By Joshua Abraham
When he first entered Judson University in the fall of 2021, Josh Abraham did not think he was going to become a Christian artist during his college experience.
This is how his initial gateway into artistry took place.
“Thanks to my youth group at CityLine Bible Church, formerly, Harvest Bible Chapel, I was introduced to the group 116 from the record label of Reach Records during my early junior high and high school years. The genre of Christian rap felt different than the worship I was used to at the time. The artists who were big then made songs that were meant for the youth, and it felt inspirational and upbeat.
My youth pastor, Clayton, was on staff at my church between 2016-2019. Those years really changed how I viewed Christian hip-hop, due to the fact that he was a rapper himself. In the fall of 2018, I felt the call to nickname myself “Lil Joshie” and did a small performance at my youth group. I rapped along to a song by the artist Andy Mineo. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. That entire school year, I thought it was just going to catch on as a youth group thing and become a joke that would vaporize, but that didn’t end up being the case.
In 2019, Clayton announced he was leaving our church. In the coming weeks, I felt the urge to put together a song for him. I wanted to perform it on stage at our youth group on his last day of serving as our youth pastor. This unexpected opportunity paved the way for the idea of becoming a recording artist.”
It wasn’t until August 2022 that Josh felt the inspiration to write a song. This is when inspiration arose for his debut single, Clocking In.
“I was sitting in my dorm at Lindner Tower one day when I felt a call to compose a song. I drew inspiration from other Christian artists I knew at the time, found a beat, and put the lyrics together. During that fall semester of 2022, I felt the rush of God working miraculously as He brought new friends and peers into my life, especially as I dealt with losing a parent towards the end of 2022. By the spring of 2023, I revisited the song idea I had back in August and actually sought out recording it. I felt that God was calling me to share my story through music, especially after the events of the fall.
I met with an Australian student named Hugo in February who happened to be working on music in Dark Room Studio A. I brought up the idea of recording my song, and he helped me with it the very next day. I remember feeling so humbled and grateful during my first recording session. By the end of the spring, the song was finalized thanks to the help of Hugo and Tim May. I officially released Clocking In under the name “Lil Joshie” in May of 2023 and filmed a music video for it with help from a friend.”
Josh has now been a streaming recording artist for two years thanks to the support of his family and friends, and he has a second single streaming on all platforms. He also went through an artist name-change last fall.
“I was in my dorm in Volkman one day in late September/early October, and I felt called to change my artist name from “Lil Joshie” to something more mature and personal. I wanted to combine the nickname that people from my church and Judson have used for 5+ years (“Joshie”) and make it stand out more. I also wanted a name that would portray me as a “Christian rap artist,” while also helping people understand that I was a person with a story they could relate to. I used this as a stage name at Judson’s Got Talent in 2024 to introduce my act. I finally came up with “JoshieA” and re-released my debut single under that name on my birthday in October 2024.
During the same season, I connected with Joshua Gonnam, known as “Double J” around campus, and we worked on a song. We recorded it within the span of 48 hours in Dark Room Studio B with help from students Noah McKay, who produced it, and Grayson Herzberger who helped with lyrics and additional components. Thus, “Holy Spirit Spark” was born, and a release party took place to celebrate its successful release in November. I marketed the song through reels on social media as well as some YouTube videos. I’ve also rebranded everything to “JoshieA” on all my social media and have separate artist accounts and pages on Instagram, Snapchat, X, and Facebook. I’m also a content creator on YouTube and have been for 10+ years. I’m growing my channel as I discover more of my artistry.”
JoshieA has plans to release more music in 2025, and he has goals to compose an EP or album within the next few years.
You can follow him and his music and content at this link: https://linktr.ee/JoshieA
The Judson Mosaic 