Salina rapper ‘cash hollistah.’ seeks to represent Christ through hip hop

Courtesy of cash hollistah.

Salina rapper James Curtis goes by the stage name cash hollistah. Curtis will be performing a free show with rapper C.R. on Sunday at Victory Fellowship Church.

Salina-based rapper James Curtis, also known as cash hollistah., is a man on a mission.

“I’m currently trying to overcome the perception that Christian rap is wack,” Curtis said. “Or rather, Christians who rap are wack. And while that statement may be partially true, I'm trying to prove that not all of us are. I feel like I’m doing ok, but I haven’t ditched the ‘We Shall Overcome’ song yet.”

Declaring yourself a Christian musician often comes with the stigma that your music isn’t as good as secular music. With his music, Curtis is trying to disprove this stereotype.

“With my music, I strive to make real music to appeal to the average person,” Curtis said. “Truth be told, most people don't care about theology, or music that just has ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus’ in it. They just want something real, something tangible. I feel like my music is a perfect introduction to the ‘real’ Christian lifestyle.”

To Curtis, being a Christian isn’t separate from his musical career.

“I guess the only way I could explain it is that when somebody says something like ‘I am hip-hop’ or ‘I am rock and roll,’” Curtis said. “Like the way they dress, talk, walk is hip-hop or rock and roll. When people ask, ‘what it is a Christian? My response is ‘me.’ The way I act is ‘Christian’ or ‘Christ-like.’ The way I walk, though it may have a hip-hop swagger to it, is Christ-like. The way I talk, even though it may be peppered with slang, is Christ-like. Even my music, be it gutter, sweet, underground, rocked-out, whatever, is Christ-like. Feel me?”

Curtis hopes to represent Christ through hip hop by being genuine to his faith and himself.

“Regardless of whatever people want to say about Jesus whenever his name is brought up, what they can’t say that he wasn’t a genuine dude,” Curtis said. “He cared for the poor, healed the sick, hung out with folks that most people, especially stuck-up Christians, wouldn't share the same space with. He was the voice for the voiceless, the average. Plus, he was relevant to the culture he was in at the time.”

Curtis brings a high level of energy to each performance and with his DJ Keith Scratch.

“I’m not one of those rappers that just stands there and moves two steps to the left, then two to the right and babbles some incoherent stuff in the mic,” Curtis said. “You're bound to have a fun time at a cash hollistah. show. Live songs, crowd participation, maybe some free styling, some beat boxing, my DJ getting down with maybe a little Phil Collins thrown in for good measure.”

Curtis’ stage name “cash hollistah.” is a reference to a 19th-century sheriff and deputy U.S. Marshal, Cassius “Cash” Hollister with some creative spelling and punctuation added to the mix.

“Well, when you think of hip-hop aliases, don’t you normally think of cowboys?,” Curtis said. “Well, that’s what I thought when I came across this book of cowboys at the library and I happened to run across the name Cash Hollister. I thought it was fresh, so I dropped the ‘er’ and added the ‘ah’ and being a e.e. Cummings fan and just wanting to be different, I made everything lower case and added period at the end.”

Curtis has been surrounded by music for basically his whole life.

“My family has always been real musical,” Curtis said. “My mother sang and father played bass, so it only made sense that I got into it. When I was younger, we would travel Partridge Family-style and do shows as a family. I used to sing. The key words being, ‘used to.’”

Curtis didn’t know much about hip hop until discovering one particular group.

“EPMD,” Curtis said. “I remember watching the video box, the pay-for-play channel, back in the day and I remember running across EPMD’s ‘You Gots To Chill’ and that was when I fell in love with hip-hop. Of course, being a preacher's kid, I wasn’t allowed to have that stuff in the house. But of course, I had it.”

Curtis will have a mixtape titled “The Best of Cash Hollistah...So Far” available at his show on Sunday and on January 1, he will be releasing two albums, one with DJ Keith Scratch titled “The Showdown” and the other with Salina-based rapper C.R. titled “Witness.” He has a number of songs up on his MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/hollistahmusic.

The artist has been performing professionally since 2000 and has recorded a number of songs. Curtis hopes his music will have a lasting impact on his fans.

“I want to be still be relevant to the people in 2018,” Curtis said. “I still want them to bang stuff I made in 2008 and to be the exception to the perception of ‘Christian rap.’”

Cash hollistah. and C.R. will be performing a free show at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Victory Fellowship Church, 693 Rd. 190.