Rising Stars: Meet Rob Nor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Nor.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
My life has a mantra: A giver of glory and teller of stories. Today I am an artist and Juvenile Justice Minister navigating the intersection of faith, art, and social justice. 

Unfortunately, my story starts with circumstances one might assume of an inner-city Puerto Rican, Black, and white mixed baby. My father wasn’t around to raise me and my sister, leaving my mother to do it herself. Being the firstborn and being a boy without a father, I quickly began to long for identity. I had nobody present to model my life after. What is a man? Coincidentally, the neighborhood that we grew up in, in Cleveland, Clark-Fulton, reflected my diverse ethnic makeup, but this made things more complicated. I’m too Puerto Rican for Black folks, too Black for Puerto Rican folks, and skin too melanated to identify as any form of white. Who am I? Even more, who ought I to be? 

As young as I can remember, I always had an artistic outlet in my life. From kindergarten to about 4th grade, that was through drawing. It wasn’t until I was 12 that a friend of mine introduced me to rapping. In retrospect, up to this point, the people who I admired and wanted to be like were rappers. Once I discovered that I had a love for stringing words together in a unique way, I felt empowered. I now have a tangible way to become who I believe I was made to be. The applause of my peers made me, and the rejection of anyone would break me. I took the identity of a performer to the heart. After graduating high school, I went to my local community college and studied under their recording arts program to take my dream of being an artist to the next level. To the point that I made a personal goal for myself that once my baby sister was a senior in high school, I should be signed to some major label and tour the world. Then I fell in love. 

One important detail I haven’t mentioned is that the crucial constant in my story that defines where I am now is the presence of God in my life. My mother raised my sister and I in the local church. In a lot of ways, the local church helped raise us. After every suspension I got from school, I was taken to the church to talk with the youth pastor. He would give me his food, and I would give him blank stares in return. It was through these conversations and tiny acts of love that little by little the person, mission, and love of Jesus became known to me. 

While a student in community college chasing my artistic dream, I met a girl who absorbed all of me and vice versa. After six months of knowing each other, we got pregnant. Pregnancy through 2019/2020, having our son during the height of the pandemic, on top of it all being 19, led us both to the darkest years of our life. The dissonance of knowing about Jesus in my head yet my heart being as far as it could be from him, equaled the death of my artistic dreams and any sense of hope. I can say a whole lot about this time in my life, but I will summarize it in this way: the death I was experiencing in my ideal sense of how my life should turn out led me to know a life in Christ that is more vibrant, compelling, and satisfying than anything my heart can manufacture. This hidden, abundant life is completely other. 

As the dust settled, the mother of my son and I got married, and I started to pick the pen back up, but what came out of me was different than in years past. A particular passion, perspective, and drive are thick in the air of the art I create now. A literal new sound has been forged in me through the crucible of those years. For a couple of years, I kept looking for a break that would afford me the opportunity to do music full-time, yet again a door I never expected to open opened. In February of 2023, I was offered a position to be a Juvenile Justice Minister through an organization called Youth for Christ. I said yes to this opportunity and since then I have grown a passion for communicating the Gospel in creative and concise ways to young men and women whom society marginalizes, extorts, and forgets. I am currently in the works of developing a music recording program in one of the state facilities we serve to engage the talented and hungry youth on the inside. 

Today, I have a passion for storytelling, creative arts, and theology being used as a vehicle to see communities wholistically restored by the Gospel of Jesus. I am humbled and privileged to do the work I do, and I am aware that my story is not done being written. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the biggest struggles I run into is the overwhelming feeling of being underqualified and unequipped to do what I do. A way that I fight this sense is through education. I recognized that If I have been put in a position to serve these youth, I have a responsibility to know the who, what, why, and how to best serve these youth. The seminary education I am receiving now along with podcasts, articles, and the like have been essential in overcoming this burden of imposter syndrome! 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m finding that I specialize in building a bridge between creative arts, the Christian faith, and social advocacy. I first recognized this back in 2019 when an elementary school in the neighborhood my family and I are from was having 4-6th graders analyze one of my songs as their introduction to poetry. At the end of their study, they brought me into rap for the kids and answer questions about myself and the art of rap. To witness kids feel seen, heard, valued, and inspired by somebody from the same place as them is at the heart of what I do. Through art, we can discover our own narratives and have an opportunity to rewrite the narratives set up and implied for us to live. The Gospel message of the Christian faith transforms the individual, which transforms the family, which transforms communities to live in a way that consequently opposes the systemic injustices faced by the marginalized and invisible people of the world. This three-cord bond has the ingredients to spark a revolution. 

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Man, so many people/places have played a role in my journey that I am forever grateful for. The list would be never-ending. I’ll narrow it down to three: 

My mom: She has always invested herself in any way she could to make sure I had all I needed to do what I was passionate about. From finding me a studio to record at when I was 14 to making sure we got gas money when times are tough. She is quite literally my #1 supporter. 

My wife: My working in the Juvenile Justice system is all due to her discernment. I was leaving one ministry job and thought I would be transitioning into other work. When this opportunity came, she practically immediately agreed that I should accept the offer. She knows me better than anyone and isn’t impressed with me, which is the healthiest thing for someone who can eat up the praise of people. She loves me through and through, which keeps me grounded. 

New Bridge Academy: This was an afterschool organization that served the high school-aged youth in Cleveland with artistic formation and opportunities to take our passions and turn them into careers. From taking a bunch of kids from the hood to Yellowstone National Park to exposing us to internships at local venues in the city, to Marz taking me under his wing and believing in me enough to get me local shows, make me beats, and record me all for free, New Bridge broadened my horizons in unparalleled ways that I am better for today. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yfccleveland.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromrobnor/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FromRobNor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDza5SGABNpjUrynaPqMkUQ
• Other: If you would like to be a financial supporter of the work I am doing in the Juvenile Justice System, Follow this link: https://forms.ministryforms.net/embed.aspx?formId=3c503f57-bda6-4813-b03e-d56a1086e761&custom-templates