American Christian hip-hop producer, composer, vocalist, and record producer TobyMac. Despite the fact that Christian music is not as well-liked as conventional hip-hop music, Toby’s songs stand out as a welcome exception. Toby was a lifelong music fan who was born and reared in a typical Christian home in Virginia. Together with Kevin Max Smith and Michael Tait, two of his friends, Toby founded the band “DC Talk” in the late 1980s. ‘DC Talk’ issued a number of popular albums. After the three stopped collaborating on songs, Toby started a solo music career. He started with the album “Momentum” in 2001. Toby’s strategy of fusing true Christian music with urban rock and beats was successful, as seen by the album’s success. Since that time, Toby has released six successful studio albums as well as a holiday record titled “Christmas in Diverse City.” Toby has amassed seven “Grammy Awards” throughout the course of his solo career and has sold more than 10 million albums. In addition, Toby has co-written two books in the “Jesus Freaks” series with Kevin Max and Michael Tait.
Early Childhood & Life
TobyMac was born to devoted Christians on October 22, 1964, in a Virginia suburb. Early in their youth, Toby fell in love with modern music and grew up listening to everything from rap to rock. When he was 13 years old, he attended a church camp where he was motivated by passages from the “Bible.” Apart from him, few musicians have set biblical verses to music.
The singer Sting, who he saw leading his band “The Police” in 1983, served as his true influence. The music and the idea that music could be both beautiful and controversial instantly captured his heart. He grew serious about a career in music after graduating from a local high school and began looking for others who shared his interests to start his career with.
Toby and Michael Tait attended the same high school, and in 1987 they started a band named “DC Talk” because of their shared love of music. As students at “Liberty University,” where they both met Kevin Max Smith, everything began to come together when Kevin joined them.
TobyMac’s Career
After their debut album, “DC Talk,” became a commercial success in 1989, the trio went on a cross-country tour. This increased their exposure to the general public. They released their second album, “Nu Thang,” in 1990, riding high on the popularity of their first effort. The sophomore effort outperformed ‘DC Talk in terms of success and received the ‘Recording Industry Association of America’s “gold” certification (RIAA.)
Their third album, “Free at Last,” which was more successful than “Nu Thang,” continued their winning streak. The “RIAA” later awarded the album its “platinum” status. They became well-known in America thanks to their popular success and their appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Their music combined elements of rap, grunge, and modern Christian music to create soulful, current sounds.
With the publication of their 1995 album “Jesus Freak,” they had reached the pinnacle of their professional careers. The massive “Jesus Freak Tour” was launched after the “double-platinum” record. The group’s final full-length album, “Supernatural,” which was released in 1998, was another happy success tale.
The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music declared “DC Talk” “the most popular explicitly Christian act of all time” in 2002. All of their albums, with the exception of “DC Talk” and “Supernatural,” have received at least one Grammy award.
Before the trio broke up in the early 2000s, they put out an EP called “Individual” that had two brand-new songs from each of their solo projects. At that point, each of the three had begun to take their individual initiatives seriously.
Momentum, Toby’s first solo album, arrived at number one on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in 2001. Toby’s distinctive sound was a contemporary fusion of grunge and rap. Songs from the album including “Extreme Days,” “Get this Party Started,” and “Yours” have been used in a number of movies and TV shows. The tracks “Momentum,” “All Three,” and “Crackdown” were all included in the video game. The CD received a Grammy nomination and three “Dove Awards.”
In 2004, Toby released “Welcome to Diverse City,” a song that, while technically different, still adheres to the genre’s basic principles. The album received positive reviews from both critics and listeners, and it helped him win the “Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year” honor at the “Dove Awards.” Toby also gave a public performance of the remixed editions of his first two solo albums.
Another collection of distinctive Toby beats and out-of-the-ordinary noises may be found on his 2007 CD “Portable Sounds.” He now had another successful album in his catalog with this one. The album debuted in the top spot on the SoundScan Contemporary Christian Overall chart and at number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. For his outstanding work on the record, Toby received the “Artist of the Year” honor at the “Dove Awards.”
“Alive and Transported,” his debut live album as a solo performer was released in 2008 and won Toby one Grammy and one GMA Dove. The CD included Toby’s solo singles as well as cover versions of a number of popular “DC Talk” hits from the 1990s.
2010 saw the release of “Tonight,” which in its first week of sales sold 79,000 copies. On the “Billboard 200” chart, it peaked at number six. Along with Toby’s distinctive hip-hop, rap, and rock beats, it included Latin and funk sounds and turned out to be another successful attempt.
Toby collaborated with a number of other musicians to create his debut Christmas album, “Christmas in Diverse City,” which was published in 2011. Dubbed and Freq’d: A Remix Project, a collection of remixes of songs from Toby’s first two albums, was published in 2012.
His subsequent studio album, “Eye on It,” was published in late 2012 and topped the “Billboard 200” charts, being the first Christian record to do so since 1997. However, in the second week after its release, the album fell to the eighth position.
This Is Not a Test, which was released in August 2015, debuted on the Billboard 200 chart in the fourth position. It topped the “Top Christian Albums” list with sales of 35,000 copies in the first week of release.
Together with Kevin Max Smith and Michael Tait, two of his former “DC Talk” colleagues, Toby has co-authored two books. The “Jesus Freaks” series books extol the virtues of a number of Christian martyrs. Along with Tait, he co-wrote the books “Under God” and “Living under God: Discovering Your Part in God’s Plan.”
Toby has frequently appeared on TV discussion shows, and producers for movies and TV shows have purchased the rights to utilize a number of his songs in their productions.
His Individual Life
Since 1994, TobyMac and his wife Amanda have been wed. She is Jamaican, and Toby frequently travels to her home country. Some of his tracks have shown his appreciation of Jamaican music. The couple and their five kids currently reside in Franklin, Tennessee.
Estimated Net Worth
Toby Mckeehan is a $10 million-dollar American Christian hip-hop artist, singer-songwriter, producer, and book. On October 22, 1964, Mckeehan was born in Fairfax, Virginia. The world knows him better than TobyMac. He first gained notoriety for his work with the Christian band DC Talk, and as a solo artist, he has since recorded five studio albums.