Eden: I’m so thrilled that you’re willing to be with us on the Bibles.net podcast today. I discovered your music, and it was some of the most fun stuff I’ve ever heard. So I’m excited for other people that are engaged with Bibles.net to learn a little about you today. And I’m just excited to get to know you. So thank you for being with us. I would love to start out by hearing a little about you.
Anike: Awesome. Well, hey! My name is Anike, and I’m a Christian rapper/singer. I was born in Nigeria, and I currently live in Atlanta, Georgia. And I’m just passionate about letting the world know about Jesus through music and through online social media nowadays. So that a little bit about me.
Eden: Awesome. And aside from music, are there any things that you especially enjoy doing in your free time?
Anike: In my free time, I love dancing. That’s one thing that brings me joy. I think it’s a way to express freedom and just worship the Lord with your body. I think it’s cool because David danced for the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14). And so that’s one thing I definitely enjoy doing in my free time.
Eden: Bibles.net, our ministry, is all about helping people that didn’t grow up in church, discover the Bible and find resources to help them understand it and get to know Jesus through it. So is there a part of the Bible, of God’s Word, that’s like especially precious to you?
Anike: Yeah, I would say I have a lot because, you know, there’s so many gems. Lately I’ve been in Matthew, and I feel like Matthew just has so many gems. You get Jesus telling you straight up gems. And then you get to see the transformation of him choosing his disciples and what they went through. And you just get to see a lot of perspective shifts of what everybody assumed was right. And then Jesus being like: This is how you actually love somebody, and this is what the Word actually says, and this is what the Lord has called us to actually do. And so I really love Matthew, because it just shows you a lot of what it truly means to love, what it truly means to not worry, and how Jesus came to set an example for us.
Eden: Yeah. Awesome. That passage you mentioned in Matthew about not worrying—that is one of those passages that seems to never get old. The things that Jesus says just seem to be things we can come back to again and again and find to be true and helpful, no matter what season we’re in.
So, you gave us a little bit about who you are and what you do, but tell us a little bit more about your music ministry. So, what takes up most of your time day-to-day? And then also, how did you get involved in music?
Anike: Yeah. So with my music ministry, it’s very unique, because it’s through Christian rap. And so I think it’s really cool, because it reaches a younger generation, and it reaches a lot of people who might have naturally not gravitated towards regular Christian music. So I think it’s really cool the demographic we get to reach with our lyrics.
But most of my days, honestly, it’s really just striving to get to know God more. So honestly, like [with] the music, there’s nothing to talk about if you don’t know who God is. So, most of my days are spending time with God, spending time with my family. I’m married. So [being with] my husband, going to church, and then, other than that, going to the studio, doing life with the people I work with and make music with as well. So we talk about life as well. And then from there, [I am] just making songs and rinse and repeat of interacting with the music, with people in real life, and ministering that way. But then also the behind the scenes of, again, just spending time with God again, seeing what he wants me to share, sharing it over the songs, and then reaching the people in real life.
Eden: Yes. Wonderful. And would you be willing to share with us some of your songwriting process? So like, obviously you spend time with God and then go to the studio, but I imagine there’s a lot that happens in between that.
Anike: Yeah. So I would say a lot of my songwriting process is like part one: I would say journaling. So I like to journal what’s going on? What do I feel like the Holy Spirit‘s showing me? Because often you can learn a lot, but you just don’t remember. So I like to journal because I can see, like where I was, where the Lord took me, different things like, Oh, yeah, this is a great Scripture. Let me go back to this. So that’s part one [of my songwriting process]. And then part two is getting to the studio. So now I work directly with the producer, named Clark. And so, we’ll sit together and I’ll express, “This is how I’ve been feeling; this is what the Lord’s been showing me.” And then from there, he [Clark] will help make a beat. So if I’m like, “Oh, I’ve been feeling excited and joyful,” you might make a hype beat. Or if I’m like, “Oh, I feel like I just need to share something like somber and powerful,” then he might make a chill beat. And then from there, I just go in. So usually I start with melodies and I’ll go lay some melodies, and then from there, I’ll go back and put words on top of it that match it. And so that’s my songwriting process.
Eden: Awesome. Love it. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. And so when I first looked up your music, I believe I was listening to a song, called “Don’t Worry Bout It.” And on that song, your name was Wande, and now you go by Anike. And so, I’m wondering if you could share a little bit about why the name change and how God led you to make that adjustment in your life.
