A Brother Named Ig
The Life and Rhymes of San Jose Christian Rapper
Story by Christina Valdez

Before Brother Ig began his journey as a soul searcher, he was just an average Eastside youngster.   His life consisted of partying, drugs , and occasional fights with the rival neighborhoods. After a hard night of alcohol abuse, Ig, in his early 20's, began to trip on the past, he had a friend named Andy who had committed suicide with a gun connection that Ig gave him. The guilt of giving him the connection that provided the weapon that ended his friend's life stuck with him for years to come. Ig felt trapped and lost.

One morning, Ig turned the TV on to witness a winning boxer declare thanks to God for his salvation. He wanted to know what was this “salvation” the boxer was talking about, something so powerful that a grown man could breakdown on national TV over it. He hopped in his car and began to look for a church to attend, he finally found one called Victory Outreach.   The next day he attended service and was really affected by what had just taken place. Later that night, he made boundaries for himself, to avoid anything harmful and start a new life that would help him get over his friend's death and lead him to a future with hope.

Brother Ig was in the process of finishing his “Chicano Conspiracy” CD before he got saved. He didn't feel right about continuing with it so he asked the Pastor what to do. At the time Victory Outreach was filming “Sixteen to Life,” a movie that portrayed a mixture of gang violence and hopeless youth that would later on find God. The Pastor told him he could rap in the movie instead. Ig didn't really know anything about Christian rap, but he took this as an opportunity not knowing it would later on jump-start his career. Reflecting back, “Ig says it felt like walking out to the snow and taking a breath of fresh air.”

After they recorded the movie, Brother Ig began to write songs, and to his surprise people would ask to hear them. After so many songs piled up, he decided to put them together in what became his first Christian album, “Off the Crooked Path.” This CD was the only light for a lot of people. Ig never thought that this CD would make it out of Victory Outreach, but it did and there was an overwhelming amount of feedback. Request for more copies came in from all over the Bay; Churches began to ask about “the brother named Ig.” As the album mildly drifted away, Ig still had to balance a lot of other things in his life such as a wife, job and family.   

A variety of people -- gangsters, youngsters, non-believers, and Bay Area rappers -- began to contact him. Many people wanted to thank him for his inspirational lyrical verses and the hope that he added to their lives. His music wasn't like that of any other Christian rapper; he was anointed with the gift. The minute you pop in a Brother IG CD, its not just good music to your ears, its also food to your soul. “ pain recognize pain” something IG has mentioned even in his lyrics. One of the biggest reason people can relate to him and his music.

Every song has a story to tell, a point to be made, and hope to give out. Many songs began with a story that most of us can relate to. “Best friends till the end,”   “You said you'd be down with me.” “Living a life of sin,” “If God is with me then who shall be against me.”

The impact that these three-minute songs have is equivalent to a year's work from your main-stream-bling-wearing-club-hopping-out-to-make-that-cash-money type of rapper. It's the difference between saying, “Oh yeah, that song was dope” and “That's my life, maybe I should change it around.” Rapping is not for everyone; it takes more then just a verse and a mic to leave an everlasting impression.

Brother Ig is nowhere near done, not until every soul that he was called out to reach, is reached. “Its not about the money, its not about the me, its about the music and the people it touches,” Ig says. Rap has had a bad rep for many years, but it's beginning to change. Even if you don't like Christian music, even if you don't like rap, one minute of Ig's CD will keep you listening till the very last song. Its no coincidence that he came from the hood, and it's no coincidence that you could relate to him, probably in more then one way. Even as full time employee, working with computers, and full time husband, Ig still responds to every single piece of mail, every single church, every single Myspace comment that's been sent his way. For him its not just another day, Ig takes every moment serious, like its written in the Bible; tomorrows never promised.  

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