Turn Inside
TURN INSIDE:
This song comes from Alma 5 with Alma's spirituality questionnaire. He ask, "have ye been spiritually born of God?" and many other questions intended to awaken the hearts of the Nephite people. I wanted to capture all of these questions, and the only way to fit them all into the song is to make the lyrics fast. What better way to get quick lyrics other than rap? I decided that Alma's persona in this project is a very in-your-face kind of rapper.
I wanted every prophet/character of the Book of Mormon to have a unique sound, so instead of patterning this song after Eminem, I chose his rival, NF. This works with my idea that music style is influenced by others over time. This Alma is the son of Alma, known as Alma the Younger. His father was the wicked priest of king Noah who was influenced by Abinadi.
Alma the Younger also rebelled against God in his youth. He and his band of friends attempted to destroy the church. Answering the pleadings of his father, Alma and all of the righteous Nephite people, God sent an angel to stop Alma and his friends. From this spiritual manifestation Alma and his friends (the sons of king Mosiah) were converted (similar to Saul of Tarsus in the New Testament) and became some of the most powerful missionaries recorded among the Nephites and Lamanites.
While the sons of Mosiah went to the land of the Lamanites, Alma was voted by the people to be the first judge at the end of king Mosiah's reign (Mosiah created a new system of government that was controlled by the voice of the people as series of judges and Alma became the high judge). Eventually, Alma left his position as leader of the Nephite people and focused solely on the ministry. This is one of the first recorded sermons of Alma found in the Book of Mormon.
