FLAME

Born and raised in St. Louis, Marcus Gray, better known as FLAME, is a GRAMMY®-nominated and Billboard topping Christian hip-hop artist. Gray converted to Christianity at age 16. Known previously as a rowdy student, Marcus’s behavior changed radically as he entered his senior year of high school in 1998. He became actively involved in church and went from performing “gangsta rap,” or “street rap,” to writing personal devotional Gospel raps.

Marcus soon discovered the music of Cross Movement, a Christian rap group, which he said impacted him profoundly.

“When I heard their music, they would talk about different elements of the Gospel that I had never heard before that piqued my interest, and I always looked forward to their new albums. Every new album was like taking a course related to the Gospel.”

After leaning more Calvinistic in his theology for a number after growing up Pentecostal, FLAME’s music has heavily shifted to more Lutheran convictions. His project Extra Nos was the first set of music with this new perspective and spurred more projects such as the Christ for You EP, the Word and Water and Freedom Lessons albums, and the Extra Nos Academy which is accompanied by his book of the same name.