ChristianMusicDaily

If one of Christian music’s most popular musicians hadn’t followed his dreams, he might still be appearing on doorsteps with flowers in hand.

“I once worked as a flower delivery person,” says the man known as KJ-52. “Not really a career builder there,” he adds, laughing about his past before he began rapping his way onto stages across the U.S. with a full-time hip-hop music career.

ChristianMusicDaily.com's Mark Weber with rapper KJ-52

“I think I was KJ and the 52’s once and that was funny,” he remembers, thinking back on the names he has acquired from those who couldn’t quite “get” KJ-52. “It sounded like a doo-wap band. Gosh, once I was AJ 90210. Someone said it sounded like a cable station.”

He admits his name could easily be KJ Fifty-Two (but it's pronounced KJ-Five Two) because how it is written and he can understand why some Christian music fans might be confused about his name. Even outside Christian music, his name has been known to raise a few eyebrows— at the bank.

“I went to deposit my check at the bank because that’s my business name,” says KJ-52, whose real name is Jonah Sorrentino. “And they were like, ‘What is this? KJ-52?’”

But even as his list of newly acquired aliases grows, he just takes it all in stride.

“I just take it all with a grain of salt,” he laughs.

After all, how can a man who has made fun of his own name on an album get too upset? Inspired by everything around him, this man looks at humble beginnings and certain hardships he has overcome while going “Behind the Musik.”

“Behind the Musik,” one of KJ-52's CDs, has special meaning to the rapper and it isn’t just because he dared to share part of his album with his parents— literally.

“I like to hear ‘Behind the Musik’ because it’s my testimony,” he confesses. His favorite song?

“It varies depending on what mood I am in,” he explained. "I like ‘Call On You’ because of the nature of what the song is about. If I am missing my parents, I listen to ‘Thank You.’”

While he is looking behind the music, he admits he actually enjoys this fourth record.

“This is the only record I will go back and listen to,” KJ says, as he also admits to loving to just go in his own record studio and tinker around…trying new things and finding new sounds.“I actually have a hard time listening to previous albums,” he says. Why?

“Listening to my first album, I sound like I have rocks in my mouth,” he says of his debut album. “'Behind The Musik' is a record I can honestly say I put in and listen to and enjoy…not that I am listening to it for my own voice. But, I am proud of it,” he says.

In a way "Behind The Musik" is a tribute of sorts. It is a tribute not only to his musical growth but also to freedom— a freedom born from being librated from past hurts, including watching his parents divorce when he was young.

“My dad put me in Catholic school as a young kid but I cannot say we went to church on a regular basis. I had a belief in God,” he says of his days before he became a Christian.

“A lot of me was just bouncing back and forth between two parents, trying to find some stability.”

Though it took years, Sorrentino found stability and peace after his parents divorced. What  made the difference for him after experiencing years of pain following his parents’ divorce?

“Honestly, what made the difference (in my relationship with my parents) was time. Time kind of heals all wounds. Part of it was prayer. Being patient and coming to an understanding— for myself and them.”

God restored a broken relationship. But, it wasn’t before KJ came to the point of saying ‘I’m going to find out who God is for me,’ that he really began to see healing.

“As you get older, you never really stop wanting to have a relationship with your family, your parents,” he says, quietly. "I talked to my dad a few days ago and he told me he actually puts my CD on in the mornings to help him get focused. So, I thought that was cool."

But, his relationship with his parents isn’t the only change in Sorrentino’s life.

“I see myself in places I haven’t been in, a hip-hop artist hasn’t been in. I am selling more records than I have in any period of time. It is encouraging. I am not going to say I am there yet, but at the same token, this is the best time for me to be doing what I am doing,” he explains.While he can honestly say he is selling more albums now than ever, he still points out his music sometimes doesn’t receive the warmest of welcomes— in or outside his own camp.

“Sometimes people still expect me to still be rapping like what I was doing 10 years ago and it is insane. I have changed and grown,” he says.

But even being one of Christian music’s most popular artists doesn’t mean he hasn’t been asked to water down his Christ-centered lyrics by others inside the music business.

“I sat down with one of the biggest program directors of a station in Dallas and we went through my entire record. He said ‘I would love to throw this on. This could easily go on right now, but I cannot play it.’ A lot of it came down to content,” the Florida rapper says.

The program director had a problem playing songs about God on the radio. But the man, known as KJ-52 on stage, doesn’t apologize and has no problem continuing to sing/talk/rap about God.

“If my content means you cannot play it, I must be doing something right,” he says.

Want to experience KJ-52's music? Click here to buy his 2007 release.