GloRilla has carved out a name for herself in the rap game in recent years, and now it seems she’s found an unlikely fan in the Christian community.
On Tuesday (March 5), the 24-year-old shared a clip from a sermon by Reverend Melech E. M. Thomas of the Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland. In it, he can be seen quoting and praising lyrics from one of her biggest hits.
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“I love good gospel music, and there’s this new gospel artist,” Thomas began. “Her name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods — some of you might know her as GloRilla […] Well, GloRilla has a song called ‘Tomorrow,’ and she makes this statement that blesses me.”
“She says: ‘Everyday the sun [won’t] shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow,’” he continued. “Everyday is not good, but as long as I can make it to tomorrow, something can turn around. Come on, look at your neighbor, say ‘Yeah Glo.’”
In the caption of her Instagram post, the Memphis rapper repeated the pastor’s call and wrote: “Turn to yo neighbor & say Yeah Glo.”
While GloRilla seems to have found support within the religious space, not all of her peers have enjoyed the same privilege.
In a recent interview with HipHopDX, Eric Bellinger discussed his upbringing in the church and how he wasn’t able to secure their backing as he pursued his musical journey.
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“Growing up in church taught me faith — to believe in the unseen, to imagine and think that it could be real,” he began. “I think I carry that in my daily life and it translated for me just being an innovator. On the positive, I definitely gained that and morals, values, you know?
“I’ve been married now going on 10 years. I think having the example of what’s really right, all those things were instilled in me. As they say, ‘Train up a child when he’s young and when he grows up, he shall not depart those ways.’”
The R&B singer then shifted his attention to the less supportive aspects of his fellow churchgoers.
“But on the on the flip side, it was tough following a dream that I felt God gave me [but] was frowned upon by the people that I love so much, and the people that raised me,” he continued. “I felt like everybody had their own story though, and my version would just look a little different.
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“Now, here I am, and people are telling me at meet and greets and things like that, just how much I’ve been able to impact their lives spiritually. So I just think it looks different to everyone, and the traditional church way wasn’t to become an R&B singer, but I had to just make my own little way.”
