Giving Hip-Hop Culture a Good Rap:
20 Years of Krosswerdz

This month marks 20 years since Australia's first 'Hip-Hop church service', and since that time, Krosswerdz has grown to incorporate Christian hip hop communities across Australia and indeed the globe. Aaron Duff sits down with Founder Matthew 'Mistery' Peet to learn the Krosswerdz origin story and hear what's next on the horizon.

What comes to your mind when you think of hip hop culture? Is it big cars, gold chains and provocative women? Perhaps you associate it with gang violence in the US, or think to that same-same 'me against the world' swagger replicated by countless rappers around the world who boast about their power, ability, success and wealth.

Undoubtedly hip hop has deserved a bad rap for promoting an unrealistic, unhealthy and often ungodly lifestyle. Yet God has never stopped working in the lives of people who love the art, poetry and beats that come from the street.

From Preachers in Disguise (P.I.D.) in the 80's, to the break-out of DC Talk and MC Hammer's well-publicised conversion to born-again preacher in the 90's, to Christian rap pioneers like Lecrae and his Reach Records family in the 2000's, we have seen Christian hip hop not only give generations of young people a godly alternative of music, but positively influence the wider hip hop scene in return.

An excellent testimony of this is the Christian hip hop community Krosswerdz which was founded in a Sunday School room at the Petersham Assemblies of God, Sydney 20 years ago this month.

A pioneer in Australia's hip-hop scene, Matt 'Mistery' Peet founded Krosswerdz in 2006.

The Beginnings of an Australian Hip-Hop Community

The origin story of Krosswerdz goes back even further with their founder Matt Mistery coming to faith in 1988. 

A self-described "Graff-writer, Emcee, B-boy, Pastor, and New Testament Jew", Matt has a long history in the hiphop scene - and even before he was saved. 

Straight after finding faith Matt began inviting members of his crew to church including , and after Sunday services would begin rapping with his crew after church. It was unfortunate, but the majority of the church members were not very supportive and some even termed his art and skills to be 'demonic'.

At around the same time, Matt paired up with his mate Wizdm to form Brethren, a two person crew that even now is well recognised as the pioneers of Christian hip-hop in Australia.

Soon after Matt was signed to a secular record label and his career really took off. In his tours around Australia, he came into contact with a number of other Christian rappers and artists. In the days before internet, it took a decision to bring hip hop rappers and performers together at one of the Blackstump festivals in the early 90's to really establish a national network of like-minded artists.

Throughout the 90's Brethren was one of Australia's most successful hip-hop crews, signing an EP deal with Mushroom Records, music videos on ABC's rage, and airplay in Triple J. In spite of their career success, Mistery and Wizdm were open about their faith and were involved with countless community outreaches, running workshops at youth centres and churches around the Sydney area.

Other early supporters included Grant Howard from The Brotherhood Christian Motorcycle Club who is a former colleague of Matt's when they were doing youth work at a community service organisation together, as well as DJP (also known as DJ Paine) of Mustard Records whose label became a major supporter of the community. 

In 2000, Brethren released a groundbreaking new release on Mustard Records named 'InDaMidst' which became Australia's first ever Christian hip-hop album.

Based on Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them", the compilation album featured 18 tracks from emerging Christian hip-hop artists across Australia and New Zealand and launched a national tour. 

Legal street art is a big part of Krosswerdz and initiatives like #blessedpiecemakers point the scene straight to the Gospel.

(L-R) Vytal ONE & NFORS are two long-standing members of Krosswerdz and head up the South Australian crew.

What's Next For Krosswerdz

After 20 years of faithful service, Krosswerdz hasn't slowed down and Matt and his team remain ambitious for the future of Christian hip-hop here in Australia and internationally.

In commemorating their 20 year anniversary, Krosswerdz will be returning back to the building that started it all those years ago on May 30 for a night of celebrations full of music and street art. 

A video documentary is also in the works with plans for the first screening to be held in Adelaide this November 6-8 as part of the KW-Summit where crew members from across Australia and indeed the world will be coming for workshops and fellowship. In the week following, Sydney will host Uprock 2026 which will include the Block Party with breaking and dance battles, live (and legal) graffiti, a basketball competition, dj'ing and lots of rap music.

On the subject of street art, one successful initiative Krosswerdz began 3 years ago is called the Blessed Piece Makers. To be held 27-28 June this year, it's where Christian graff-writers and street artists create artworks in their respective locations all round the globe and  flood Instagram over one weekend with Christ-inspired graffiti.

Using the #blessedpiecemakers tag last year there were 80 artists from over 30 countries who showcased their creative gifts by representing Christ with their art, including in places as far away as Monaco and Guatemala.

Asking Matt what might comes next for Krosswerdz, he shares a story... 

"I know how powerful the gospel is and also how hip-hop music and culture can be the bridge to help carry that message. One life I've seen changed first-hand was a brother from Iran called Mohammad. I met him 15 years ago through the hip-hop scene and over that time I've seen God change his life remarkably. Today he's a believer and has changed his name to Silas. He's telling me we need to go to Iran and set up a Krosswerdz crew there!"

Similarly, Matt has seen the power of using music to evangelise in other corners of the world such as China and Malaysia too, and in this vein, would love to see a Christian hip-hop block party in North Korea and other such places.

Iran and North Korea might sound like a far-fetched dream, but when you see what God has done in Matt's life and in the growth of Krosswerdz over the past 20 years, these facts all attest to how nothing is impossible for our God!