This inter-racial trio have cultivated a large and diverse audience in the USA through their sophisticated and adept blend of pop, soul and hip hop. Primarily orientated towards the gospel/Christian market, they have done much to redress the balance of profanity and outrage expressed by the gangsta rappers. The group originally comprised Michael Tait and Toby McKeehan, who formed the band while at college in Washington, D.C., in 1989. They were soon joined by Kevin Smith from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The name was alternatively stated to express either D.C. referring to the area of the group's origin or 'Decent Christian' talk. Using street poetry as their central mode of communication, they made their debut in 1991 for Heartwarming Records with Nu Thang, a title which accurately predicted the Christian pop/hip hop style of its contents. More declamatory was the follow-up, Free At Last, which included cover versions of 'Jesus Is Just Alright' and 'Lean On Me', alongside the trio's original compositions. It was still a fixture on Billboard 's Contemporary Christian chart at the end of 1995, having sold over a million copies. In the three years before the group entered the studio again each member concentrated on solo activities - Smith writing a poetry book, McKeehan launching Gotee Records and Tait concentrating on songwriting. Released in December 1995, Jesus Freak took the band's Christian concerns into alternative pop/rock territory. Most impressive was the title track, an unashamed declaration of personal commitment set against dense guitar riffs. It saw them cited in Billboard as 'Christian music's most innovative and accomplished group'. Though the music was now as secular as it had ever been, the group's gospel background was still much in evidence. As McKeehan expressed, 'dc Talk has always been a pop group expressing our faith and we always will be, but we've followed our collective artistic pull a lot more on this project.' For example, the promotional single released from the album was targeted at MTV with a video produced by Nine Inch Nails' collaborator Simon Maxwell. With sales of 85,000 copies in its first week of release, it became the biggest first-week seller in Christian music history.

Albums: Nu Thang (Heartwarming 1991), Free At Last (Forefront 1992), Jesus Freak (Forefront 1995).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 1998

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