MC 900 Ft Jesus

Experimental Hip-Hop Artist

American musician and rapper. Born 1957 in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Retired from the music industry between 2001 and 2017. Griffin's stage name came from a sermon by Oral Roberts, in which the televangelist claimed that he had received a vision of a 900-foot-tall (270 m) Jesus, who commanded him to build a hospital (CityPlex Towers) on the campus of Oral Roberts University. Hell with the Lid Off (1990) was Griffin's first full-length release for MC 900 Ft. Jesus as well as the first time Griffin had appeared on a major record label. It featured DJ Zero and the single "Truth Is Out Of Style" which gained a cult following. The following year Welcome To My Dream (1991) was released. DJ Zero appears on it under his real name (Patrick Rollins) because of uncertainty about whether he would be able to tour in support of the album. His subsequent single "The City Sleeps" was featured in the album which explored the mind of a serial arsonist. The song sparked controversy in Baltimore when a then ABC affiliate, WJZ, ran a report suggesting that a series of arsons in the area was a result of WHFS's airing the song. His final album "One Step Ahead Of The Spider" was released in 1994; it contained the single "If I Only Had A Brain", which became his best-known song. The song gained increased exposure from the music video directed for it by Spike Jonze, as well as exposure on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head cartoon show. Rollins once again appears but is not listed in the credits. Griffin eventually became disillusioned with the music industry, and sessions for his fourth album were unproductive. Record label interest waned and eventually in 2001, Griffin officially retired. However, in 2007, he began dj-ing weekly at a Dallas music venue. On November 26, 2016, Griffin announced via Facebook that he was set to perform a show at The Kessler Theater in Dallas with a quartet including Chris McGuire, Greg Beck, and Wanz Dover in hopes of kick-starting a tour as well as a possible fourth album about which his former label Nettwerk had approached Griffin. On February 3, 2017, the quartet played a sold-out concert performing several of the MC 900 Ft. Jesus songs, receiving an enthusiastic ovation. Yet no album has been released since.