E.rOk (a.k.a. Eric Majetich Jr.), is a Rap/Hip Hop artist who uses his music to counter the destructive and immoral messages that secular music usually promotes. It wasn’t always this way. Growing up a product of a single mother household, he found himself looking for worth in the streets. Bad friends, choices, and drugs/alchohol had him living on his own at the age of sixteen. For the next eight years, he lived a life of sin, running from the God he had been taught about as a child. He loved music, so naturally he would create and imitate (in practice and lifestyle) the Rap/Hip Hop he saw on TV and heard on the radio. He drew inspiration for his lyrics from exploits as a criminal, selling drugs, street fights, and other sinful behaviors. He eventually started to get noticed by club owners and booking agents for his DJ’ing skills. He loved to rap but since alot his friends primarily rapped as well, he decided to play the background by making beats and DJ’ing their sets. In 2000, he joined a group called the “Lab Rats”. They went on to win Pittsburgh’s Hip Hop division of “Battle of the Bands” in 2001. Throughout that time period, E.rOk gained experience working and performing with many headliners including DMX, KRS-One, The X-ecutioners, and many others.
In the fall of 2001, E.rOk found himself frustrated at the lack of joy in his life. He had done everything and anything that was supposed to bring a person happiness, only to feel more empty than when he had started. He began to examine himself and was less than proud of his state. He remembered the God his mother used to teach him about and in a moment of desperation, he prayed to Him. Almost immediately, he knew what he was supposed to do. He had quite a few warrants out for his arrest and had been on the run for two years, moving every couple of months to prevent the detectives from finding him. In his moment of clarity, he turned himself in. This wasn’t his first time in jail but this time he was truly done. He accepted Christ as Lord of his life and decided to use this “vacation” as a time to get ready for the world when he would get out. Five months later, he was released but still had to remain on house arrest for one year. Still serious about his relationship with God, he gave up his identity with Rap/Hip Hop for the sake of serving the Christ who had saved him.
As he grew in faith and knowledge of the scriptures, he discovered that there were others like him who were using Rap/Hip Hop to bring God glory by reaching out to the lost that were immersed in the culture, just like he had been. Amazed by this, he decided to see if God could redeem all the time wasted pursuing selfish ambitions through the music and use it for some good. It wasn’t long before God heard his prayers and allowed him to meet others in Pittsburgh who were like minded. In 2003, he became part of a Christian Rap group called “Generation Blessed” and later renamed “Special Ops”. As opportunities arose he, with his group, got to meet and perform with artists such as ‘Da T.R.U.T.H., Shai Linne, Timothy Brindle, R. Swift, Japhia Life, Cross Movement, and many others. The group parted ways in 2006 and E.rOk took a break from performing to focus on his personal life and young family. During that time, he became intrigued by the more technical side of music. He studied the art of recording, mixing, mastering and even the business side of recording studios and music labels. In January 2008, he founded Word of Mouf’ Recordings, a private recording studio and indie label. It wasn’t long before many of the Christian artists in Pittsburgh, disgruntled at the “I-don’t-care-about-you,-just-pay-me” attitude of a lot of the local studios, began to employ E.rOk for his skill set. Since then, E.rOk has had a part in much of the Christian Rap/Hip Hop music coming out of Pittsburgh, as well as some freelance work for some major labels in New York and even Europe. Finally happy with the quality of music able to be produced at the studio, E.rOk is working on a full length CD with fellow artist, Revelation. E.rOk enjoys rapping for church functions and youth but often prefers prisons, institutions, and neighborhood projects. In those settings, he is able to really open up and use his experience to demonstrate how God can redeem even the most rotten sinners, namely himself.
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