| Hazakim | |
| Origin: | Columbus, Ohio |
| Genre: | Christian hip hop, Urban contemporary gospel |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Label: | Lamp Mode, Wrath & Grace |
| Current Members: | Anthony "Tony" Wray Michael "Mike" Wray |
Hazakim, (pronounced ha-zah-keem),[1] is a Christian hip hop duo originally from Columbus, Ohio. The group consists of brothers Michael "Mike" Wray and Anthony "Tony" Wray. Hazakim is known for hip hop music that is uniquely Messianic; even rapping and singing in Hebrew, at times, over beats with traditional Mizrahi rhythms. The name Hazakim is a Hebrew word, meaning in English "the strong ones".[2]
Michael "Mike" Wray, the eldest born, and Anthony "Tony" Wray, the youngest born [3] were brought up in the messianic Jewish movement by their parents.[4] They come from a multi-ethnic family consisting of Portuguese, Jewish, Jamaican, Italian, and Amazigh ancestry.[5]
In episode of The Chopping Block (a Lampmode Records YouTube series), Michael stated that he began listening to Christian Hip Hop in 1986, with Stephen Wiley's "Bible Break". However, he never intended to become a hip hop artist, until upon hearing The Cross Movement's album "Heaven's Mentality"
Hazakim started making music in 1997.[4] Their first release in 1999 was an independent self-titled EP [6] with three songs, most notably "Liar, Lunatic, Lord, Or Legend" which is the only song from the EP on streaming services. In 2003, the duo came back with another independent EP, "Theophanies EP".[7]
In 2001 they released their first full-length album, also an independent effort aptly titled Hip-Hologetics due to its fusion of rap music and biblical apologetics.[8] They became signed to Lamp Mode Recordings prior to their 2009 release, Theophanies.[9] Their sophomore release under Lamp Mode entitled Son of Man was released on September 23, 2014; the eve of Rosh Hashanah in light of the album's eschatological focus.[10] [11] This exposure helped the duo crack the Billboard charts, twice.[12]
In January 2016 the brothers released a music video for a single entitled "Don't Forget the Ayin" which was shot on location in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Israel. According to the duo, the song was created to help "remove the stigma" surrounding Yeshua among Israelis, in what they call "the Jewish reclamation of Jesus." [13]
In December 2018 it was announced that Hazakim was set to release another album titled Origins, though no release date had been given.[14] On February 1, 2019, they released Origins on Wrath and Grace Records, a burgeoning Christian hip-hop label.[15] Reviews of the album were overwhelmingly positive; with some stating that Origins is the duo's best release to date, while others have compared its impact to their earlier Theophanies. The focus of Origins is to provide an argument or defense of biblical creationism and intelligent design.[16] Origins includes production from Hazakim, as well as contributions from composer John Campbell, as well as hip-hop producers SPEC, Sean Rocktight Jones (Walter Rocktight) and Devin Morrison.
In addition to vocals, Mike and Tony do the majority of their own production. The brothers now reside in Broward County, Florida where they are both married with children.
| Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| US Chr | US Gos | ||
| Theophanies |
| – | – |
| Son of Man |
| 40 | 10 |
| Origins |
| ||