BETWEEN THE LINER NOTES
Shok: In Search of the Lost Truth
By Jennifer E. Jones
CBNmusic Producer
CBN.com
– Nashville, TN – Michael “Shok” Gomez is a surprisingly humble man as he sits patiently near the escalators of Nashville’s grand Renaissance Hotel. By his quiet demeanor, you’d never guess you’re in the presence of a man who’s worked with some of the best in today’s hip-hop industry. Eve, DMX, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and a host of other rap artists have utilized the amazing producing skills of Shok.
So why did he leave a life of platinum album sales to work for God? According to this Yonkers native, it was a process that came about “little by little.”
“Ever since I was little, I was into music,” he tells CBNmusic. “I started playing drums when I was 10, then when I was 12, I started DJ’ing. At 16, I started producing.”
Shok was a musical entrepreneur as teenager. At 14, he threw parties, rented dance halls, and promoted his own shows. Once he became an adult, he signed a contract with the successful hip-hop label Ruff Ryders, home of DMX and Eve. During his four years, he produced 19 rap tracks that sold 13 million units all together.
His ambition drove him to be the best, but at the end of the day, it wasn't enough.
“God took me to a place where I looked at everything and realized this is nothing but emptiness,” Shok says. “You get something new; you need something new again. Then I realized that the blessing that I needed was His blessing in the Spirit. That’s what I needed.”
Life working on the Christian side of the entertainment world is quite different than his days with Ruff Ryders.
“It’s like night and day. What I do now, my focus is God. I’m getting my fulfillment directly from God when I go to Him. So I’m not doing it to live,” Shok says. “[Back then], I needed to sell a beat or I didn’t feel good. Now I’m doing it because I love talking about Jesus. It’s out of love now.”
Shok’s new life in Christ even changed the way he made music. His latest album, The Lost Truth, has a completely different sound than what he used to make.
“It’s more soulful. You can hear the transition. If you heard a beat I used to do and then you hear the beat I do now, you’ll hear the transition in my life in the music,” he says.
Everything that he learned working in the secular market helped prepare him for an inspirational solo career. However, God gave him a strict warning.
“God showed me [that] you can bring part of it with you, the good part, but don’t bring the arrogance. Don’t bring the boasting, the ‘I’m cooler than you.’ Nobody’s cooler than Jesus,” he says. “God was speaking to me like this: ‘Don’t go over there bringing what you had over here. That’s not what I’m about. That’s not what Jesus is about. That’s not the new man I made you.’”
Shok wrestled with this album and sought the kind of perfection that glorifies God only.
He confesses, “As I listened to it, I felt convicted. ‘No, that’s not it. No, that’s not Jesus. That was you in there showing people how you were flippin’ this’… People say you gotta be real to yourself. I say you have to be real to the calling God has for you.”
In the hip-hop world, your real life has to match the life you portray in your music. According to Shok, that same level of accountability should be maintained for Christians who make God’s standard their benchmark.
“We shouldn’t respect hip-hop artists if their ministry isn’t real. Hold them accountable in the Christian community the way we hold them accountable in the secular. ‘Oh, you’re a pastor in a church? You’re on the street ministering? Let’s see what you’re doing in your community.’”
While the world focuses on the external, Shok believes that the Christian artists should keep their focus on the internal. So keeping up with the clothes, cars, and money is a vain pursuit.
“Don’t worry about that,” he says. “That’s not what God is about. He is everything you can’t see. He’s peace love, and joy. Hip-hop can be so powerful… ‘cause we’re about Jesus.”
The Lost Truth (2005)
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