September 26, 2010
by Brian Englar @ The Frederick News-Post

Like many young people in the last few decades, Frederick residents Mark Billups and Lorenzo Nichols grew up on hip-hop music, listening to a wide range of styles.

But they said they were always most attracted to rappers whose music contained a positive, enlightening message, citing KRS-One and Public Enemy as early influences.

"A lot of music back in the "80s and early "90s, you know, even the club joints, you can listen to (it) and you can rock to it, but if you actually sat and listened to the words, there was actually a message behind it," Nichols said.

Now the two are using their music to try to spread their own positive message -- as well as share their Christian faith -- among young people.

In 2007, Nichols and Billups, both of whom work for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Frederick County and are members of Bethel Worship Center in Frederick, formed the Christian hip-hop duo New Skool Spirit.

They say their musical ministry is growing by leaps and bounds. New Skool Spirit has performed at Christian youth gatherings and colleges along the East Coast, including universities such as Maryland, Howard and Penn State.

"It grew from a love into something that we were like, "we can actually do this as a ministry, "" Nichols said. "And it grew from doing ministry at our church and things like that to where it grew into. Now it "s a ministry-slash-business for us, to where we "re actually traveling and doing shows at colleges and speaking to kids and things of that nature."

They have recently expanded their message, forming the New Skool Spirit Foundation for Higher Education to promote awareness of the importance of education. The foundation recently sponsored the Back to School Community Bash along with the Boys and Girls Club, which included a giveaway of backpacks full of school supplies. They said their forthcoming album, "Higher Education," is based largely around this theme. Billups said the decision to try to reach young people with a strong pro-education message came from seeing increasingly younger audiences at their shows, as well as from his own experience.

"I think like for me, when I was their age I didn "t take school seriously, and I didn "t put my all into it like I should have," Billups said. "So we just want to definitely try to help kids not have to lead difficult lives, and just let them know that there are opportunities out there."

They said their new emphasis goes beyond their religious mission and is meant for kids of all faiths. "The education message goes beyond that," Nichols said. "We always stick to our core values in it, but you have to know when to push one and when to put the other."

But Billups said there is no doubt in his mind why New Skool Spirit is where it is today.

"When you love God with all your heart and put your heart and soul into him, he "ll put everything back into you and definitely advance you," he said. "I mean we started in my living room, and it went from living room to rocking the University of Maryland with like 2,000 people. We know that "s him, definitely not us."