Young lions – Local brothers make modern gospel with Reach Nations

Moody organ swells, a swaying choir set on a slow simmer, sweat and tears and a sermon swallowed with amens.

Gospel music often means at least one of these things, but a new local group of young, international musicians is engaging that traditional genre from a fresh angle all its own.

“We make gospel pop music to hype the audience,” says Yung Honore, a member of ReachNations, the upstart faith-based hip hop group using music to spread its spiritual message and raise support for non-profit organizations in Baton Rouge. “We want people to dance, jump, throw their hands up, fall on the floor—whatever they do for fun—do it!”

Honore’s fun is making music a family affair.

On Sundays, he and his younger brother, who goes by Kidd Los, help lead the band at Living Together in Christ, their father Felix Muyaka’s evangelical church off Florida Boulevard.

Kidd Los, 18, is a high school senior, but he’s also already an experienced rapper with a solo album and music videos to his credit. Once Kidd Los finishes school for the day, he and Honore, 20, spend their nights in the studio, striving to record a powerful blend of modern rap, spiritual faith and their familial and musical roots growing up in Congo.

The brothers’ early anthem was “Celebrate,” a joyful noise released this summer that made rounds in indie hip-hop and Christian music circles and bent ears at the 2013 Stellar Awards. The young group announced its arrival on the national stage at these Grammys of gospel music.

“You came and gave me life, so I will sing tonight,” Kidd Los lets loose on the track, his silky, slangy vocals soaring on auto-tune flutters over tumbling beats from a live kick drum.

In less than a year, they’ve gone from handing out promo copies of their CD and playing for youth groups in Baton Rouge to performing with some of the biggest names in modern gospel and signing the shoes and T-shirts of crowds of young fans.

This fall, ReachNations sang “Celebrate” on Bobby Jones Gospel, BET’s popular music series.

The group’s next focus is on earning “features,” or guest spots, on songs by established artists. “Da’ T.R.U.T.H. is my all-time favorite rapper, a huge inspiration,” Kidd Los says. “Meeting him and opening for him was a wild moment for me. I didn’t care what happened after that.”

Of course, Kidd Los and Honore do have big dreams, but it will take them time to figure out how to achieve them—and for Kidd Los, how to launch a career while still in high school.

“I want our music to move beyond our race and beyond our culture,” Kidd Los says.

Locally, the brothers have collaborated with Tha Hip Hop Doc, a.k.a. Dr. Rani Whitfield, on a new track called “Exercise Your Praise.”

“These guys are lyrically intellectual, and I like their mission,” Whitfield says. “It seemed like a perfect fit with what I do, spreading a message of health. There’s a lot of negativity out there in rap, but this is hip hop with a nice beat and recording with a purpose.”

Whether touting the benefits of living healthy or showing love for their adoptive home of Baton Rouge, the brothers always keep their faith at the center of the conversation.

“We’re not ashamed,” says Honore. “We are Christians, but that doesn’t mean we have to be boring. We get hyped. We rap. We party.”

The ReachNations Benefit Concert, raising funds for Christmas toys for children in Baton Rouge and Africa, will be Dec. 7. For more information on the event, visit reachnationsmusic.com.