Keagan Holland, an ordinary guy with an ordinary upbringing from Riverlea, speaks about his experience in hip-hop.
“My brother would play hip hop very loud in the house so there was no way to escape hip-hop growing up. I was one of the causalities and got infected by it. I got saved, started dancing and eventually I joined a crew. With the hip-hop influence and the Holy Spirit within in me, I started rapping about God,” explained Holland.
He went on to explain that it made it so much easier to do it with the crew because their aim was to glorify God.
“I came to a place where living for myself was hopeless but rather living for greater hope filled me,” added Holland.
The twenty-two-year-old has been rapping for eight years now but has been a solo artist for nearly two years.
“I got the privilege to learn and experience a lot of things being part of the crew, but I see myself starting off my career in June 2016. I released a mixtape in Durban while being part of Save the World Foundation and then I was always working with Ricwa,” said Holland.
Together with Ricwa, the two released a mixtape called Kings of the South and the two have been touring in and around the community. Holland also recently released his official mixtape called Promise Land.
“We seek for things in the physical and when we eventually find it, we don’t feel satisfied then we always want more and more. Only Jesus can fill that gap in our lives and no one can say where the Kingdom of God is, but you’ll find that the Kingdom is inside each one of us. So, the Promised Land is just there to encourage people to stop looking outside of them but to look inside,” Holland explained.
He has ten songs on the Promised Land mixtape and has formed a crew called El Tribus which means ‘Tribe’ in Latin, therefore the crew stands for ‘Jesus Tribe’.
When asked if he’s willing to work with rappers who rap secular music he said: “I’m not one to look down on anyone else, I like appreciating the gift in someone and experiencing the hard work. Although I strongly believe that we need to take things by force for the Kingdom, media and music is a very loud voice in our communities.
“I’m not going to tell other rappers to repent and rap about God, I’m not going to be that guy but I’m going to be a big brother that will lead them to the Kingdom.
“So, if they willing to work with me and learn the teachings then so be it. I don’t just work with Christian rappers,” said Holland.
The rapper explained that he gives up on music at least three times a month but there’s a higher hope and that hope never dies.
“Music is a tool to preach Jesus. In my eyes I love Jesus and my relationships around me more than I love the music,” he said.
You can find the artist @KeaganHolland on all social media platforms.
