Rezurected – The Prodigal Son

Rezurected
The Prodigal Son
Dubbstarr LLC (release date: March 19, 2019)
www.rezurected.org

By Bob Marovich

The Prodigal Son is an appropriately titled album for Rezurected.

It depicts, in nine bite-sized tracks, his personal story from the consequences of an early life of bad decisions to salvation and victory.

The Christian hip hop artist Rezurected is Brent Reusch (pronounced “rush), an Atlantan who now lives in Cleveland, Ohio. The Prodigal Son tells his tale through a mix of urban street vernacular and biblical quotes buoyed by beats that are sometimes gothic, sometimes melodic, and other times minimalist or infused with fuzzy guitar riffs—as diverse as the message is singular.

“Pray for You” may be the featured single but, to my ears, “Matthew 7:7” is the more captivating track. If there were abracadabra-like magical words to conjure salvation, it’s in this passage from Matthew. The words invigorate Rezurected to gush that with God, there’s “nothing you can’t shake” and “no habit you can’t break.” He is a living witness, as salvation made him “a deacon and my wife became a deaconess” (at the Power of the Word Prophetic Church).

Indeed, most of the tracks feel autobiographical, either explicitly as on “I’d Be Lost,” or implicitly on others. They are filled with rhymes of thanksgiving for being saved and, as noted in the slow and percussive “Amen,” for making Rezurected “a new creature.”

Melissa Reusch, Rezurected’s wife and the aforementioned deaconess at Power of the Word, sings the tuneful chorus of “Right by My Side,” as her husband praises God for breaking his chains, pulling him through, and making him new. “You’re like a holster,” he spits, “always by my side.” Likely those words are as fit to describe his Savior as his spouse.

Since Calvary’s cross played a major role in Rezurected’s redemption, it plays a major role in the project. Time and again, Rezurected reflects on Jesus’s death and sacrifice and, as such, this album is ideal for the Lenten season.

The young Italizianna Reusch charmingly provides the chorus from Rich Mullins’ perennial “Awesome God” while Rezurected offers up lines of praise and another image of the sacrificed Jesus, as well as a paean to what faith can do. “All you need is the faith of a mustard seed / You can move mountains and uproot trees.”

To Rezurected, the ultimate prayer warrior, prayer is not only important for praise and for help through life’s trials, but it is also a lethal weapon against Satan. His prayer room is a vocal booth, but it’s really a war room.

The Prodigal Son is a brief but well-rendered and genuinely articulated independent hip hop project.

Three of Five Stars

Picks: “Matthew 7:7,” “Awesome God”