 Hey, what's up guys? It's Isaac David and this is The Daily Disciple where I hope you follow Jesus daily. Today we're doing something a little bit different. The rapper NF, as you guys might know, just dropped a mixtape and I know that's kind of like, what, Isaac, where is this coming from? What are you talking about? If you're not familiar, the rapper NF put out a number of albums over the last five years and it's kind of risen to fame. He kind of got his start within the Christian rap circle and that's actually where me and a lot of other Christian young adults, teens, got to know him and actually began to like his music. I think back to like seven years ago when he featured on one of my favorite rappers, Flames, of Songs Start Over. From that point on NF, yeah, he did some rebranding. He wasn't that cookie cutter Christian rapper that you might have gotten used to. He began to put out more and more albums that began to hit a chord with not just Christians but non-Christians too. Some of the key aspects of what he was talking about and rapping about, singing about was really his struggle with his mental health, trying to, what it's like to follow your dreams and all the struggles that come with that. Actually exploring his faith and like what he believes about God and his doubts and his questions and his struggles and it began to hit a chord with a lot of people including myself. And I think that's what a lot of people appreciate about NF is that, yeah, he says he's a Christian but he's also not afraid to say, hey, I'm having questions here, I'm not totally convinced of all that. I'm like, I'm still trying to figure it out. And there's a great clip from an interview and we'll get into the album, I'll tell you what I think about it and all that stuff. But there's a great interview that happened about last year and where he talks about growing up in the church and then also like needing to take a step back. The way that I feel about myself or, I don't know, the way I thought about God growing up kind of, I don't blame this on God, I think I just myself sometimes I just, I just don't do it, you know, I just don't talk to God and if you believe there's a God, I don't know why it would be weird, or why I wouldn't sometimes like in the most desperate times in my life, I think sometimes I go to God and then I kind of feel guilty about it, you know, because I'm like, why do I only do it when I feel this way? Yeah, you know, so it's such an interesting thing. I remember when I was young, I don't know if you believe in God or whatever, but when I was young, I, because I was brought up in church, I actually went through a stage in my life where I was like, I don't even know if God's real. You rebel. So hearing that he's not completely convinced or he's not necessarily sure or he's asking questions, that can be kind of concerning. And sometimes we're like, well, dude, get your faith together, man, like, you know, put it together, bro, like just read your Bible and you get it, bro. But I think there's a time and I think there's some grace that we got to allow people that grew up in the church that were reading the Bible that believed and like God older and then needed to take a step back to actually realize if they own the faith, if they, if that's actually theirs, if they're not just tagging along because their parents weren't it, but they just want to suppress the questions that they have, but actually begin to explore what they really believe. And yes, we want them to go back to the truth and we want them to be guided back to the truth and to God and to the gospel. And that's what my prayer is that, you know, NF will continue to be searching and find that truth in God. But the music itself is kind of an expression of that search. His last album was called The Search actually and explored a lot of these questions. Now we're into his new mixtape, which is really intriguing to me because it's kind of I, honestly, this is how white I am. I had to ask Google, what is a mixtape? I didn't know. Apparently it's just kind of a compilation of songs that didn't fit in one cohesive album in listening to it. Some of my favorite songs. And if you've listened to the album, maybe, you know, let me know what your favorite songs are down below. But some of my favorite songs are layers. He's talking about all the different things that come with being at his level of fame and the obligations that he has and the people that honestly say, oh, man, he's off base. And the people that say they're praying for him. And I just think that's so interesting because, look, when you, when you are at that level that he's at, I'm sure there's plenty of people that would say, I mean, even, even like a tiny like YouTuber or whatever, people are always like, man, you got to talk about Jesus more. You're talking about Jesus too much or you got to do this or you got to do that. And it's an extremely challenging thing to balance and wait and stay true to your beliefs and what you want to produce. And as a rapper, like an F, like that's something he deals with in his music quite a bit. One of my favorite songs, I think it's my favorite song. It's called Drifting. There's an amazing line in this song. Tell me I'm worth it, God. I found that, I don't know. I found that phrase to be so, so impactful because we often think like in the context that we've got to break it down for you here in the moral context, right? In terms of our standing before God, we are all guilty before him. We are all, you know, broken people that deserve God's judgment. But then God looks at us and he sacrifices his son. He like, that is mind blowing, right? And we don't deserve it, but he does it. And in that, he is, he is putting worth on our head. He's saying, yes, you are, I want you. You are worth doing this for, not because of what you've done, because what have I said of you, right? And sometimes, man, we just need to know, like, God, am I worth anything to you? Like, I just don't know. Like, and God is the one that we ought to be going. We are to that for, like, don't go to other people to ask, am I worth it? Am I worth something? Go to God and ask him that because he's going to come down to a resounding guess. You are worth something. And I've demonstrated that in the cross and look like once again, make this clear. It's not because of what you did. And he created you in his image. And that has an intrinsic worth, value, dignity, all that stuff. And man, I think one of the things that NF really touches on really well throughout his music is this idea of this kind of like the self-hate and then also like trying to work towards your goals and like try to make it in this world is