Grits is a Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. Their name is an acronym, which stands for "Grammatical Revolution In the Spirit".[3] GRITS is made up of Stacey "Coffee" Jones and Teron "Bonafide" Carter,[4] both of whom were DC Talk dancers.[5]
The Christian hip hop duo began as dancers for DC Talk and then formed the group in 1995, with Teron David "Bonafide" Carter,[7] (born January 17,[8] 1971) and Stacy Bernhard "Coffee" Jones,[9] (born September 8,[10] 1972), forming the group together in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] GRITS is an acronym with a meaning of "Grammatical Revolution in the Spirit".[1][2] They both credited the inspiration for their rapping to hearing DC Talk, when the two first encountered each other in 1990.[11] This is the reason the duo signed with Gotee Records, a label founded by DC Talk member, tobyMac, where they were one of his first signees.[12] They are also considered to be one of the pioneering groups in the Christian hip hop movement, while they eventually started their own record label, Revolution Art, in 2007, where it was first known as 5E Entertainment.[13][14][15] They explained it was like graduating from school by leaving Gotee Records, and founding their own label.[15]
Mainly, their style is alternative hip hop and Southern rap, while several of their songs have pop influences, thus an occasional pop-rap sound, and their song "We Don't Play" has a Jamaican influence complete with steel drums. They were one of the first acts signed to Gotee Records,[5] and have released seven albums with Gotee, with an eighth one released by Gotee and AudioGoat. In 2014, Gotee Records announced that the GRITS song "Ooh Ahh" was RIAA Digital Gold Certified, having surpassed 500,000 downloads.[16] They have appeared at Cornerstone Festival and Rock the Universe. In addition their song "Bobbin Bouncin'" was added to the track list in the video-game Project Gotham Racing 4.
They have received several Gospel Music AssociationDove Awards throughout their career. Their first award was for a song about plagiarism ("Plagiarism" from their album Factors of the Seven). For this, they received the best "Rap/Hip Hop Song" award.[22][23] The next year they took the same award for "They All Fall Down", from Grammatical Revolution.[24] In 2003 The Art Of Translation won the award for "Rap/Hip Hop Album",[25] and the following year their song "Believe" from the same album took "Rap/Hip Hop Song". They also shared in the "Special Event Album" that year, for their contribution to !Hero The Rock Opera.[26]
They were nominated for Rap/Hip Hop Performer of the Year at the 2009 Visionary Awards Show (held at the First Baptist Church in Frisco, Texas). However, instead, the award went to the Christian rap duo "Word of Mouth"[27]
^ abcDiBiase, John. "GRITS discography". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
^Hoffmann, Frank W. Rhythm and Blues, Rap, and Hip-hop (2005), Page 112 (0816069808): "A Nashville-based Christian rap act, Grits (standing for "Grammatical Revolution in the Spirit") have shown steady artistic growth, eschewing the P-Funk vogue of the present day in favor of plainspoken rhymes, propulsive bounce, and stylistic adventurism."
