Most of the time we hear or read about how God took someone from the ‘street life’ into His own fold. A very unlikely story stands behind the artist known as Sani the Malak (the messenger), formerly known as Sani G. From being raised in the mean streets of Gary, Indiana, commonly referred to as G.I., to graduating from Central State University in Wilberforce, OH, to becoming one of the leading underground Midwest gangster rappers, to converting and changing his whole philosophy on life, and in the process changing his name and direction of his music, the road he has traveled has been a rocky one, with ups and downs, but he has survived through the grace of the Almighty creator.
Coming up in G.I., he learned a lot, which gave him a unique perspective on life. While penning his own rhymes throughout high school, he never took rap seriously, but in 2005, he decided to drop his 1st mix-tape entitled “Hoodlife Vol. 1″. He saw huge success, as it was featured on/in major outlets such as AllHipHop.com, the Source Magazine, XXL Magazine and others.
From 2005 – 2011 , under the moniker “Sani G” , he released several mix-tapes, generating his major underground buzz, selling more than 80,000 independent units to date. As more mix-tape DJ’s began taking notice, the attention garnered from across the country increased his popularity. He became one of the top underground rappers in the Midwest.
DJ’s played his music from all parts of the country. These DJ’s included Chuck T, 31 Degreez, DJ Warrior, Rob N Hood, DJ Drama, DJ Jelly, DJ Ideal, DJ Eleve-8, DJ Finesse, DJ Radio and Sickamore, as well as other major DJ’s. He worked with/performed with artists such as Freddie Gibbs, Devin the Dude, Young Buck, Twista, and more. In early 2011, he had the opportunity, as part of Freddie Gibb’s “Str8 Slammin Click” to tour with Young Jeezy and Gibbs. Several deals were on the table, but Sani’s life was slowly starting to change.
While he was raised in the church, as an adult he strayed, but in late 2011, he started going to church more frequently, and after a series of setbacks, realized that God had bigger things in order for him. He began to study scripture and examine his life against it’s content and started to see where he went wrong. Sani slowly recognized that all of his life should be centered on the creator and that if he was going to do music, it should be done while giving glory to the Almighty. So he decided to go in a new direction. He combined his musical ability with his desire to serve God. He dropped the G, and instead, added the Malak, which means “the Messenger” in Hebrew. “I felt that I should be delivering God’s message”, says Sani.
Currently, he is working on his 1st mix-tape under his new moniker, “Sani the Malak”, which is highly anticipated and will be released in the spring of 2014. His plans are for his new material to be inspiring, positively motivating, and soul saving. He calls it “righteous rap”, a refreshing change from the average music available in the mainstream.
Here is ‘Prayed Up’ by Sani. A song that encourages Christians to always pray, because the devil is always looking for whom to devour. But, with God, we are always covered.
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