For NYC-born and raised artist Wuhsahbee, music has always been the ultimate outlet for processing what lies beneath the surface. After surviving an intense spiritual dark season at the start of the pandemic that led to an encounter with Jesus Christ, the rapper completely shifted gears. He stepped away from secular hip-hop to focus on Jesus. He had a multi-year hiatus filled with financial strain, independent hustle, and perseverance. Wuhsahbee returns with METAmorph, a project designed to challenge listeners’ views of their own lives. In this Q&A, the New York artist opens up about navigating the NYC Christian rap scene, the realities of being fully independent, and why his journey is far from over.

For those hearing about Wuhsahbee for the first time, who are you, and why do you create music?

I’m a child of God, born and raised in New York City. I’m passionate about the faith and all things creative. Creating music is the best way to convey my heart; as I grew up, I kept many things in. Music is a way to express what I feel inside.

Your project is called METAmorph, which is a perfect way to introduce your story. How does the project walk listeners through your journey as an artist and believer? What do you want them to take away from it?

For a lot of people who knew me before being born again, the lifestyle, music, and fruit contrast greatly now. The project walks listeners through themes of hope, grace, obedience, redemption, perseverance, and worship as if they were in my shoes looking at life through the lens that I have on. I want listeners to acknowledge that everything is in perspective, and if we say we want the truth, what lens of perspective are we looking through? What’s holding us back? And what’s keeping us from the truth?

NYC is a tough place to try to make it as a hip-hop artist. There’s a lot of competition, and in the Christian rap scene, there aren’t many. Do you have any thoughts about that?

I see it both as an advantage and a challenge. Advantage because it makes it easier to get connected with the body of Christ out here in NYC to build, but also a challenge because hardly anybody is interested in godly hip hop music, even within the church itself. But I must carve out and stay in my own lane despite what other people are doing. I know that what I provide to the world is a unique sound experience, so I will continue to capitalize on that.

What’s the toughest part about being an independent artist?

Doing everything yourself, pushing yourself to learn and implement new things like marketing, video strategies, etc., and not knowing if anything you do will be successful. It takes a certain level of radical persistence to keep pushing forward even though you don’t see any of the fruit of your labor. And then managing everything yourself while managing your own life as well can be taxing.

It took a few years to drop this project after dropping a flurry of songs from 2021 through 2023. Did anything happen in that time frame that kept you from dropping music?

Yeah, honestly, I was broke and going through seasons of unemployment. Some of those songs were recorded at home, and some were at the studio. The songs I did at home, I wasn’t really satisfied with them, so I kind of didn’t take recording anything seriously until I started making more money consistently again. By God’s grace, I have a stable job now!

You were saved around six years ago. What ultimately made you give your life to Christ and then pursue music? Also, were you doing hip-hop before?

So my testimony actually goes hand in hand with music and where I was at in life around that time. This was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was practicing new age spirituality and invoked a spirit to come into my life. This was the most distraught I’ve ever been, and all I wanted to do was music and be successful in it. I gave the spirit permission over myself, and eventually I realized what I asked for had come to pass. I was possessed. Jesus delivered me in my bedroom, and from that moment on I knew I needed to seek the Lord wholeheartedly and surrender my life to Him. Before I got saved, I was doing secular hip hop. After getting saved, I didn’t want to do music anymore, but after a few months of thinking it through, I decided to make Christian hip hop.

Have you heard any testimonies from people about your music, and can you share a story if so?

I remember performing at my last church’s concert. One of my friends couldn’t make it, but his brother did. After my performance, his brother cried and confessed to me his sin, and he said the last song, “Baby Milk,” really touched him, and I prayed with him. This was in 2023. Please pray for his salvation, as he is not saved yet.

Wuhsahbee is hot. You spit fire; besides the obvious, do you have a cool story around the name?

Nah [laughs]. A lot of people are going to be disappointed when they hear this story, but the name came to me, I believe, either 8th grade or 9th grade. I was listening to a song by a secular artist that goes by Hodgy Beats called “wasabi” and I thought that it sounded lit. Imma take that and spin it. My name started as wasa.bee, then changed to wvsvbi, and ultimately I landed on Wuhsahbee when I was 14 and kept it ever since. Underwhelming, right?

What else do we need to know about Wuhsahbee? Anything else to add?

Wuhsahbee got some stuff in the vault that hasn’t ever been done before in history, not in the secular space and not in the Christian space. And I do not say that lightly. It’s gonna be a maze; we’ll see.

The post Wuhsahbee on ‘METAmorph’, Deliverance, and Carving His Own Lane in NYC appeared first on Rapzilla.