The Global Holy Hip Hop and Gospel community sadly announced today that Christian DeeJay, Pioneer, Family man and Entrepreneur: Lawrence Anthony Stroman a/k/a “DJ Lace” (pictured in article), CEO and Founder of New World Music and one of the Founders of the Higher Ground Record Pool, went home to be with the LORD. Although Atlanta was his home, DJ Lace’s roots can be traced back to Bronx, New York where he spun in the 70’s under the name DJ Larry D.

“DJ Lace operated 24/7 as a Five (5) Star General and one of the most prolific, insightful, passionate, dedicated and focused leaders of the Holy Hip Hop movement for over a decade. DJ Lace, an Eternal Slave of Jesus Christ, was a friend to all and a soldier for the cause to: (1) proliferate the Gospel to the Streets and to the ends of the earth; (2) uplift and edify the community, youth and adults with powerful music ministry and media that made a positive difference; (3) defeat and destroy legions of evil and; (4) to save souls and win the lost for Christ by any means necessary. The Christian Holy Hip Hop and Gospel community has suffered a tremendous and staggering loss with the passing of DJ Lace. DJ Lace was and will forever be known and remembered as a respected and world-renowned Champion for each and every Deejay and all Ministers of the Gospel. Although there will never be one day that goes by that DJ Lace will not be missed, his spirit will forever endure and his Legacy of Sacrifice and Tireless Commitment to Spread the Good News will resonate in hearts, minds, bodies and souls for eternity,” said Minister eDDie Velez.

DJ Lace is survived by wife, 3 kids, mom and dad. Official cause of death has not been released. Let’s please pray for his family during this time of loss. The Stroman family has asked at this time not to be contacted but to keep them in your prayers. For more details on future arrangements and condolences, Please contact Edward Watson, DJ E Double U within the next few days @ (djedub@Djedoubleu.com) or Yohance Mitchell, DJ Radikal @ (info@radikal.com). Thank you. On Sunday, April 10th DJ Lace did his last performance with Gospel rapper Lecrae as he performed on 11Alive News Metromix Sound Check.

Here is a video of that last performance recorded just a week ago.

Hello Fear, the brand new release from Kirk Franklin, celebrates its third week atop the Billboard Top Gospel Charts, selling over 33,000 units in its third week. The album also sits at #3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Charts and #10 on the Billboard Top 200 Charts, with over 166,000 units sold in its first three week. Mary Mary‘s latest release Something Big holds to the #2 position this week. The album also sits at #7 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Charts and #22 on the Billboard Top 200 Charts. The WOW Gospel 2011 compilation holds to the #3 spot, while Church on the Moon from Deitrick Haddon moves up to #4.  Smokie Norful‘s latest How I Got Over…Songs That Carried Usrounds out the week’s top five albums. In other chart news, I Believe: Live from James Fortune & FIYA jumps five spots to #8, while Twinkie Clark‘s latest With Humility debuts at #14. 

In the world of radio, “I Smile” from Kirk Franklin celebrates its first week at the top of the radio charts. Vashawn Mitchell‘s “Nobody Greater” moves to the #2 spot while “I Give Myself Away” from William McDowell comes in at the #3 position. “Walking” from Mary Mary takes the #4 spot while “My Heart Says Yes” from Troy Sneed rounds out the week’s top five songs. 

Young’s new sermon series has already been interpreted, critiqued and scrutinized by bloggers on the internet. Pastor Young is no stranger to controversy as previous sermons have seen him roll in a Ferrari car unto the pulpit as a prop for a relationship message. Sermon series like “Leaving Lust Vegas” has garnered Pastor Young with a unique following, and starch critics.

Young states, “You’ve seen it on the street. You’ve witnessed it in the office. You’ve been there when it walked into a room, and everyone immediately knew. It is the unmistakable presence of swagger—not arrogance or pride, but true swagger. The truth is that God wants us all to experience a life of swagger. It’s not something that is reserved for the few. Yet, somewhere along the way, our swagger is hijacked, taken, stolen. And as a result, our everyday confidence is shot. Where did it go? Can we get it back? And once we do, what does a life a swagger really look like?”

Many feel the secular word has conflicting meaning to Jesus’ teaching of humility and servitude.

The Urban dictionary.com defines swagger as:

How one presents him or her self to the world. Swagger is shown from how the person handles a situation. It can also be shown in the person’s walk.

Another definition says, Swagger is to move with confidence, sophistication and to be cool. Swagger is to conduct your self in a way that would automatically earn respect. To dress in a very stylish and quirkily fashionable way would suggest one has swagger.

Upon further research I found many definitions for the word swagger, but all referenced a persons walk as being confident. Me personally, I would rather have confidence in my spiritual walk of faith. I’m not sure Ed Young meant this as an analogy or a declaration. The analogy used as an illustration may help us understand walking in the spirit, but a declaration may feed into the social stereotypes of today’s fame seekers. As an analogy one could could conclude that if the enemy has damaged our walk “swagger” it will show in how we present ourselves to the world. Hanging our heads in guilt and shame can be caused by the enemy getting us to focus on the past. Again as an analogy having spiritual swagger can be powerful. But declaring your swagger to the world may make us of the world. We all know the scripture tells us to be in the world but not OF the world.  

Pastor Ed Young does discourage pride in his sermon series, instead saying we should have God-fidence (a play on the word confidence).

What do you think? Can Christians have swagger without being full of pride? Is it a characteristic that one should strive to have, or be attracted to? Is it biblical? You can listen to Dr. Young’s “Swagger Jacker” series on podcast by clicking here. And take a look at the hilarious Swagger Jacker song below.

