feature: chicago-native sir the baptist puts electric twist on gospel music

I’m going to be honest—I’m a godless heathen. So, when I hear words like “church music” and gospel, I flashback to the time my childhood pastor had the clock removed from the chapel because he was tired of people counting down to the end of service. It was terrible—we were trapped. Anyway. Sir the Baptist (William James Stokes) is (surprisingly) good enough to make me overlook the fact that his electric, infectious tunes are lowkey church music.

“Everybody called Chicago Chiraq and I felt like I wanted to be a voice of reason — John the Baptist in the Bible is known for being the voice in the wilderness. And so I was like, in this wilderness, I wanna be that voice. I’m not Jesus, but I wanna be that voice that brings forth something that’s important, so I took John the Baptist’s name,” Stokes told Chicago Tribune.

By Erin White, AFROPUNK contributor

https://soundcloud.com/sirthebaptist