He was recently ordained, but William Becton has been ministering long before his 1998 papers made it official. You can't miss it in his music. Sometimes it's his his trademark gravel-voiced agreement spoken over a sung line. Other times it's simply by the way the DC-based writer/producer chooses to sculpt the song.

On B2K: Prophetic Songs of Promise, Becton's ministry continues. And he's quick to offer that the zingy acronym prefacing this third project didn't come from him. 'B2K' —that's the record company's perspective of the music. 'Prophetic Songs of Promise' —that's what the Holy Spirit spoke to me."

By that title, you can quickly see where this project is going. "[This project contains] prophetic songs, in that they are based on what God spoke to me directly and through his word. 'Promise' means there is a reward for walking in the principles that God has preordained for us all. So, if you put those two together, you have what God spoke prophetically and he has also added a promise for fulfilling that. So this whole record is about the fulfilling of promises."

The CGI/Platinum headliner explains that he came to a point in his ministry where he only wanted to sing or talk about one thing: "Nothing but how God views my life", he states. He goes on to explain: "It's easy to attach different slogans or perspectives on our lives that people say, that really are subtle tricks of the devil. Stuff like 'you'll never amount to anything', or 'bad luck always happens to me'. So I said to myself, I'm going to avoid that whole philosphy, and I'm going to speak on my life what God says. God says I'm the head and not the tail. God says that I'm above and not beneath. God says that no good thing will I withhold to those who walk uprightly before me. So, I chose to write about those things. I chose to write about the fact that though I go through challenges in my life, that God is bigger than any situation that I have ever faced.

It's hard to preach what you don't know, and it's apparent from the force and the sincerity of his words that Becton speaks from personal experience. In 1998, his sophomore project, Heart of A Love Song failed to meet the hype and expectation that fanfared it's arrival onto the market. But Becton does not buy into the position that the project was lacking. He sees that event in God's light, and doesn't view it as disappointment.

"The marketing of it did not do very well from the record company's perspective, but as an artist, the only thing you can do is write and produce what you hear the Holy Ghost saying. That project was actually recorded about 3 months after we released the Broken project. We went into a year and a half of legal confrontation with the label that slowed the actually birth of the project. In no way, shape or fashion am I dissapointed with that project. Those were some of the phattest songs that I have ever written....songs like "Show Me How To Love Again" and the remake of "God Changes". It's some of the best material I've written for that season in time."

William Becton On Where It All Began:

"Ministering is my lifestyle since I've been saved. I was born and raised in the church, but I wasn't walking with God." "But I got saved in my senior year in high school, where I got really serious about walking upright before the Lord. At that point in time, God revealed gifts and talents." "I went through a period of cultivation where I had to grow and develop, and as I did that, the Lord began to reveal the gift of song, and the music that he put in me, as well as the spoken word gift."

There's a lesson to be learned in all that, and Becton offers some serious advice to young artists. "Promotion doesn't come from the east and west. It comes from God. If you are earnest, and if you believe very much that the vision that God has given you is for the masses, you entrust it to his hand. I had to learn that as an artist. I signed a contract, and I gave someone else the authority to move on behalf of my vision. So I had to honor what I signed on paper. I also had to commit [the vision] to God to make any changes He needed to make."

With record label complexities now behind him, William Becton speaks honestly and optimistically about his current relationship with CGI/Platinum. "I've come to a place with my record company where I'm actually being heard and understood. We have a wonderful staff in place right now at CGI. They are open and understanding to listen to what the vision is, and helping to make [that vision] become reality. Every artist isn't blessed with that. I thank God because I feel good about writing songs and turning over a project to them, because now I feel that the right thing will be done with my music.....and that's nothing but an answer to prayer from God.

On his new album, Becton continues to take a definite urban stance (see album review), and combines with a prominent name from one of R&B's most respected groups. Ali Woodson contributes his formidible pipes on two songs, and as the former lead singer for The Temptations, he brings some considerable experience to the table. It's obvious from listening that Woodson and Becton build on each other's strengths in studio. So, how did this collaboration come about?

