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Mark Of The Peace
I took a trip to South London to meet Dwayne Tryumf- The man that’s creating music where rap music meets scripture. It was insightful and enjoyable talking to the artiste with powerful lyrics and a heart for God
Amanda: The title of your forthcoming album is ‘Mark of the Peace’?
Dwayne: Yeah. Towards the end of The Bible it talks about the ‘mark of the beast’ and I’m counteracting that in saying the ‘Mark of the Peace’.In the book of Ezekiel when God was about to bring judgment on the nation He marked certain people, and for those people that were marked He didn’t want them to be touched; this was God’s mark, he didn’t want them to be touched when judgment came. The ‘Mark of the Peace’ is therefore saying a separation from the world and that we’re not taking the ‘mark of the beast’ but the ‘Mark of the Peace’.It’s also saying that when you truly recognise Christ is King you can have peace.
Amanda: What can we look forward to on the album?
Dwayne: I’ve worked with a variety of people, some of those include Jahaziel, Ryan Carty- who’s really good and has got his album coming soon. An upcoming group called Sister Jones and Gamma who’s a Ragga artiste. I grew up listening to reggae and ragga in my house because my background’s Jamaican, so I’ve got some of that featuring on the album. Ian Green is also on there, he’s produced and featured on the album, he’s one of the worlds top producers. The album’s going to be released towards the end of the year.
Amanda: Is making music something that you’ve started doing since being saved?
Dwayne: No, before I was saved I was in a Hip-Hop group and I was also producing, doing remixes. I produced remixes for a group managed by R. Kelly.
Before I became a Christian I was in a meeting with Will Smith’s label manager; I was going to be the producer for his next album and this was the time when God called me and I put down everything. It was the right time when God called me. In The Bible Jesus said how hard it is ‘for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven’, (Mathew 19:23) so when I look back I think God you called me at the right time because if I had the record deal that I was about to enter into, the money and my tunes playing on the radio and then God called me it might have been harder for me to give those things up.
Amanda: What’s the story behind the name ‘Tryumf’?
Dwayne: I officially changed my last name to Tryumf. Before I officially changed it I thought- names are significant. Jacob changed his name to Israel; Jacob means trickster and Israel means presence of God. Within the book of Colossians it speaks about The Cross being the symbol of triumph over principalities, so for me it means that I’m carrying my cross.
Amanda: How have things changed in terms of your music since coming to God?
Dwayne: The music I was writing before was so negative, my aim was to see how negative I could be through my lyric writing and the music that I was listening to was just so negative and that’s what was inspiring me. The Lord gives the gift and He doesn’t take it back so when I got saved the gift was still there but when I came to Christ I thought that because I’d been using it so much for the devil that there was no way that God wants me to use this gift.
Amanda: You were recently one of the artistes that did a UK tour with Lecrae, how was that?
Dwayne: It was really good. Lecrae’s humble and easy to get along with; easy to talk to. He wasn’t unapproachable he was just really nice. I introduced him to some people that he didn’t even know and he just received them and I felt that was really good.
Amanda: Your music is very conscious and heartfelt, why is that very important to you?
Dwayne: Because I’ve seen the power of music. Even politicians use music to get the campaign going sometimes. The power of music is so big; it can shape a whole generation and even make people dress differently. So I’m thinking if music has got this much power, let me use it in a way that positively influences lives. I take it so seriously when I’m writing lyrics now because I know that when I record this and I put it out there that this is going to affect the way that people live. Because a person could be listening to my music a hundred times in a year and if I’m chattin rubbish then that’s a hundred times rubbish.
Amanda: On the EP for ‘Mark of the Peace’ you incorporate scriptures often into your music.
Dwayne: It’s my heart. I want to teach people the word of God and that’s what Jesus did. And the whole point of knowing the word of God is so that it comes out in your life. I want to be releasing the word of God in my tracks. In the parable of the sower the seed symbolised the word of God and it talks about how ‘some seed fell by the wayside’ and ‘some fell on stony places’ and ‘some fell among thorns,’ and some ‘fell on good ground,’ (Mathew 13: 3-9) which is soil where the seed can grow and bring forth fruit, so the word is a seed and as we release the word it’s like we’re sowing seeds.
