Collistar

West London native Collistar has been dropping bars since 2015, successfully meshing grime and garage. His first two projects Valentine and Welcome to Britain earned him a legion of fans and radio spins on BBC 1 Xtra. After achieving notable success, the storyteller ghosted his fans and deleted his music from the streaming platforms. Bemused fans later discovered that the star had found Jesus. A Reddit user shared a DM from Collistar saying: Plain and short Jesus came in to my life, and forgave me for my sins including the stuff I was rapping about. If you want to turn back to Jesus (we have all turned away from him) and be forgiven for your sin (the wages of sin is death) you will be born again and will have eternal life (meaning when you die you wont go to hell which means separation from God but you will go to heaven which is with God). The 24 year old lyricist recently responded to an Instagram fan clamouring for old material, saying : Sorry my musics for Christ now not myself. Collistar reinvented himself as a bonafide gospel rap/grime star and stormed into 2021 with the banger 1952, which sees him rap about London's need of Jesus.

Renzo BA

The popular scripture therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17), rings true for former Afrobeat star known as Renzo. Unapologetically sold out to Christ since his conversion, the gospel Afroswing artist now called Renzo BA, has become a power player in the UK urban gospel scene. He adds his flavour to popular UK worship leader Lou Fellinghams Fix my eyes on you, introducing Fellingham to a brand-new demographic. His debut single No Way (That cant be him), is his official statement to anyone who doubts his conversion.

Tee Supreme

Mainstream rapper turned gospel drill star Tee Supreme, has been making waves in the gospel industry since his November 2019 conversion. With over 720k Spotify streams in 7 months, the Londoner credits his spiritual father Pastor David of Kharis Church for giving him his first gospel platform.

Written by Akosua Dwomo-Fokuo, Premier Gospel Presenter

If you ask Gospel Hydration which 5 UK gospel artists they have their eyes on in 2021, the list would likely include Collistar, Renzo BA and Tee Supreme. All three artists have one thing in common and no its not the 100s of 1000s of Spotify streams - well actually that too! All three gave up successful mainstream music careers after encountering Christ and now use their talent in the gospel industry.