Righteous Rapper: Peet student dropping rhymes at churches with dad, uncle

Rajan Birge, a ninth-grader at Peet, started his rapping career with a simple dare.

“What happened was my dad gave us a challenge that we couldn’t write a rap or a song before Halloween. I wrote one, and he told me it was really good, so I kept on going with that,” Birge said.

Making music has always been a part of Birge’s life, and it came with being a member of his family.

“Just me, my dad and uncle, we are kind of one team. My brother, sister and mom aren’t into music like we are. My uncle started because of my dad. My dad a long time ago started rapping when he was 14, and it grew on him, he liked it,” Birge said.

Rajan has support from his family for going into the music business. For his family, music is something they already do.

“They support me 100 percent. My dad has a label called Livingstonez,  and my mom manages it. We all work on one recording, so the music flows really well. I feel like everyone in my church supports me too. Everyone in my household supports it. Everyone all around me supports it.”

Birge has a four-song demo now on Soundcloud. Religion plays a huge part in Rajan’s music and spirituality.

“Mostly, I just write about God. I am a Christian and a gospel artist, so all of my music goes to the glory of God, but some of my music goes to worldly problems and stuff like that, but my song, ‘Message to Pops,’ about my biological father, is more deep,” he said.

After a rapping career that started on a challenge from his dad, his new goal is to be a better rapper than his father.

“As I write my music, I perform it at my church sometimes. They give me nothing but positive feedback. They always tell me that one day I am probably going to be better than my dad is. I take that and put it in my mind that I want to be better than my dad. That is my main goal, but not really. My main goal is that my whole family comes together and I can keep the music going because it is a passion that I have. If I can get better than my dad, then that is really good, but that’s not the point of me rapping,” he said.

Birge has gained experience from performing at his church and several other churches in the Cedar Valley. He performs by himself and also with his dad and uncle.

“I perform other places, and it is a really good environment. Sometimes I get nervous because when I get up there, I don’t know how the crowd is going to be, if they are going to support me or if they are not going to, so I get up, give them a little message before I start to perform. Once I see that the audience is into it, then I just kind of kick it up a notch, keep going and start jumping around,” Birge said.

Birge’s first name is Rajan, and his middle name is Christian. His father came up with his rap name. “We were messing around and he said, ‘I’m gonna call you RayChris,’ and it stuck,” Birge said.

Rajan Birge’s tracks can be found on Soundcloud at RayChris Thakidd.