Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I am on the phone with Kenton Jones. He is a multi award winning gospel artist, rapper, songwriter. He does all the things pastor, entrepreneur. How you doing?
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm doing great. How are you?
[00:00:14] Speaker A: I'm fantastic. It's good to hear your voice and having interaction with your wife, Ramona, over the last few days, trying to get this together.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Yeah. You know Ramona, People who know me, that's. That's my boss. My wife is my boss. You better believe it. My world. Yeah, yeah.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Listen, you have new music, but before we talk about the new song, which I absolutely love, I had MC Nice in the studio with me last week and he got me listening to Promise Notes.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: And baby, that is so good.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Praise God. Thank you. Thank you. MC Nice is like the futuristic. He's so ahead of the game.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: One, he's a walking encyclopedia of music information.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Publishing and writing, and he's an amazing artist, but he's been a mentor to me, like getting into this AI world.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: So, you know, it's been really, really great. So big shout out to my bro.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. He was here doing a workshop and. And people just come from all over the place to hear him drop that knowledge.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Yes. I've been in the room when he's dropping that knowledge. And he knows his stuff.
He's an asset to the kingdom.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, when I worked at a different radio station, I remember trying to make sure that Stay Saved was in rotation.
You had been doing this a long time. You've been in the game a long time, and you have had other endeavors going throughout your walk, not just the rapping and the singing and all the other things. How are you managing to get into these endeavors?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Wow. Man 1. You follow God. You make sure you heard from God. And I've always been very ambitious to try certain things too, but wanted to make sure you hear from God. And so in that endeavor, as far as, you know, a label, you know, it's one thing to be an artist, the other thing, you have to have a label. You, you got to learn marketing, you got to learn promotions, you got to learn so many other aspects. Then if you get into ministry, you got to learn how to do that and then you got to balance it out with your family. So my wife has played a pivotal part in helping me to balance certain things. Because sometimes when you're ambitious, you get all into what you have to do, you know, whether it be music, whether it be teaching, whether it be studying for the word or whatever, and you forget about. Oh, man. My son has A basketball game, my daughter has, you know, a dance recital, you know, and I have to make sure that I balance everything out. Family is primary to me, and I never want to be a public success and a private failure. Oh. And so that has been, you know, the things, especially of late, you know, focusing on doing the word with my family outside of church, you know, and building that relationship with God outside of church. If they end up in other parts of the country, going to college or they settle there, for them to have a relationship with God is key, even if they don't find the type of church that they like.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: You know, and so that's what we've been focusing on.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good. That is really good. And that balance is so important because if you lose that balance, you lose yourself. And it's happened to me. So I understand how you have to step back, take a breath, and find out what's most important.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Right. Yes, ma'. Am.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Oh, that's not it. I have more with Canton Jones on the way.
I am on the phone with the Canton Jones and I couldn't be any happier because you have a brand new single. It's called Praise on the Go. Where did this come from? And I just absolutely love the song. I just have to say that first.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
That song represents a season for me, a season that I. I never get out of. And that season is a season of gratefulness and a season of just thanksgiving. The scripture says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. And I understand that through my life, you know, my mom is in heaven, my dad is in heaven, and. And I've had a lot of opportunities to, to complain and murmur, you know, and a lot of people do when they're grieving, you know, why take my mom? Why this? And then other situations in life. But I've been going back in this season to say, you know what? I thank God for the time that I had with my mom. I thank God for the time that I had with my dad. I think. Thank you, God, that I had a mom and dad, because a lot of people don't. Yeah, I thank you, God, for situations in my life where I.
Where I felt like I was pushed out and or overlooked. I started to thank God, like, lord, you know what? You kept me, you preserved me, you kept my family together, you kept my marriage together. Thank you, Lord, that I wasn't overworked or maybe too busy to be a part of my kids life. And as they played basketball and you know, the award ceremonies thank you, God. And I went to go back and look at the glass half full instead of looking at it half empty.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And that is. That is the season, the fire that I'm singing this and writing this and performing this song with that. Lord, I'm so grateful. I just been saying that so much to my wife. Lord, I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful, baby. I'm grateful for what God has done. You know, when. When I looked at it at one time as complaining and why me? Now it's like, man, oh, hey, I see why you did that. Thank you, God. Because if I would not have gone through that, then I wouldn't be here or I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't have this revelation or. And so it's been great. So that is the premise of why I wrote the song and the fire that I feel when I sing it. I'm just grateful. I'm just grateful. Praise God.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: That is Kenton Jones, y'. All.
