate Christianity with my love for rap. My first entrepreneurial service to the world was something I called “Mixtape Ministry”, founded back in 2008. This was my first attempt to make my vision a reality; I wrote Christ-centric lyrics to mainstream beats by the likes of TI’s “what you know about that”, Lil Wayne’s “Hip aint dead”, and other popular tracks. After learning about the music business, I learned of the limiting bureaucracy behind resale and redistribution of existing melodies. From here, I knew I had to start from scratch. In 2016, I dropped my first single under a new ministry named “Gospel Enjoyment”. Now I produce original Christian rap with original beats, as opposed to the production on mainstream artists’ music.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My challenges have been numerous along the way. I believe that I am still at the beginning of a long journey, and so I do anticipate more struggles to come. But I can say for sure that these will not phase me in the least, because it has been through my past struggles that I have been able to clarify and purify my motives in serving the Lord along the way.
I suppose a reoccurring challenge for me is handling people who are not necessarily for Christianity per say. I would say that my passion is spurred on even more through this challenge, however, because I would say that this challenge is simply a sign that what I am doing is necessary. The service this gospel rap can provide at base is an awareness of the faith, then hopefully, once people give it an honest listen alone with themselves on a long drive home, they can realize that the music actually has a lot more relevancy to their own personal lives than they originally thought.
Ultimately, I’m thankful with the accomplishments and the things I have achieved as a gospel rapper.
Please tell us about Gospel Enjoyment Ministries.
The goal of the ministry is to communicate the gospel to people at large in the form of entertainment and musical content which will be competitive with the generically lyricized content of other popular artists. If we can produce music which is spiritually uplifting by virtue of its beat alone, we can only maximize its meaning by serving the lord through gospel centered lyrics.
There is a core tenant at the heart of my content production is a sort of play off of the traditional “you are what you eat”, except the idea here is that you are what you listen to. If we always listen to popular music with lyrics singing about values which do not integrate us with the Lord and with our highest selves, and rather with materialism and lower order themes, then we tend to lead lives that reflect that. If we can provide the people with a medium for digesting the gospel in a way that is just as engaging and creative, we promote a healthy diet of content with a positive message, and in turn, a positive impact.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
When I dropped my full album in December of 2017, this was easily the proudest moment of my music career. Even though the final product was not totally perfect, in the end I am proud because this album signified the creative spirit within my being. It also boosted my confidence in my own initiative, which I feel has been important for getting me in gear for the next projects to come.