Breaking Down Bizzle's "God Over Money"

One of the lowest income areas in my county is a place called Alabama Village in the city of Prichard. In the “Village” there are literally houses without running water, heating and cooling. There is not just one house but there are several. At one time Prichard had the highest murder rate in the state. My point is that this is a violent and dark area but in the midst of it all…there is a light. It’s called the Light of the Village. You can look it up online at www.lightofthevillage.org. This is a fantastic place that helps all ages in the Village with a concentration on the children. They have a faith-based school and run an after-school program for the inner-city children.

To be able to minister effectively to the people in the Village you must know the village life. This is an area where prostitution is active on every street. On most streets any drug wanted is sold. This is a place where many have been murdered and hope is hard to find. You have to know the streets and the life in the struggle to relate to these people. Many that have moved out of the area have done so by selling drugs. In the same breath they talk about being from the village but they are nowhere to be found for help. They come driving through these streets in front of these abandoned houses in their new cars but their own people have no air conditioner or heat. There is a strong disconnect with that. The Light of the Village is one of the few places that adds hope with a message of truth in the village. Looking for someone that has this same passion for those to see that they are leaving people behind I came across the artist Bizzle. Bizzle is no joke and brings a strong and sometimes hard- to- accept message to all of us.

I spoke with Bizzle recently and what led up to his writing of “God Over Money”. The following story may shock you but it’s what I like, REAL. Bizzle says that there was a time in his life where he first came to Christ where he was hurting financially. He was sleeping on a friend’s hardwood floor and his car doubled as his closet. He was doing all he could to make some money as he chased this rap game but he nevertheless was broke. Remind yourself he had found Christ so this was going through his mind constantly. Many of his friends were making a lot of money but very few of them were doing it legally. He had the opportunity, as all did, to turn to basically pimping. One particular woman came and dropped $1300 on him frequently. Quick money and easily justifiable, he thought. He says that his thought was that he would make this money for awhile and then get out of the game and concentrate on his music. He stayed in this for a while and one day he went to pick this young woman up. As they were riding down the road she told him that her father was a preacher. Bizzle again could justify even this in his own mind because he knew that he had a plan to get out of this and she was just part of the plan. God started doing something radical in his life to the point where he knew it was time to stop the madness.

The justification of sin is a road to disaster. It is very hard to come back down that road once you have convinced yourself it is accepted. Many of the people in Alabama Village use this same excuse as a reason to hustle and prostitute. They say they are are doing it to, “Put food in my family’s mouth”. I am telling you all that this is a ploy of the enemy. Making us believe that it isn’t that big of a deal and even though you know it is wrong it is easily justified.

In 1 Timothy 6:7-10 it states, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” The desire of money can corrupt the best of people. Let’s look at Bizzle’s take on this in his song “God Over Money”.