The best word is unexpected.
Unexpected in that you would never guess this guy does this, and unexpected in that if told what he does, you would never expect it to be any good.
Not only does the quiet, unassuming guy rap, but he raps about Mormonism. As if the assumed contradiction in that last statement wasn’t enough… he’s really good.
His music is so good that to label it with the prefix religious feels unfair and discrediting. Yet the music, and the man who makes it, is overtly religious; he does not feel lessened by the category. He is simply someone who has something in him that needs expression and he has an unusual gift in expressing it.
In my youth both my religious culture, and that of Hip-Hop, were tainted by a little ditty titled the “Mormon Rap”. This tongue in cheek, self mocking song, made it obvious that the culture and the genre could not cohabitate and established this idea as fact. Someone forgot to tell Beloved. Not only that, but I don’t think the contradictions ever even occurred to him. This is evident in that nowhere is the equivalent of “Yo, look at me, I’m Mormon,” work its way into his lyrics, rather he laces together distinct LDS doctrine with personal essays. He’s not opposed to a laugh, but he isn’t joking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UENHuLNO2gI
He is at this point completely undiscovered. It is a shame that should soon be corrected. If you are in, or can arrange to be, in Salt Lake City the night of March 18th, go see his first ever performance, on his first ever trip to Utah. You need not like Rap, or like Mormons, but you may leave changed on both accounts.
Brohammas 