HHW: Content wise, you’re openly religious and considered a Christian rapper. What are some misconceptions of Christian MCs?
Andy Mineo: I am definitely a Christian and I’m definitely a Hip-Hop artist. I think Christian artists sometimes have the cards stacked against them, because people can formulate all kinds of opinions on somebody because of their faith based off of previous experiences. Say somebody went to church and they had a bad experience or somebody was watching TV and saw “buy your miracle healing rag,” and they felt like somebody was trying to take money from them, they might have had a bad depiction of who Christians are.
When you talk about Christians being in music, I think they might not give artists a chance because they’ve had a bad experience with Christians. And that’s unfortunate, because I think people are missing out on lots of good music and lots of good things that Christian artists have to offer.
I think there is a misconception that Christians can’t rap, but I would fight against that. Look at the gamut of artist who are Christians right now, between Me, LeCrae, We Live As Kings, Christon Gray, [and] Alex Faith. I could go on for days at this point of all [Christian] artists that I say can hang with everyone in the industry. It’s just an exposure thing; people don’t know who these guys are. And on top of that I would say most people — not just Christian artists — most people can’t rap.
HHW: What do you think those preconceived notions say about fans?
Andy Mineo: I think that says something about people and their own shallowness… to not give an opportunity to listen to these artists and not give them a chance before they hear them because of preconceived notions. After giving the music a chance, I think people would like it.
HHW: Now that Never Land is out, what’s next for Andy Mineo?
Andy Mineo: There’s a lot going on with me both in my personal live (he and his girlfriend recently got engaged) and in my music career. In the next year, what you should see is a big tour. We’re co-headlining a tour and also working on my headlining tour for 2015. On top of that, a new album, Lord willing, is going to drop sometime January 2015. In between, I’m working on new music already, working on music videos, lots of traveling, and lots of playing out all part of the country.