Amanda: Why did you choose to call your first EP ‘Ghetto Scripture’?
Dwayne: Ghetto: meaning a place of hardship and Scripture: meaning sacred writings.
So they were sacred writings from a place of hardship; from being in an environment where people were struggling and selling drugs because they’re trying to get money, so it’s from growing up around that. I wanted to write something that said I know and understand the life and there’s a better way.
Amanda: You bring in the reality of what’s going on in society, particularly amongst young people, such as in your song ‘Don’t Throw Your Life Away.’
Dwayne: I grew up on a council estate and in the area where gangs were popular and I think that influenced how I write. I actually wrote that track about three/four years ago, which was around the time that gun culture started to increase in the UK. God gave me that song, I find that a lot of the time when I’m writing God gives me lyrics that counteract things that are about to happen.
Amanda: I commended you on choosing to be outspoken about God when you were interviewed on Sky News on the subject of Gun Crime. Why was it so important to you to not shy away from speaking about Christianity?
Dwayne: The day before I was called to do the interview I was reading the book of Proverbs and what I was reading was talking about how a fool doesn’t have understanding so he doesn’t open his mouth at the gate, and as I meditated on it I found that it was saying that a fool is someone that doesn’t speak when he has that opportunity to make a good influence so a wise man is someone that does speak when he has the opportunity to make a good influence. So when I got the call to go on Sky News that’s what came back to me and I realised this was a door God had opened and I would be stupid not to speak at a time when I know I’ve got the truth.
The Bible says ‘the word of God is ‘quick and powerful’- that word ‘quick’ meaning the word of God is alive. It [The Bible] says that word of God is ‘quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.’ (Hebrews 4:12)
Amanda: Is the subject of Britain’s rising level of gun crime very close to your heart?
Dwayne: When I think about it, it gets emotional. Last year a friend of mine was shot and killed on an estate. It angers me and makes me wonder what’s motivating these young people, but then when you turn the channel to see some of the music videos all you see is guns and I think to myself that kind of thing should be illegal; to show that and talk about guns in that light.
Amanda: Do you see yourself as a role model to young people?
Dwayne: Yeah, I didn’t seek to be that or do that. I just set out to tell a good message but it’s become that a lot of the young people are really influenced by my music, so now I’ve got that on my shoulders. But you should expect it anyway because that’s what comes with music, if God gives you the gift of music then you will become a role model if you want to or not, it’s just the question of are you a good role model or a bad role model.
Amanda: Who are your favourite Christian artistes?
Dwayne: Ambassador, Flame, Da Truth and Lecrae.
My favourite artiste of all time is Fred Hammond.
Amanda: Are you musically influenced by anyone?
Dwayne: The Christian artiste that’s influenced me the most is Ambassador from Cross Movement. He’s a Christian Hip-Hop artiste that did what he did really well. I was well impressed when I heard an album he did with Cross Movement called ‘Christology,’ I couldn’t believe it, I remember thinking this guy is bringin it, this is proper Hip-Hop and it’s Christian.
Ambassador and Cross Movement played a big part in influencing me and encouraging me.
I’m musically influenced by reggae because that’s what I grew up listening to.
I’ve been influenced by Hip-Hop that I used to listen to before I was a Christian with the style, but obviously the lyrical content’s different.
Amanda: What words would you like to leave with readers on UKGospelMusic.com?
Dwayne: ‘Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee’ (James 4:7) and ‘draw near to God and He will draw near to you’ (James 4:8). I believe everyone really wants a relationship with God because we’ve all got an empty space within us that only God can fill. Some people are looking to fill it with clubs, with other women or men but the truth is that only true satisfaction comes from the Lord, so ‘draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’
Interviewed by Amanda Hemmings – June 2008
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