Ok story time lmao. So when I first got to DC I never played in church before. I grew up making beats and playing in funk and rock bands. So ya boy was lost when my professor told me to get a church gig to get some income. But I found my way to a church anywho..

And they paid ya boy a solid 300 for two services. Not great. But not bad for someone who’d never done it before. Anyways, black church has this thing called discipleship/alter call. People come to get special prayer and release whatever has been holding them down..

It’s specifically a time when the music needs to be very peaceful. Soothing if you will. Not enough that it distracts the worshippers from worship but good enough that they don’t feel the need to change the song. Mind you, I knew no gospel after 2007 cuz idk I just didn’t lmao

Anyway, you gotta be quick on your feet as a musician. So I remembered the pastor preached about weathering the storm life brings you. idk what possessed me to do this but I played the first thing that I could think of were those Quiet Storm songs my parents played during storms.

I promise this was not premeditated or planned. I didn’t realize what I was playing until the drummer started (who was on a drum machine btw https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥴" title="Woozy face" aria-label="Emoji: Woozy face">) programmed the beat to it. Y’all I played the best version of Can You Stand the Rain x New Edition in my entire life. With All I had https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Loudly crying face" aria-label="Emoji: Loudly crying face">

And it wasn’t fast. It was super slow. And I was just feeling. I even played the synth line at the end of the chorus. It wasn’t unto the pastor said “can you stand the rain? God wants to know. Can you? Won’tchu Come. He wants you stand the rain. Wontchu Come” that I realized oh..

..homie peeped what I was playing. Y’all I promise on everything. I played in but he’s pretty ugh until I moved to Atlanta (7 years). I grew better in the gospel genre and learned about alter call music. Hundreds of songs. But guess what?!

There has never been a better alter call song than New Edition x Can You Stand the Rain that I, Haikeem Johnson have played. EVER. Everywhere I’ve played it, intentionally or unintentionally, every church just loved it. Idek if they knew what was being played https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Loudly crying face" aria-label="Emoji: Loudly crying face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Loudly crying face" aria-label="Emoji: Loudly crying face">

So we thank God for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for the discipleship music lmao. Next time I’ll tell you about i used to play P-Funk and Ohio Players as shout music until my bro @PeteJazz showed me the proper way to play a bump without any shout track. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤦🏾‍♂️" title="Man facepalming (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Man facepalming (medium dark skin tone)">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Loudly crying face" aria-label="Emoji: Loudly crying face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤦🏾‍♂️" title="Man facepalming (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Man facepalming (medium dark skin tone)"> Happy Sunday lol