Hazakim, (pronounced ''ha-zah-keem''), is a

Christian hip hop Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip hop or holy hip hop) is a subgenre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United S ...

duo originally from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. The group consists of brothers Michael "Mike" Wray and Anthony "Tony" Wray. Hazakim is known for hip hop music that is uniquely Messianic; even rapping and singing in Hebrew, at times, over beats with traditional

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to: *Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian P ...

rhythms. The name Hazakim is a Hebrew word, meaning in English "the strong ones".

Early life

Michael "Mike" Wray, the eldest born, and Anthony "Tony" Wray, the youngest born were brought up in the messianic Jewish movement by their parents. They come from a

multi-ethnic Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

family consisting of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, Jamaican,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and

Amazigh , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

ancestry. In episode of The Chopping Block (a Lampmode Records YouTube series), Michael stated that he began listening to Christian Hip Hop in 1986, with Stephen Wiley's "Bible Break". However, he never intended to become a hip hop artist, until upon hearing

The Cross Movement The Cross Movement was a Christian hip hop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Members The Cross Movement (CM) which were composed of several rappers: The Ambassador (William Branch), The Tonic (John Wells), Phanatik (Brady Goodwin), an ...

's album "Heaven's Mentality"

Music career

Hazakim started making music in 1997. Their first release in 1999 was an independent self-titled EP with three songs, most notably "Liar, Lunatic, Lord, Or Legend" which is the only song from the EP on streaming services. In 2003, the duo came back with another independent EP, "Theophanies EP". In 2001 they released their first full-length album, also an independent effort aptly titled ''Hip-Hologetics'' due to its fusion of

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and biblical apologetics. They became signed to Lamp Mode Recordings prior to their 2009 release, ''

Theophanies Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...

''. Their sophomore release under Lamp Mode entitled '' Son of Man'' was released on September 23, 2014; the eve of

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...

in light of the album's

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negati ...

focus. This exposure helped the duo crack the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' charts, twice. In January 2016 the brothers released a music video for a single entitled "Don't Forget the

Ayin ''Ayin'' (also ''ayn'' or ''ain''; transliterated ) is the sixteenth letter of the Semitic scripts, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac ܥ, and Arabic (where it is sixteenth in abjadi order only). The letter represents a ...

" which was shot on location in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. According to the duo, the song was created to help "remove the stigma" surrounding Yeshua among Israelis, in what they call "the Jewish reclamation of Jesus." In December 2018 it was announced that Hazakim was set to release another album titled ''Origins'', though no release date had been given. On February 1, 2019, they released ''Origins'' on Wrath and Grace Records, a burgeoning

Christian hip-hop Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip hop or holy hip hop) is a subgenre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United St ...

label. Reviews of the album were overwhelmingly positive; with some stating that Origins is the duo's best release to date, while others have compared its impact to their earlier ''

''. The focus of Origins is to provide an argument or defense of biblical

creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...

and

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

. ''Origins'' includes production from Hazakim, as well as contributions from composer John Campbell, as well as hip-hop producers SPEC, Sean Rocktight Jones (Walter Rocktight) and Devin Morrison. In addition to vocals, Mike and Tony do the majority of their own production. The brothers now reside in

Broward County, Florida Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

where they are both married with children.

Members

*Michael Wray *Anthony (Tony) Wray

Discography

Studio albums

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Musical groups established in 1997 Christian hip hop groups Southern hip hop groups Musical groups from Florida American musical duos American hip hop duos