Anike: Yeah. So I changed my name from Wande to Anike just because originally Wande comes from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. And so the original meaning of the name is (the full name is Yewande), “the mother has come back.” So “Ye” [is] the mother, “Wa” [is] of ours, “nde” [is] has arrived back. And so at first, when I was young, I’m like, Oh, this sounds cool. Like, oh, the mom is back. That’s cool. But then just as I got deeper into my faith and stuff, I realized, this isn’t really aligned with the Bible, because this is more like reincarnation and stuff like that. And so the Lord taught me a lot about, how you even see in the Bible how it says, like, are you willing to follow the Lord over the things you love: over your possessions, over your family, leaving your mother, leaving your father type stuff (Mark 10:28-30)? And so, I think the Lord really showed me, “Are you willing to choose Jesus over your culture?” And so [usually] it’s like, “Oh, just follow tradition. Just do what we’ve been doing. That’s what everybody does.” But I think for me, it was like, Well, no, this doesn’t really align with who Christ is. It doesn’t align with how I want to live my life. And so I feel like the Lord just told me to let it go. And so I chose to let the name go. And I felt like he gave me a new name. I prayed with my mom as well, and so I was given some new names that just give all the glory to the Lord. That’s why I have my new name. So [my] middle name is [Anike]: [The full name is] Ireoluwa-Anike, which just means “the goodness of God” and “we have something to care for.” That’s why I changed my name. So I changed it from being a reincarnation to being like, Nah, I’m going to treasure the goodness of God in my life.
Eden: Wow. That is so beautiful. And I love how the change that Jesus made in your heart, people can look at your life and see your name change and see outwardly an identity change in you. Often, Jesus might change us, and people can see subtle differences in our life, but it’s kind of cool when it’s that public. So I love that. I love that decision and just your desire to stand with Jesus, even by the name that you bear.
I would love to hear if you could share with us how Jesus first transformed your life and why you decided to do Christian rap to begin with?
Anike: Yeah, so I was definitely blessed to get to know the Lord at a young age, which I highly recommend. And you know [I] pray that for future generations. But for me, I actually went to a summer camp, and I was actually influenced to go to that summer camp, ironically, because of Christian rap.
So I had heard Christian rap like Lecrae. I found it on YouTube, and then it really just intrigued me, and it began to influence me to want to follow God more. And so after doing that, I was like, Man, I need to see these people in real life. Like they really made an impact in my life. So I looked [them] up, and I saw that they actually had concerts, and I was like, Oh, they’re actually coming to Texas. That’s where I’m at. And they’re going to the summer camp that my church goes to. That’s perfect.
But, ironically, I was never allowed to go to church summer camps because my father is actually Muslim. So he would allow us to go to church on Sundays. But anything beyond Sundays, he was like, “Nah, that’s too much.” And so My mom was like, “If you can convince your dad to let you go to the summer camp, then that’s cool. You know, that’s on you.” But my mom was like, “I’m not getting into that argument today, so, you can do that, child.” And so, I was able to convince my dad. I was like, “Hey, they have this internship program. You always talk about internships, you know. It’s good for college. Let me do this internship program as a teenager.” And so my father was like, “I mean, I guess.” He signed off on the permission slip so that way I could go. And so I interned there. So instead of just being a camper, I was actually serving the campers. I was there for a week, and it was beautiful. Day three, I got saved, essentially. It was really beautiful. Changed my life.
And essentially, I was never a kid who was necessarily bad, per se. And so sometimes you may feel like you don’t even need a Savior because it’s like, oh, well, I’m not really doing anything crazy. Like, I’m not robbing people. I’m not out in the streets. And the Lord showed me, no, he’s not here just for good people or for bad people to be good. Like, he’s coming here to give you life (John 10:10; John 14:6). And I feel like that really resonated with me of like, oh, no, like I need eternal life. Like I want to spend eternity with the Savior. And just many things, like the freedom that comes with living with Christ. Because I think the things I more resonated with was I was living for other people’s acceptance. And it was like, oh, well, you have to do this, this, and this if you want to get a good job. You have to do this, this, and this if you want to be seen as a good person. And that can be very exhausting, because then what is your definition of good? Where are you even getting that from? And so, I was definitely able to find a new foundation in Christ and find my definition of good from Christ and find my definition of life from Christ. And I feel like it definitely just changed the trajectory of my life.
When I went back to school now, it wasn’t about “you have to do this to be popular.” But it was: I’m going to be myself and be exactly who God has called me to be. And I just want other people to experience joy. Especially as a teen, many people go through things like depression. And so I was like, “Man, let me show you how I overcame these things, and let me show you how I learned to not have to be ‘obedient’ to the other teens to be cool. But I can just be who God is calling me to be.” And so, that drastically changed my life, and that’s basically how I gave my life to Jesus. And it started my walk and my journey.
Eden: Wow! I love that. And I love how you talked about Jesus being our life. Jesus did die to save us from our sins, but he saved us from our sins so that we could be close to God again and enjoy that eternal life with him. And I love that that’s your focus is just how Jesus has brought you joy and just totally altered your perspective. That’s so beautiful.
And how has your relationship with Jesus impacted your identity as a rapper and as a woman? So I’ve heard you talk a little bit on YouTube and whatnot about femininity and also like your identity as a rapper. And so how does your relationship with Jesus touch both those areas of your life?
