Tony Cummings spoke to the Californian rapper with the Cross Rhythms radio hits "Atlas", "Act Of Love" and "Chapters", NOMIS

Nomis: "It was called 'Destined Misconception'. I put that out and I was performing a lot. That gave me something to perform. Being on stage is what started giving me a buzz locally. It wasn't necessarily the CD itself, it was being able to be on stage. I did another EP in '06, then I did another duo album in '07. In 2008 I put out 'Mouthpiece Of The Lion', and that was my first full album, my first real solo album. I put that out in May 2008, then I hit the road in June that same summer with a rapper named Kaboose. I toured that album that whole summer. Kaboose is from Minnesota, so that was the focal point of the tour. We did a lot of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Chicago - a lot of middle America, which was very different for me. I'm not from there, and things work very different socially. I learned some lessons that summer, but it was a great experience. I had never been on tour. I'd been dreaming and praying about going on tour. I actually had another tour [planned], with a rapper named Jeremiah Dirt, Shadow Of The Locust. I was supposed to go on a big, nationwide tour, but it got cancelled. I was really bummed about that. Kaboose contacted me out of the blue and was like, 'Hey, man! I've been praying about bringing somebody on tour with me, and you're the name that keeps coming up. Are you interested?' He didn't know I had a record out. I was like, 'Yes! I am interested!' I basically lived with him for a summer, and we didn't even know each other before that. We had a mutual friend, another artist called Jeremiah Bonds, who was kind of the link for us. I got to tour with him, got to know his family. It was an experience I'll never forget."

Tony: Would you say your music is aimed primarily at churchgoers or at non-Christians?

Nomis: "That's a good question. I definitely don't choose one audience or the other and stick to that. Probably most people do that, but that's not my way. My content and my approach to the content is favourable in both audiences for different reasons - different parts for different reasons. I am explicitly a God-fearing Christian man. The church audience likes that I'll say that. I don't have any qualms with referencing my faith. That works maybe not as well in the secular realm. But, at the same time, I'm very comfortable critiquing problems that we have in the Church. That doesn't go over too well in the Church, but it does go over well in the secular world. I'm passionate about justice, so when I speak on things like that, a lot of people in the secular world are on board with that, and unfortunately more people in the Church aren't. I'm passionate about justice, so that stuff is going to come out. Any issue that has to do with the mistreatment of people, speaking for the least of these. I'm always going to be a voice for the downtrodden, the broken."

Tony: The immigrant is getting a particularly raw deal at the moment.

Nomis: "He is - he and she. They are, definitely. My country is very divided on what to do with refugees, so that's something I'm going to speak to."

Tony: It's something the Church needs to address. I believe Jesus is the answer to everything.

Nomis: "Definitely. I don't pretend like I know the perfect answers - what to do with refugees and immigration. I definitely don't. But I do know that every human being is created in God's image and needs to be treated so. I'm like, 'Let's start there.' Instead of starting from, 'How many people can we keep out,' maybe let's start from, 'How many people can we keep in.' Work backwards. Most people don't want to leave their home. For you to go to another place, that's completely foreign to you - you don't know anybody - it has to be a pretty big catalyst. Let's meet people with compassion, treat them as human beings first, then figure out the details after that."

Tony: Tell me about the songs on your 'Rhodes To Rome' album, "Chapters" and "Act Of Love".

Nomis: "My dad is playing bass on both of those songs, so those ones are special for me. My dad used to play for The Temptations when I was a kid. I come from a musical background in that sense. When I wrote 'Chapters' I was going through some things. I was just looking at the landscape thinking, 'Man, people are really struggling. They're having a hard time dealing with these things.' I really wanted to encourage people that, 'What you're going through now doesn't have to be the culmination of your life. There's always a new page, a new chapter, a new beginning - if you want it.' As you said before, ultimately, we can be made new in Christ. I just wanted people to be encouraged. I think the problem sometimes when rappers want to be encouraging is they don't acknowledge the problem first. It's not a bad thing to tell people to count their blessings, to tell people things can get better. That's great. Let's first acknowledge the pain that someone's going through. Don't be dismissive of their feelings, don't be dismissive of their situation, don't be dismissive of their pain. Mourn with those who mourn. With 'Chapters' I definitely wanted to speak to these different issues - to mourn with those who mourn, to acknowledge what they're going through - and then tell them, 'This doesn't have to be your story. It doesn't have to end here.' That was the heart behind 'Chapters'."

Tony: What about another of your Cross Rhythms radio hits, "Act Of Love"?

Nomis: "That song is a perfect summer jam. I wrote that song just driving and walking through my city, Oceanside, down by the beach, reflecting on different summers growing up in Oceanside, and also, at the same time, reflecting on the least of these as well. That stuff kinda floods my mind and influences my music. Years ago - 2003, I believe - there was a rapper named Syntax The Terrific, and he had a line in a song on his first album that said, 'I let my feet speak truth for those who haven't got a clue, because one act of love is worth a thousand words I rap to you.' That line stuck with me my whole life. Him and I are friends now, and I've been telling him for years, 'One day I'm going to make a whole song around that concept.' That's what 'Act Of Love' became. So I had this summer jam vibe, this cool-out, reflecting on past summers. Then the song has this dramatic switch in the middle of it, and that's when that refrain starts coming in. The next verse I'm speaking on a real situation that happened where I'm at the gas station and saw this homeless guy who had no shoes on. I'm thinking, 'What is the Christ-like thing to do in this situation?' I want to help this guy out. So I had this pair of shoes, and I offered him the shoes, and he didn't want them. I didn't know how to deal with that. He was like, 'Hey, man, do you have an iPod or something? I've got these headphones and I really like listening to music. I just want to listen to music.' I actually had an extra iPod in my glove compartment that I never use. So I had an opportunity to serve this dude, and I basically talked myself out of it in my head. I'm like, 'He's probably going to lose this thing. He's going to break it. This is going to be a waste.' I left, and then after the fact, reflecting on it, I'm like, 'Man, I really wanted to love this dude and serve him, but I wanted to do it on my terms.' There was like an asterisk next to my moment of generosity. It was an interesting moment for me in terms of perspective."

Tony: "Atlas" is your latest single?

Nomis: "That's right. That song is so much fun. I love performing it. I love playing it loud. My son loves listening to it. I told you I grew up in Oceanside. I moved - just one city over - and I was out of Oceanside for six or seven years. My wife and I in the last year finally moved back to Oceanside. I'm back in the neighbourhood that I grew up in. The name of my home studio is the Atlas. I'm back in my roots as an artist: I'm back in my city, I'm back in my studio, the Atlas. I'm back home. I took this time to have fun with hip-hop, speak to some things I've been thinking about, and then just enjoy being back home in the Atlas."