DETROIT ROOTS.
ETERNAL
PURPOSE.

03 / THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC

CHRISTIAN J.

THE STREET’S APOSTLE

From Southwest Detroit to a life of ministry, the testimony is personal.

Christian J. is the Christian hip-hop identity of Ricky J. Phillips: an independent recording artist, preacher, author, father, and founder of Street’s Apostle Music. Raised in Southwest Detroit, with roots along Vernor Highway, he brings the language and lived experience of his community into music centered on Jesus Christ.

His songs return to the questions that shape a changed life: What do you do with the past? How do you keep your faith through suffering? And what happens when survival becomes a responsibility to reach somebody else? For Christian J., those questions belong in the music because they belong to his story.

A U.S. Army infantry veteran who served with the 1st Infantry Division’s “Blue Spaders,” Phillips carries the perspective of service and endurance into his work. His testimony also includes surviving stage IV colorectal cancer, a stroke, and multiple heart attacks. He speaks about these experiences through faith, giving his music an urgency rooted in the life he has lived.

“God didn’t preserve me just to survive. He preserved me because the assignment wasn’t finished.”

That conviction runs through After The Fire: The Testimony Remains and the continuing chapters Still Here: The Assignment and Sent: The Commission. Across his work, street-level storytelling meets themes of repentance, redemption, holiness, and purpose. The message is directed toward people carrying scars, confronting their past, or wondering whether God still has a place for them.

Ministry is central to that identity. Known in church leadership as The Most Reverend Dr. Ricky J. Phillips, he serves as Presiding Archbishop-Designate, Presiding Prelate, and Presiding Apostle of United Apostolic Church International. His Oneness Apostolic faith informs both his preaching and his writing, with the Gospel at the heart of his creative work.

As CEO and founder of Street’s Apostle Music under G-Soldierz Entertainment, he is building a home for music grounded in faith, integrity, and honest testimony. Artist, minister, and label founder are connected parts of the same calling: create with conviction, speak to real lives, and use every open door to point people toward Christ.