Anike: Yeah, you know, my relationship with Jesus touches both of those areas drastically just because one: As a rapper, my content is not going to be the typical rap content. I think typical hip hop culture/rap culture is very prideful and very like, “I’m the best.” You do whatever you got to do to cut down the other person, and all you do is care about you. And if anything, a lot of them treat women as objects. A lot of women have subjected themselves to be objects because they’re like, “Oh, well. It gets me attention, and I get a million views. So whatever, I’ll just wear less clothes.” For me, it changes the way I dress. I’m going to choose to dress modestly. It changes what I rap about. Instead of rapping about pride and me being the best and forget everybody else, I’m going to actually rap about being humble. I’m going to rap about how I can kill my pride, how I can kill my flesh (Galatians 5:24). And also [I am] rapping about hope, honestly, to spread hope and love to other people.
And then I think also my relationship with God just touches my femininity like one: with the modesty aspect, that’s like a really big one. And then two: just actually being a woman. Female rap often wants you to be super masculine. So basically there’s two extremes. Either you’re super masculine or you’re super just sexualized. And so, it’s shown me like, no, I can be a feminine woman at the same time who’s not just putting my body out there to get attention and [show] that God loves me as I am and me—fully clothed—can still reach people and can still get a message out there.
Eden: Yeah, and you know what? I’ll just commend you. When I looked at your YouTube channel and just your album covers and everything, I thought, Wow! this woman is really gifted. And you can tell that she is all about Jesus and that she stands out for being different, and she puts out excellent stuff. But you did stand out for just that, like decorum and dignity. And I really loved that about your music and about the way that you present yourself in the world. I think it really does give glory to Jesus.
And then, if you could encourage any younger women watching, like maybe teenagers that are listening to this, what are a few things that you would say to them?
Anike: Yeah, I think I would say to any younger women, any teens watching this, I would say, just see who God is calling you to be. And at the same time, look at your current surroundings. I think sometimes we’re looking to be that version. Like, Oh, this future self, I wish I could just be like this person, or I wish I could just be like her. Maybe in the future. And I think it’s cool to have goals, but often look around you and like, what do you have? Like, where can you serve right now in your local community?
For me, when I first got saved, that was serving in my high school. Like we had a Bible study in a kitchen. It wasn’t glamorous. But God used that kitchen and, you know, it exploded actually from like five kids to like 300 kids. So I would say, look at what you have now, because you don’t know who God is trying to use you to reach in your current community by loving just the people around you. At first, it wasn’t cool, because me and my friends, we would go sit by people who sat alone. And everything in you as a teenager does not want to do that, because you’re like, Oh man, I want to sit by the popular kids. I don’t want to sit by somebody who’s alone. Sometimes they’re alone for a reason, because they’re a little weird. But it’s okay, you know? And so often those people, though—we saw the life transformation in them. Like they were just going through some things, which is why they were isolated. And then once they were loved with the love of God, you saw the joy come out of them, you saw them transform into a new person. And so we definitely saw so much change.
So I would definitely say to any women out there, just see where God wants to use you right now. Is that your family? Your mom, your dad, like showing love to them? Because maybe they’re not even getting love, like at work or in their marriage, so maybe you can be a light and love on them. And just—you know—take time, be patient, because God is developing you as a woman every day. So don’t feel like you have to be like everybody else or look like everybody else. But love who you are. Love your features and just know that God loves you. And you’re beautiful just how you are.
Eden: I love that those thoughts are not only, like, precious, and we need them, and we need that kind of encouragement, but they come straight from the Bible. I was just reading this morning and yesterday morning Psalm 139, which just says that God has formed us, and he created our inmost being. And we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14). And [it] just talks about how precious that we are to the Lord and that he created each one of us, and he intentionally made us different to show forth his glory in different ways. So, I love your encouragement there.
And we typically like to end just getting a few recommendations from you of content that might bless our audience. So is there a book or a resource outside of the Bible that has also been really instrumental in your walk with Jesus?
Anike: Yeah. I think one thing I would say is some of my Christian playlists. So one thing I actually do for fun is make Christian playlists in different genres like Christian R&B, Christian pop, Christian rap. And so I actually host those on my website, whatsupbestie.com. And I feel like they’ve been really instrumental for me, because a struggle a lot of people have is their music. And because secular music can influence your thoughts drastically, that’s one resource that’s helped my walk with Jesus. I’m filling my thoughts and my everyday life with music that’s just based on the Bible, with women who are singing about the Lord, with men who are singing about the Lord and who are encouraging me in my faith. And so, that’s one resource outside of the Bible that’s been cool, because you get songs that even are about Bible Scriptures, so they help you learn Bible Scriptures, or you get songs encouraging you that you might be down, but hey, the Lord can lift you up. And so I feel like that’s one resource outside of the Bible that’s been really helpful for me.
Eden: Okay, I love that. I’m really thankful for your ministry to me and to others through just using your gifts to glorify God and to love and serve Jesus first and foremost. So thank you for that. And thank you for your time today.
Anike: Yeah. No thanks for having me.
Eden: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today. If you enjoyed our conversation, I would encourage you to like or subscribe to our podcast so that you can hear the next conversation. And if something that you heard today spoke to your heart or got you thinking, I would encourage you to not let the day go by without talking to God about what’s on your mind. We believe that he loves you and that he’s pursuing you today out of that love.