Pastor of the dancehall - linking the church and dancehallPastor of the dancehall

Anytime the words church (or pastor) and dancehall appear in the same sentence, it is automatically assumed that it is the dawn of some controversy. But for Pastor Stephen Blake, who wears the title ‘Pastor of the Dancehall’, the dancehall is a platform like no other.

“Forget controversy – although this might be misinterpreted, leading persons to label me as a hypocrite – but I do not necessarily agree with gospel entertainers remaking a dancehall artiste’s track in order to share a spiritual message,” Blake told The Gleaner.

However, he is not a stranger to using dancehall tracks as inspiration. He says, “It is all about context, going beyond. Taking any and every song from the genre might not always be appropriate, and it is my opinion that, in that case, it is a mockery.”

He continued: “My job is to link church and dancehall. Just like dancehall, the Church may not always get a great name because the public is losing trust in the next generation of performers and preachers, but everything takes time.”

Not Always Easy

In sharing the gospel, which is what he does, Blake says that it has not always been easy for him to do so. “I was scared to even enter a hospital where people are dispirited by their medical condition, and when you think of facing the prisoners – to even look some of those men in the eyes was hard.” But he found the best way to deliver the religious words: through deejaying on dancehall rhythms.

He explained, “Imagine a prison tear down from 250 bad man a rail fi the gospel and di police a tell you as a pastor, ‘if you don’t behave yourself, we will have to ask you to leave’. It is my favourite place, and from interacting with the gangsters, it became easier to talk with them.”

Within that sphere, he earned the title of ‘Gansta Pastor’, a name that he does not dispute, but from a professional standpoint, he sticks to just ‘Pastor’.

Though the music industry is a hard one to break into, Blake knew that he was born to two influential individuals for a reason, and after realising that singing original dancehall-type songs captured an audience from different classes, he decided that he wanted to try a larger platform. In 2017, he entered the Red Stripe Big Buss competition and won.

Last year, Blake was awarded the Prime Minister’s National Youth Award in nation building. “You could say that it is the work that I am doing with the gangsters that even earned me that honour.”

The 29-year-old minister and recording artiste is the son of well-known preacher Dr Dorrett Blake, and Paul Blake, former lead singer of the internationally acclaimed Blood Fire Posse, known for songs likeGet Flat andRub A Dub Soldier in the ‘80s. His parents are founders of the Acts of the Holy Spirit Ministries International (formerly Sold Out Ministries) in Mandeville and Montego Bay.

After completing a bachelor’s degree with a major in marketing and a minor in international business in 2009, Blake, who was 19 years old at the time, started to follow his parents in the streets until he commanded the Mandeville arm of the ministry four years later.

Blake notes that their ministry was labelled as a street church because of the work that it did including ministering in hospices for persons living with severe disabilities and diseases like HIV/AIDS, and at the Freeport Jail in Montego Bay, as well as inner city and volatile communities that are riddled with violence.

“Being the child of two pastors aside, my involvement in the church was a natural progression, but I believe God spoke and advised me to join my parents in ministry, and the funniest part about it is that both of them expected me to go into [the] corporate world after university,” he said.

Not ALWAYS Accepted

But what he does was not always accepted. “Gospel did not book me and when I first started ministering. Many in the religious community never accepted me or my style of music. People assume I would mash up the church, but don’t get me wrong, I understood why, but it was not a good feeling.”

His musical catalogue includes both secular and gospel tracks likeFar Away,Can’t Do Me Nutn,God Ah Me Boss, which also features a remix version with his sister, Tiffany ‘Hephzibah’ Blake, andRunning Away: God Save Adijah Palmer. The two siblings had previously performed under the stage name Anavah Love Jones.

Blake will be performing at the Red Stripe Live event this evening the only gospel act amongst dancehall entertainers; Agent Sasco, Tifa, and Rygin King.

“I believe I can be the pastor of the dancehall. The song that prays for Adijah Palmer, or who most knows as Vybz Kartel, gets a buzz among dancehall listeners and it bears a good message. To be honest, the difference is, I am a real pastor. When I go around dancehall artistes, dem reason with me as a pastor, not an artiste trying to preach to the choir,” he said.