Question: How has your spiritual life changed since you had your first son?
Roy: Obviously you don’t have to be a dad to know God as a Father and experience His love, but once you become a dad…I can’t explain the love I had for my son when he popped out the womb. Like you hold him for the first time and it’s unexplainable. I know how messed up I am, I know how sinful I am, I’m very aware of my brokenness and my need for God, so the thing was if an imperfect dad like me can love someone that much, then how much more does a perfectly Heavenly Father love all of us? One story I can think of is, one night I was singing over my son, and the Holy Spirit just hit me in reminding me of the verse in Zephaniah 3:17 where God is said to be singing over us, and now being a father it makes sense that He would because of the love that He has for us.
Question: What was the biggest drive to rebrand yourself from former stage name 737, and what drew you towards Benjah for help with the rebrand?
Roy: Benjah is the one who actually recommended that I do the rebrand. He’s very incredible at the branding side of music, and of course the actual music side as well. He brought a lot of balance to my life. I didn’t understand branding or the business side of music, which you have to know, regardless if you’re a Christian or not, you need to understand that side of music. And when you do, you can really reach more people.
But yea I ran into Benjah upon moving to Florida and even to this day he still mentors me and I’m still working with him. I’m super grateful for him. One thing about a stage name is it has to be personal and easy to find. So for me, Roy is my middle name and Tosh is the last part of my last name, and now when people look up my name, they are finding my music much easier.
Question: Who inspires you musically across all genres?
Roy: Haha I’m probably gonna catch some flak for this but to be honest, Justin Bieber. His latest album is crazy! I would actually like to do a song with him. He does have that Christian background, so I would like to veer to more of a worship song so I would love to bring that element out of him. I was actually blown away by his latest album, like every single song sounded like a single. In more of the hip hop field, I would say Lecrae. I’ve met him, so I feel like I know his heart and character and he’s just a really cool dude. But one thing about artists are that they change over the years, like I would have never said Justin Bieber 2 years ago, but off the top of my head those are 2 people that inspire me.
Question: What is the final message you want people to take from your album (Death Before Love)?
Roy: Live your life to and for the Glory of God. That would be the end all be all for me…that no matter what you do, may it be for His Glory and not your own and do whatever He’s called you to with all of your heart. If you keep those 2 things in perspective, then it’s a win-win for me. That’s the whole process of dying to self…like first we live to gratify us, then we have to die to that part of ourselves by loving God because He sent His son to die for our sins, then loving others by going out and reaching the lost.