"We were doing a program in Los Angeles back in September 1999 —a date that I didn't really want to do (because the Redskins were playing the Cowboys on national TV!) Nevertheless, I was being obedient, and I did this thing out in LA, and that's where I met Ali. I've been a longtime fan of his music, I've been following him on Bishop TD Jakes' [programs]. Someone introduced him to me and he said, 'Hey man, I want to work with you.' I said, 'C'mon man, I want to work with you.' So he came out to DC two weeks later and we recorded some tracks. Ali's a tremendous vocalist, a well seasoned veteran, and he's a pleasure to work with in the studio."

With Woodson contributing, and with the no-doubt vibe and beat of today's urban sounds, B2K: Prophetic Songs of Promise may just generate the same crossover appeal that made Broken such a runaway chart smash. It's obvious that Becton is very much in tune with current musical trends. He makes no apologies for that.

"As a producer, I'm very up on who's the top rapper [for example]. I may not agree what they rap about, but I'm very much in tune what the current sound is for today. Some of those same people who listen to [R&B artists] come to William Becton and Friends concerts, and listen to our music. [In addition to the Word and preaching], I listen to every form of music you can imagine. I don't advise that for everyone, because it may not be for everyone. But I'm a musician and a scholar. You can't really create music for this idiom, in this time —that's going to be current— if you don't know what people are listening to."

As a producer, it's a given that Becton isn't simply interested in producing his own material. He's actively involved in working with other artists as well. He puts a particular emphasis on his approach.

"Most producers, even in the urban sector, have a tendency to give an artist the sound that they have as a producer. But I think the quest of a true producer is to develop the sound of the artist, and to develop their individuality. When I work with an artist, I find out what they do, and what they do well. My job is to accentuate what they do well, and to take the focus off of what they don't do real well. When I'm doing a record, I want to find out 'what is it that is unique to this artist?'. Is this artist an aggressive singer, do they have a lot of power, etc....and then we develop a style around that. And if we're going to be working together long term, then we work on ways that they can strengthen some of their weaknesses. I do that with every artist I produce, even my own singers. My singers have been with me for a long period of time, and I've taught them how to dissect other singers' work, to take the good and to acquire that good for their own thing.

Becton is just finishing production for a new project from Kim Stratton. "On that project, MC Hammer appears, and also Tia and Tamera and Montell Jordan. I also just finished recording a choir project, a live recording in Greenville, NC, which will be called Broken 2. It will be very similar to the first Broken project on CGI. The name of the choir is called Judah, a choir I started out of DC. It features Kim Rutherford, Kim Stratton, Erick Matthews and Brent Jones.

Becton on the ABC Rejoice Radio Network

William Becton handles announcing duties for the evening shift of “Rejoice Musical Soul Food” on the ABC Rejoice Radio Network. Debuting in June 1999, the Gospel network reaches 18 markets, including Memphis, Columbus, Cleveland, San Francisco, Birmingham and Little Rock. The focus of the programming is multi-faceted, with hit rotations spanning traditional and contemporary Gospel. Rejoice Musical Soul Food also features Lin. Woods with a bi-weekly Gospel news and entertainment report, and A.C. Green with a weekly interview segment with Christian athletes. Program Director Willie Mae McIver also holds down the midday announcing slot. Willie Mae McIver can also be heard as internet radio host for Rhythm ‘N Prayze (see interview).

With all that studio work, his new album, plus his continuing responsibilities as evening Gospel radio announcer on network radio (see sidebar), it's an obvious question as to how he keeps it all in line. It might be easy to concede that committment to active church involvement might suffer. Becton will have none of that, however.

"I'm very committed to my local fellowship [Liberty Temple AME Zion, pastor Charles Phillips]. It's most important for any Gospel artist to be submitted to somebody. Someone has to be able to speak into your life, and you have to be able to submit to someone in order to lead other people. There are a lot of Gospel artists who sing and preach and go out onto the road, and then come home, and don't belong to a local fellowship. I don't understand how that can be. My pastor knows where I go and knows everything that goes on. He speaks into my life. Sometimes he says things that I don't necessarily like, but I bounce it by the word of God, and under his leadership, the Lord has done tremendous things.

With all his involvements, William Becton boils it down to one simple premise. "I am simply walking through the doors that God has opened...I'm looking for God to bring the increase. This is His thing. God's plan."