something you're passionate about. Because often that can be like a really toxic cycle where when you're not getting to where you want to be, when you're not getting to what you want to achieve, man, you just tear yourself up. And even, I mean, NF's music demonstrates that even when you get to that point, you still are not totally like that doesn't fix your mental health and that doesn't fix your perspective of yourself and, you know, self-worth or it doesn't give you total security and who you are and what you do. Like you can't do that. And I think that was one of the things that really impacted me in the interview that happened last year with NF was just him talking about getting to the point of accomplishing his dream. The lowest place I've ever been touring and doing all that and not feeling anything. And that's what's so interesting about it is I feel like everybody's chasing that thing that I've been chasing my whole life, except I arrived at it. And I think other people do that, too. They're like, hey, I'm going to get this job and I'm going to save money. I'm going to get married. I'm going to have a house. Yeah, I'm going to have a kid. I need to save up so I can get this house. Oh, we're going to need this kind of car for this and like all this stuff. And it makes sense. I'm not like knocking that I do the same thing. I'm not saying you wouldn't smile or be happy. If someone came today and was like, hey, here's two million dollars. It all sounds so positive. So this is going to sound so weird. But if you achieved your goal, let's say you weren't even giving it. Let's say you your whole life, you were trying to be a musician or you were trying to write a book and you're like, if I could just get the number one selling book and then you put out a book finally after years and years of work and it went number one and you had this little moment of joy or happiness and then it kind of like went away very quickly. You at least for me, I was just kind of left sitting there like, well, what else? He's so open and honest about what he's going through. I think that's why he connects with so many people. And I think that's a theme as we've been talking about Billy Eilish or, you know, NF, it's like that authenticity really does make a difference. And yes, I want people to know truth and I want people to be secure. And we find that through understanding gospel truth. And we find that through community and being in secure relationships with people who are able to be nurtured and say, have those questions, but also like real people in and not let people go into a spiral of introspection and all that kind of thing. But it's important to air these questions. Like it's important to air these insecurities. And and I think NF's music gives people an opportunity to do that through the music. And my hope would it would be is that they wouldn't stop there. I think that could be a really, I don't know, toxic thing where people can just dwell in their sadness, depression, questions, insecurities, and that can lead them in a spiral, a death spiral, really, where this can be an opening place to really verbalize and I don't know, explore your emotions, but then be reeled in with the security and the grace that God has for all of us, even in our doubts, even in our questions. I think that's an amazing gift that God has given each of us to explore our emotions through creativity, but then also reel us in to his loving presence and security and knowing that he is in control, knowing that he loves us, knowing that he has his grace is sufficient for us, even in the midst of our doubts, questions and insecurities. I want to give a shout out to his music video story. This is really impactful and unique. It's basically him rapping a story, a mini movie, you could say. And I'm not going to spoil it for you, but the cinematic like just prowess of this short film and also the music that goes behind it. It is really creative. And those are the things that really, I don't know, inspire me because it is something out of the blue that you don't necessarily expect. I don't know how the song would actually sound just listening to the audio because it's really a very narrative, just kind of him explaining exactly like what's going on in thought processes and just narrative dynamics. So it's quite interesting. I don't know how that would sound just audio, but man, that video is so impactful. It really is very creative, very inspiring. So kudos to him on that. Bear with me. This is from one of my favorite lines from his song Lost. Failings, how you grow and learn your lessons, kids, take the worst and try to make the best of it, because when you fail, just know it's a test. And if you can learn to pick yourself up again and train your brain to not be such a pessimist, it's OK to make mistakes. Just don't forget that there's a high road, but I skip the exit when I'm lost. I think we've all felt this way from time to time. When we experience a challenge or something that hits us to the ground, there can be easily that like mindset of of letting that become a pattern or a way of thinking like every time I'm going to try something, I'm going to fail or it's going to be bad or I'm going to be anxious about it or it's going to be stressful as opposed to when we have things in like we can take a further out perspective, even God's perspective and see it's not usually as bad as we think it is that even if it is that bad, we can know that God has his sovereign hand over our whole life. But it's that thing when we get lost, right? We get distracted and we convince ourselves this is the way that life goes. And we actually lose hold of the good desires and hopes and dreams that God has put in our heart. And I love this song because it really does reflect a lot of, man, sometimes my mentality, but it also reminds me, hey, look, you know, when I am lost, I know who to look to in order to be found. I know who to look to in order to ground myself and where I am in reality. God is with me. God loves me. His power and presence are with me and in me and I can do this. And even if it doesn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it to, that's OK. Well, that's my take on NF and his new mixtape and some of his albums and all that stuff. I hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it. Share this with a friend that enjoys NF and let me know your take down below. What's your favorite song? What's your favorite album? What do you appreciate about NF and maybe some questions that you have about his music or whatever? I don't know. Let me know. Thank you again to everyone that supports me on Patreon. I love you guys and I will see you next time. God bless.