225BatonRouge.com

It’s probably pretty hard for Michael Mitchell to earn street cred. The budding rapper known as AV—Another Vessel—doesn’t just refuse to bash cops. As an officer with the West Feliciana Police Department, he’s one of them. But a glowing rep among 50 Cent and C-Murder wannabes is not what the 24-year-old is after.

Mitchell is part of a new gospel hip-hop movement that has youth groups and congregations across the country closing hymnals and singing along with Bible-quoting lyrics rhymed over catchy, almost gangsta rap beats.

“Traditional gospel music isn’t reaching kids today,” Mitchell says. “It’s hard for them to go from Jay-Z to Mahalia Jackson. That’s like going from 100 miles per hour to 30.”

Mitchell hears “Thanks, but no thanks” from area churches with predominately older members, but Way of Holiness Ministries in Baton Rouge and the Greater Refuge Temple in Amite, among others, see his music as a useful tool for spreading a positive message to young people.

“Some of the things these kids are doing wouldn’t be going on unless they listened to rap,” Mitchell says. “It’s all negativity. And it’s like the kids are following a Hollywood script—as trends in gangsta rap change, the kids change. But the gospel never changes.”

Another Vessel’s debut album Ministry is available at the Bible & Book Center on Government Street. av4christ.com.