Kevin Gates is the stage name of hip-hop artist Kevin Jerome Gilyard. He is a convert to Islam who is originally from Baton Rouge, La. Contact via Atlantic Records’ publicity office.

Sir the Baptist is the stage name of William James Stokes. He is a “preacher’s kid” from the South Side of Chicago and bills himself as the “Hip Hop Chaplain.” His first album, “Saint or Sinner,” was released in May 2017. Jay Cohen at the Tympa Agency is his manager.

Jesse Is Heavyweight is the stage name of Dallas-based rap/hip-hop artist Jesse McDaniel. He is a Southern Baptist and has taken Anthony Pinn and Bun B’s hip-hop and religion course at Rice University.

Monica R. Miller is an associate professor of Africana studies and religious studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and the author of Religion and Hip Hop.

David Perkins is the director of the Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. He is a guitarist and songwriter who plays for the Nashville chapter of Beer and Hymns. He teaches courses on religion and the arts, including the theology of song.

Angela Alaimo O’Donnell is a writer, poet and professor of English, creative writing and American Catholic studies at Fordham University in New York City. She serves as associate director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. She has written about the intersection of religion and popular music, especially in the work of Bruce Springsteen and […]

Kathleen Deignan is a Catholic nun, theologian, singer, composer and Merton scholar. Many of her compositions are based on the writings of Merton and are recorded by Schola Ministries in Washington, D.C. She has served on the board of directors of the International Thomas Merton Society.