It didn’t stop after his graduation. “I graduated from college on Friday,” he said. “On Monday, I was on the road for three months. Fresh I. E. [is] from Canada. He’s a two-time Grammy-nominated artist. He pretty much took me under his wing for the first couple of years out of college.” And since those first couple of years out of college, Montana’s music career has blossomed.
Tru Serva
The name Tru Serva originally appeared during youth group back in high school. Montana said that every rapper wants to have his own crew, so he tried to make a crew out of the kids from youth group. It didn’t work well, but the group became known as the Tru Servas. It wasn’t until later in high school that Marcus Montana took on the name Tru Serva as his own rap name. Since he’s been out on his own, Tru Serva has released several CDs, including his latest “The Surrender Sound.” He has toured around the country and devel-
WHAT IT MEANS Tru Serva While the name can easily be thought of as a shortened version of “true servant,” Tru Serva actually represents an acronym: T = total praise R = relationships U = unashamed S = servant of the call E = eyes focused R = rise above expectation V = vision for others A = accepting God’s grace oped a loyal following among Christian hip hop fans. When it comes to working on lyrics for songs, Montana said he develops them in different ways. “Sometimes it’s … ‘spontaneous,’ where I’m just driving, and I sense something,” he said. “Otherwise, when it’s your job, you kind of work on it. It moves both ways. When you are called to do
something, the Lord is going to always be working; especially if you’re connected with Him, you don’t have to wait for Him to give you something; you can ask.” Montana also considers his audience when he writes lyrics. “I think of both the nonbeliever and the Christian when writing an album,” he said. “I want nonbelievers to understand or sense the grace that God has for them. And that it doesn’t matter what they’ve been doing, the choices they’ve made, where they are at in life, that there’s still freedom in Christ. At the same time, for a believer … if you are convicted, that’s what should happen. For believers, part of Montana’s biggest challenge is “if I can encourage you and challenge you to live an authentic Christian life, one that represents Christ … then I fulfilled my job.” Many years later, Montana can look back at his life and feel thankful for the spiritual legacy that helped him rise above being just another statistic. ■ Learn more at www.truserva.com.
May 2014 | REFRESHED
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