I feel this fire.
And now I know why I have a connection with losing my father and losing my mother and trying to navigate loss on a different level from a loved one who is no longer in my life right now. And no wonder I connected to this song, because I do wake up thanking God that he got me out of the situation I was in. And sometimes I just find that quickening happening somewhere in a grocery store.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So I feel that connection to that song so much, and I'm so glad that you talked about why you're so grateful.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And it's so many, especially with social media, there's so many things you can compare to and say, man, they're doing this and I'm not. And it's so easy to slip into that murmuring and complaining when you have to compare yourself or whatever. And I'm just like, man, I'm being grateful. I'm. Hey, bro, you know, you, you ahead and you're doing your thing, but God has me over here right now, and I'm grateful for what God is doing for you, and I'm grateful for what God is doing for me. I will not slip into murmuring and complaining. The children of Israel missed the promised land, at least the first generation of them, because they were murmuring and complaining.
And God is like, man, I brought you guys out of Egypt. Yes, what you asked me, and you're still complaining about, you know. You know, I gave you manna from heaven, and now you're complaining about that.
And so I, I, I Learned to be grateful. And I understand that in his presence is fullness of joy, but he inhabits the praises of his people.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: And I just got a different revelation about a lot of things in my life right now.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: I love it. And how's the church going now?
[00:08:22] Speaker B: This Easter will be three years that the Lord told me to give my church through my brother, Give him the equipment, give him the members, everything, and follow him. Oh, wow. And when I tell you the voice that told me to start the church is the same voice that told me to give it up. So now I was in a state for two or three years. I'm glad you asked that question of asking, why did you tell me to start and then tell me to stop? Yeah. What did I fail? Did I. Did I fail you? Did I what? What did I do wrong? And so for a couple of years, you know, I was in a season of like, man. Why did you tell me to do? I was murmuring and complaining.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Until I got the revelation of what he was doing. I started writing this song, and this is the. Oh, you want me to.
You want me to do this? And I was like, I get it now. Because when you don't get it, you think you failed. The Lord told me, you didn't fail. You finished.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Pay yourself to other people.
Don't compare yourself to other pastors. That's preached for 40, 30 years. I just needed seven years out of you.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: And so sometimes when you compare yourself to other people, you start to murmur and complain instead of saying, okay, well, thank you, God, that I finished, you know? And then now it's praise on go. Yeah. And so the fire that I have, my God, it just comes from seeing what God has done. And he did it, like, years ago, but sometimes you don't see it. But now I see it. Praise God.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: My goodness. You gonna make me run through this studio, down the hall, up the street. This is so good.
How can we find the song? And where do we follow you? Because I already follow you, but where can everybody follow you and. And get in on some of this, man?
[00:10:25] Speaker B: So what I'm doing now as a pastor is going online, and I'm gonna be just doing my thing online. So I have a Patreon account, the Patreon backslash v. Canton Jones. So you can find me on Patreon. You can also find me on Instagram, V. Canton Jones, Facebook and Tick Tock as well, and wherever you get music, Praise on go. Is there?
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: So if you Amazon Music if you're Apple Music, if you're spot.
Praise on Go is there. And so we really thank God for the love that Detroit has shown me because I'm learning to watch the charts more and more. But way before Praise on Go, you guys have been showing me major, major love. And I thank you. I thank you for. I appreciate it. Really do.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Well, I thank you for spending some time with me. This has been such a powerful conversation. I can't wait to put it on the website so everybody can hear it over and over.
And Kenton Jones and Ramon, thank you all so much.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you, too. And whenever you need us, let us know.
