It was the 1990s. Distressed fonts and neon colors were everywhere. What was not everywhere was access to the internet.
Like Bugle Boy jeans, the Christian rap scene was made up of a bunch of pockets, some larger than others. These pockets consisted of an artist or two and the fans who lived nearby. Before the mass adoption of the internet, it wasn’t about where you were from. It was about where you were at, literally.
It was during this era that Efrain “Brother E” Alicea worked tirelessly to connect these pockets through his day job while developing his own pocket, of which he was a prominent member, by night.
His networking efforts, his own artistic contributions, his discipleship of those who came after him and the infrastructure he helped build paved the way for all of us: those who achieved notoriety, those who are still active and even those who are just getting started.
Christian hip-hop is in a much better place because of Brother E. This is the story of how that came to be.
In the Beginning
Brother E grew up enamored with hip-hop and its four elements: emceeing, breakdancing, deejaying and graffiti. Since he was in New York, he had front-row seats to what would one day capture the heart of a nation and eventually the globe.
At 26, he began attending a small, traditional Spanish-speaking congregation where rap was considered “of the devil.” When this hip-hop head from Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio, became a Christian, his church didn’t know what to do with him or his desire to merge two things he loved: Christ and hip-hop.
That did not stop his drive or determination to proclaim the Gospel. The first thing he did was start Power and Dominion Ministries, a live band made up of kids from the youth group he led.
He moved between denominations and congregations that were skeptical of his ministry style. But one thing is certain: His efforts paved the way for many who came after him.
Without people like Brother E, who were willing to be laughed at, mocked, ridiculed and thrown out of churches for using hip-hop to proclaim the Gospel, we would not have the flourishing scene that exists today.
The Festival of Raps
Another Christian rapper from New York named Bert Bocachica was facing similar struggles. After an introduction by a mutual friend in 1993, Brother E visited the Salem Coffee House to watch Bert perform.
It became a catalyst for things to improve, and quickly.
The two became inseparable. They shared a passion and vision for using Christian rap to reach the world, which ultimately led to the creation of Rap Fest in 1994.
As far as we know, it was the first festival of its kind: a multiartist music event inspired by Christ and hip-hop.
For two decades, Rap Fest was instrumental in launching artists. Cross Movement, Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and Andy Mineo, while part of a group called TRUCE, all performed early in their careers. Rap Fest also hosted legendary performers including Kurtis Blow, DJ Breakbeat Lou and Frankie Cutlass.
Rap Fest was where Cross Movement first met DJ Official, who later became the group’s official DJ. This was before DJ Official toured with Lecrae and produced projects for Reach Records.
Brother E was the first artist to perform at Rap Fest in 1994 and the last to perform in 2014.
The Information Superhighway
By 1995, CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy had begun providing internet access in people’s homes for a small fortune. It was an internet that already had Amazon, Craigslist, Match.com and eBay.
More importantly, about 40 million people were now plugged in.
And where two or more than 39 million are gathered, surely some of them are bound to be into Christian hip-hop.
Websites such as Godzhouse and HipHopZone began appearing. On obscure message boards, in chat rooms and through email lists such as TruHipHop, church misfits like Brother E were finding community for the first time.
Having internet access at home was expensive and a difficult sell for most people. For a passionate visionary like Brother E, it was a tool for finding others like himself.
His job at Columbia University came with the perk of an email address and internet access. From behind that keyboard, he began helping connect different pockets around the world.
On the opposite side of the country, I was in high school and had also found my way online through a computer class and an obscure federal contractor’s dial-up service that my friends and I discovered had open access to the internet.
That is where I first saw an email from eja2 land in my inbox. I would soon find out that eja2 was Brother E.
It was the beginning of our long-distance pen pal relationship. We communicated regularly for well over a decade before finally meeting in person at Flavor Fest.
Making Disciples
Beyond his passion for performing, Brother E had the heart of a pastor.
He naturally found himself mentoring the next generation of Christian emcees, so it was no surprise when he started a Bible study called The Collective. Young emcees would show up just for the chance to participate in the closing freestyle session.