How Sweet the Sound is ready to crown a new winner, but last years winner has been on an incredible journey.  Watch Video below.

Voices of Destiny, since being awarded the highest honors at the 2010 How Sweet the Sound Grand Finale, has been on a spiritual journey that has taken them from Compton to performing at the Stellar Awards, the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration, and other places they never imagined. And, Los Angeles County honored the choir with the presentation of a Scroll of Recognition. The congregation patched up their church and recently completed the first community youth center in their inner city neighborhood with the cash prizes from Verizon.

Stay connected with the Greater Zion Church Family by visiting www.greaterzionchurchfamily.com

Gospel artist Deitrick Haddon recently tweeted that Jonnetta Patton, Usher’s mother, is helping to manage his career.

Usher famously fired his mom in 2007 and then considered bringing her back in 2008 once his album sales were low.  Deitrick Haddon’s new project “Church on the Moon” is garnering critical acclaim in secular and Gospel.  Check out his latest long-form video below.  

Gospel star James Fortune can be seen here next to his wife Cheryl Fortune, signing his new contract with Light Records.  Fortune moves from Black Smoke Records to a stacked Light Records roster that includes Shirley Caesar, Ricky Dilliard, J.J. Hairston and Youthful Praise, Jessica Reedy among others.

The three year deal, which was inked this week, includes the future recordings of James Fortune & FIYA as well as a number of other artists FIYA World Music is recording.  James Fortune will embark on running his own label FIYA World Music also in his new venture.  Under the terms of the agreement, Light Records will handle marketing and promotion while eOne will handle distribution.

Fortune & FIYA introduced themselves to the world with their debut CD, YOU SURVIVED in 2005. They amassed recognition in 2009, with the award winning song, “I Trust You,” from their sophomore release THE TRANSFORMATION.  

CLICK HERE to find out what Light Records CEO James Robinson thinks about his new roster signing.

Episode 1 of “Addicted to Food” recently aired on Oprah’s OWN network.  Previously we reported that DeJuaii Pace of the Anointed Pace Sisters had admitted to being a 45-year-old lesbian virgin.  In the video below DeJuaii opens up with the ladies in rehab about her attraction to women.  

Pace said that she’s “Not attracted to men, and she’s been denying it for years.”  “But being brought up in a family that’s very religious I’ve always just said if I’m going to die and go to hell for this than I just will not experience that (sex) at all.”  Pace says that this part of her life is eating at her and tourmenting her.  And she hasn’t said anything to her family members.  Pace goes on to say that this is the underlying problem to her eating problems.

You can watch the video of the episode 1 below, and around the 30:35 mark of the video DeJuaii Pace’s part is shown. 

Addicted to Food airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on OWN.  

Chairman and CEO of the BET network, Debra Lee, is no stranger to receiving negative comments regarding programming on the network. For quite some time, BET was under scrutiny and accused of creating a lineup that wasn’t showing a positive image of the black community. Even BET’s co-founder Sheila Johnson, slammed the network last year, claiming that she was ashamed of what the network had become after she, and her husband Bob Johnson sold it off to Viacom.

Recently, Debra, who has been with the network for 26 years, spoke with FOX Business Network’s Gerri Willis and revealed that BET has made long strides in improving and getting more strict about what they allow to air. The shift in programming has caused them to deny videos from major money-making artists such as Kanye West, Rihanna, and Ciara.

On the Criticism of Degrading Women
“I think the criticism has gone away. The first thing I did, which was in the works anyway, was to create more original programming that shows different images of women. So our sitcoms have started doing that. We’ve got moredocumentaries. We’re going to get into the drama business. We’ve cut back on the amount of music videos, that’s how we grew up but now we’re in a positionwhere we can do other kinds programming.”

On Becoming More Selective With Programming
“We’ve gotten more strict on what we allow on air. We used to live by broadcast standards, but as the hip hop industry got a little more risqué we had actually had to bring that back some and say just because it can be on the air doesn’t mean it has to be on the air.”

On Declining to Air Certain Artist’s Music Videos
“As we worked on our brand and where I wanted to take the network, I started to say no to a lot of artists. I said no to Kanye [West] and to Ciara. Those are the ones that come to mind. I think Rihanna we’ve been working with. And that’s sort of amazed me a little bit, that I had to say no to women, but someone had to be the grownup in the room. I didn’t ask for that job but someone had to say no and looking at it from our young audience’s perspective.”

Whether you watch BET on the regular or not, there has been some noticeable improvements over the last few years. With the influx of female artists that the network has denied; it raises the question of whether or not, male artists are primarily at fault for misogynistic material and featuring half-naked women gyrating in their videos, or are the women who, in an attempt to exude sex appeal, are just as responsible for how black women are represented.

Click Here to Watch Video Interview of BET CEO Debra Lee

Gospel power house and member of ‘the Clark’s Sisters’ Dorinda Clark-Cole has launched a new jewelry line offering jewelry, earrings, pendants among other things.  She’s calling the collection “Dorinda Jewelry Selections.”  No word yet on her motivation behind the jewelry offerings.  The website mentions WKB International but does not speak on whether it’s her company or a design affiliate.  Anyway it’s pretty nice stuff!

The singer already has a clothing line called Terramina.  Clark says, “Terramina is upscale, polished, suitable for church-lady, first lady or every lady.”

CLICK HERE to check out the new assortment of jewelry.   Check out some good ole’ Dorinda Clark-Cole music below with her new single “He Knows.”