Senior Pastor and founder of Elevation Church, Steven Furtick is being criticized for Endorsing his son Elijah’s Explicit Music ‘Teen Machine’ which includes references to sex, guns and excesses of money. 16-year-old Elijah Furtick, a hip-hop artist whose stage name is “dothedash!” released his first album “Teen Machine.”
The album starts with an introduction that states that the songs are a “genuine reflection of some dimension of the author’s experience or personality” and that most of the lyrics reflect experiences that are “fictitious, exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek or otherwise wildly inaccurate.”
Teem Machine’s opening song “No Hook,” features references to sex, drinking Hennessy and his “bro” keeping a gun. After he released the album, his father commended his hard work and called him an inspiration.
Pastor Steven Furtick took to Instagram to write: “Dear Elijah,
You already know how proud I am of you. But today on the release of TEEN MACHINE I want you to know that you inspire me.
The day you showed me your first Garage Band Mark Ronson rip off beat, I saw the spark. Next came the obsession. You locked yourself away and taught yourself the intricacies of production and the basics of engineering.
A lot of nights I’d hear you coaching yourself in third person, patiently guiding yourself through the learning curve. I think you brought me a new beat to listen to every two hours that summer. I loved listening to every one, even though our tastes in music are separated by decades, I was fascinated by your attention to detail, your sonic instinct, and your commitment to your new craft.
Then you wanted to expand your YouTube channel by making tutorials. But that meant you had to learn to edit video now, a whole new skill set. At first you made excuses but eventually you executed, one tutorial after another.
Then came the biggest challenge of all. Believing in your own voice, lyrics and melodies enough to hit record and make your own project. This is the part that inspired me the most. Because even with autotune, letting your voice be heard, even by your own ears, is intimidating. Most people can’t even stand to hear their voice for 10 seconds on an old video on their phone. But you had the courage to conceptualize and execute an entire project – every 808, mix, & melody, you meticulously curated and created, selected and perfected.
When I was 16, I was writing Walmart Green Day riffs, begging John Kirby to record our band on a Tascam 414 me and Fox could barely afford. You, on the other hand wrote, recorded, and produced an entire album yourself, even titling the project from a Smashing Pumpkins lyric, a nod to the 90s I’ll forever cherish.
I’m proud of your project. Inspired by your process. I’m grateful for the person you are, and the potential of who you are becoming. I know Shiz is smiling almost as big as I am.
Run through the jungle TEEN MACHINE™️. The old lion is right behind you.”
Keith L. Bell in a Facebook Post kicked against this as he listed the qualifications of a Pastor.