The group met in various homes and ultimately became a training ground for future performers and ministers. Artists who participated included X-Out, King David, Crowned One, Warfare Camp, Manny Ferrer and Switch’d.
The Triple Threat
Brother E joined Crossroads Tabernacle and evangelist Nicky Cruz to create and perform a series of Broadway-style shows infused with hip-hop. It was similar to Hamilton, but many years before Hamilton existed.
They were known as The Storytellas and recorded six full-length projects.
“They used to do these things called hit and runs,” Holy Culture CEO James Rousseau said. “They’d set up a small sound system on a street corner and have more than one group perform songs. Whichever group wasn’t performing was in the crowd evangelizing. Then they’d shut it down, move to another area and do it all over again. This inspired us to do the same thing in Philadelphia.”
Brother E was naturally gifted. He was musical, could act and was funny. In addition to performing with The Storytellas, he joined the Bristrous Brothers comedy team and regularly performed at Salem Coffee House.
Elements Church
Brother E and Urban D, lead pastor of Crossover Church in Tampa, Florida, first met at Rap Fest. There was an immediate connection. Both were youth pastors, and both rapped.
It wasn’t long before Flavor Fest was created.
These experiences provided the inspiration and training for Brother E’s dream of planting a church. He and his wife, Erika, whom he met at Crossroads Tabernacle, began researching and attending classes to learn as much as they could.
He added a master’s degree in theology to the experience he had gained through his many roles and the church-planting work he had done throughout the New York area.
In 2008, Brother E found his tribe and planted Elements Church in the Bronx alongside Erika with the mission of “leading the urban culture to Christ while cultivating relationships.”
Just as he had done with emcees, Brother E began mentoring young pastors. He remained passionate and determined to see them become fruitful.
Kangols and Kangaroos
In the same way Brother E had been encouraged to start Elements Church through his time at Flavor Fest, he became a source of encouragement and inspiration for another pocket of Christian hip-hop: Mistery and four other leaders from Krosswerdz, a network of autonomous churches in Australia.
Brother E’s relationship with Krosswerdz helped lead to the creation of the Uprock Christian Hip Hop Summit.
In preparation, Mistery and other Krosswerdz leaders traveled to Flavor Fest in 2010 to build relationships within the global community and draw inspiration from other like-minded leaders.
It didn’t take long for Brother E and his brothers from other mothers down under to hit it off.
He invited them to visit his congregation in the Bronx. They performed at Elements Church and blessed the building with a graffiti mural.
In 2012, Krosswerdz invited Brother E to serve as a guest speaker and emcee at Uprock. One Krosswerdz member was so moved that he later came to the United States to serve as associate pastor alongside Brother E.
A decade later, just as he had during his early work in Christian hip-hop, Brother E was still investing in the Krosswerdz pocket by joining scheduled chats to encourage and challenge its members.
Better Than You Found It
Without Brother E’s focus, vision and courage, our scene would not be nearly as connected as it is today.
His early work knitting together different pockets helped lay the groundwork for the thriving and organized scene that exists today. So did his willingness to persevere when people around him thought he was crazy. So did his persistence in using hip-hop to reach people while he was constantly told he shouldn’t.
His incredible example of stewardship, whether with the microphone, the pulpit or the lives of the people around him, benefited all of us. It should challenge us to leave Christian hip-hop better than we found it.
Both Christian rap and Brother E are now in a better place.
Rev. Efrain Alicea
Aug. 6, 1964-Jan. 31, 2023
Christian hip-hop pioneer Efrain “Brother E” Alicea died unexpectedly in January 2023. We hope the story of his life inspires you to act.
Please pray for Brother E’s friends and family. You can also support his family by listening to the “Flood Your Mind Remix,” with proceeds going directly to them.
To continue with our 1990s theme, it’s only right to include a thank-you section like the liner notes of our favorite albums.
To everyone who made this article possible: Without your thoughts, anecdotes and fact-checking, this story would not exist. Thank you to Justin Sarachik, Trig, Urban D, Mistery, Ray Majoran, Erika Alicea, David Daniels and, most of all, Bert Bocachica.
