In the fall of last year, I started to prepare to publish an article in my other publication, Florida Music Letter. The subject of the article was the 2018 Jazz in the Gardens, which was completed last weekend. As I reviewed the performers for both days of the event, I found special interest in one artist; gospel singer Tasha Cobbs-Leonard. Of course I did light research about her music career. However, she made an appearance on Good Morning America on January 4th 2018. That live performance helped me make the decision to feature her in the post you are reading today. Electrifying, energetic and powerful are the words I would choose to describe the performance, and the audience was moved from the beginning. Is it the music that moves the audience? Or, is it Tasha Cobbs-Leonard herself? Maybe the combination of both? We’ll look at both and let you readers decide for yourselves.
Tasha Cobbs was born as Natasha Tameika Cobbs, on July 7, 1981 in Jesup, Georgia. Her parents are Bishop Fritz Cobbs (1954–2014) and Lady Bertha Cobbs. She grew up in the church at Jesup New Life Ministries, which her parents led. These worship services are where she started singing, from her childhood and into her young adult years. She started her solo music career in 2010, with the independently self-released album Smile. This got the attention of EMI Gospel (now Motown Gospel), and they released her EP, Grace, on February 5, 2013. This was listed on two Billboard charts: the Billboard 200 at No. 61, and at No. 2 on the Top Gospel Albums chart. The EP later reached No. 1 on the Top Gospel Albums chart. The singles “Break Every Chain” and “For Your Glory” also reached No. 1 on the Hot Gospel Songs charts. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, Tasha Cobbs took home Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance, winning her first Grammy. Cobbs was awarded the Gospel Artist of the Year, at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards.
In just a few years Tasha Cobbs-Leonard has built a successful career in music. However, some look at gospel music differently from secular music. Why? It might be that mainstream media is fixated 24/7 on the activities of stars of secular music. Those activities are considered entertaining to many fans. Stars of modern gospel music also are accessible via social media, but just not as intriguing. Still, gospel music is very powerful, and does move listeners.
According to Yale University music professor Willie Ruff, the singing of psalms in Gaelic by Presbyterians of the Scottish Hebrides evolved from “lining out” – where one person sang a solo and others followed – into the call and response of gospel music of the American South. Coming out of the African-American religious experience, American gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century. Gospel music has roots in the black oral tradition, and typically uses a great deal of repetition, which allows those who could not read the opportunity to take part in worship. During this time, hymns and sacred songs were lined and repeated in a call and response fashion, and Negro spirituals and work songs emerged. Repetition and “call and response” are accepted elements in African music, designed to achieve an altered state of consciousness we sometimes refer to as “trance”, and strengthen communal bonds.
Most of the churches relied on hand-clapping and foot-stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Guitars and tambourines were sometimes available, but not frequently. Church choirs became a norm only after emancipation. Most of the singing was done a cappella.
Gospel music features dominant vocals and Christian lyrics. Some modern gospel music, however, isn’t explicitly Christian and just uses the sound. Subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel (sometimes called “black gospel”), Southern gospel, and modern gospel music (now more commonly known as praise and worship music or contemporary Christian music).
Much of the modern gospel music, like that of Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, does cross over to R&B and Hip Hop. In fact, one of the songs on Cobbs’ new album Heart. Passion. Pursuit., “I’m Getting Ready” features rapper Nicki Minaj. For some in church communities, gospel music that crosses genre lines into popular forms is quite controversial. However, Cobbs and other gospel artists feel differently.
In an interview with Billboard Magazine, Tasha Cobbs-Leonard shared how she and Nicki Minaj came together for I’m Getting Ready:
“Nicki and I have a friendship that started a couple of years ago. I had done this show, and she saw it on television and reached out to me on Twitter just to say how she was very inspired by the song. Maybe about two years ago, she started commenting on my Instagram, so we communicated back and forth there, which started our friendship. One day on Instagram, she posted saying, “Tasha Cobbs, when you’re done with this album, shoot me 16 bars.” Of course, both of our fans started going crazy: “Are they really going to do this?” When I sent it over to her, she immediately responded, “This is the song I was hoping you would send.” I guess it was just a song that spoke to her and where she is. It gave her space to tell her testimony, and that’s what you hear on her 16 bars.”
Cobbs did address the negative responses to her collaboration with Nicki Minaj:
“I knew there would be a reaction. I knew that some would agree, and some would not agree, and I believe I’m perfectly fit for that. I always tell people, “There are more people who are for us than are against us.” There will always be people who don’t understand, and that happens.”
The big reason gospel music is able to reach and move an audience might be found in how Cobbs views her music. She views music as part of her ministry. Pastor Tasha Cobbs-Leonard continues to brand herself as a multifaceted game-changer as she blazes her own trail with her music career and ministry efforts. In light of all the recognition she has been afforded, her goal remains to use her platform as an opportunity to fulfill the purpose of her assignment.