Jimi Cravity is a man whose heart claims dual citizenship in heaven and on earth. His vision of heaven is relevant, his conception – visceral and his longing for it – infectious. For Jimi, Heaven is real, it is now, and it changes everything.
Such is the heartbeat of his debut EP from sixstepsrecords, aptly titled, Heaven. In seven songs, he invites us to hear the hope that has pulled him through darkness into the blinding light of an eternal promise. It’s a hope that is poignant, compelling and, to say the least, hard-won.
In 2013, his two-and-a-half year old son, Britain, was diagnosed with liver cancer. Within a few short months, Britain went to heaven.
“I was heartbroken and full of grief, but it never felt like God was distant or far off. It seemed like He was in the room with me throughout all of it.” Jimi recalls.
Even today, as he remembers moments in the hospital spent praying for healing, he also recalls moments of worship, windows of beauty and inspired creativity. In the midst of one of the most searing types of loss a person can experience, God was continuing to cultivate the talents He had instilled within Jimi his entire life. It was an unexpected season of inspiration, manifest in songs that would eventually make their way onto the Heaven EP. Jimi was keenly aware of God’s hand upon his heart and the work of beauty He was already crafting from the ashes.
In his early twenties, he signed his first publishing deal, with Bu Vision/Universal Music Publishing Group. Soon thereafter, his music made its way into the hands of artists like Ludacris and Usher. It was when he created his own project, a self-titled EP, that he began to solidify his own identity as an artist. The EP was followed by a second project after catching the attention of several music industry heavy-hitters, including acclaimed producer, Sham, whose credits include Rihanna, Kanye West and JayZ, among others.
Cravity had found a home at Passion City Church in Atlanta, pastored by Louie and Shelley Giglio. Inspired by their leadership, he served on the production team — hauling gear, cables and equipment — with no mention of his songwriting abilities or artist career. Eventually he began to lead worship there and has since been featured at Passion Conferences, the annual student gatherings led by Louie and Shelley Giglio. Jimi’s single, “Surrender,” made its way onto Passion’s 2016 worship album, Salvation’s Tide is Rising. In time, he was signed to Capitol Christian Music Group joint venture label sixstepsrecords, joining label mates Crowder, Matt Redman, and Passion.
Jimi, along with producer Sham, began working on songs — pushing, molding and challenging them to take on a form accessible and attractive to everyone—believers and non-believers.
Jimi’s worship-oriented writing set on different musical pallets was the guiding design in creating music to connect with a broad scope of people. Track after track, the project takes familiar ideas — surrender, belief, worship — and turns them into morsels of pop-rock that doesn’t allow the listener to walkaway unaffected.
The songs not only pull the listener in sonically; they make listeners ask questions… to examine their own understanding of suffering and grace.
Heaven is real. Heaven is now. Heaven changes everything.