This edition of Bay Area Beats aired in the August 17, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.
Music was always part of Natia Woodfork's life. Growing up in San Jose, music became the language her family spoke. She started writing poetry as a kid and eventually pursued rap.
But addiction and abusive relationships nearly took music away from her. Today, she performs as LT Finesse, creating Christian rap she calls ‘Kingdom music.’ In this edition of Bay Area Beats, LT shares how faith helped her find both her voice and her purpose.
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Story Transcript:
Sound of opening prayer (rapid delivery): “Father God, I come before you and I ask you to forgive us for all of our sins. I ask that you have your hands all over this interview... that this interview would reach the ears it was meant to reach.”
LT FINESSE: My name is Natia Woodfork. I go by LT Finesse, and I am from San Jose, California, and I am a Christian rapper who pushes Kingdom music.
Sound of song “Heard what you heard” fading in.
LT FINESSE: Music played in my household. Was really, really big. It's how my family really communicated. There wasn’t really a lot of talking, communication, but when it came to music, that was our language.
My mom would have these groups of kids come over to the house. She used to call it “The Voices of Christ,” and she literally had all of us singing. And it wasn’t just us. She even had the neighborhood singing. I was always in my room writing poetry. Everything was poetry to me.
When I was 23, I believed in myself. I did rap cyphers and open mic nights wherever I could. My name was starting to ring bells.
Sound of song “Trauma Instrumental” fading under.
LT FINESSE: I started taking rap serious when I was on the street. It was kind of an escape for me because, when I was in the booth, I didn’t have to think about none of that, you know? And I was so focused in that. It was something that I could lean on when I couldn’t lean on anybody else.
The time of my life when I was the lowest was when I was in the street. I’m telling you, it was the craziest six years of my life: being strung out, being in relationships I shouldn’t have been in, being on drugs, selling drugs, just being somewhere I shouldn’t have been to begin with, but was stuck in it.
Sound of song “Trauma Instrumental” fading up.
LT FINESSE: I was living under the Guadalupe Trail in San Jose, under a bridge, living in a tent, being in and out of relationships – abusive relationships – in and out of hospitals, selling crystal meth and shooting it up my arm. That's my rock bottom.
Sound of song “Lost In The Fire” fading in.
LT FINESSE: I was making music. I never stopped making music until my boyfriend at the time never liked me doing music because he didn't want me to shine to the point where he would find every rap book that I ever had and put it in a grill and light it on fire, like he was doing a barbecue. And when I could find music, he was destroying it. He took my soul away from me when he took my music away from me. I didn't even know who I was.
Sound of song “I was lost in that fire... I couldn't breathe.”
LT FINESSE: So when I was out there, every once in a while my mama would come try to find me. My mama would literally go under bridges looking for me.
She'd check my arms to make sure I didn’t have any track marks. I would have to cover them up with makeup because I was still ashamed. She would bring me clothes. She would take me in. She would try to feed me, you know? So my mama, she did show up.
After my rap books were destroyed, it took me almost a year or so to find music again. And this is the time my mama made me go to church with her. She made me do a song. I didn’t have any material. I didn’t have nothing. She told me to go on stage, so I got up there and I grabbed the mic. I kid you not, that moment, all of the lights went out.
Everything went out.
It was like God was standing right there putting His arm around me. I cried. I wept. And my mouth opened. I don't even remember the words because they were not my own.
Sound of recording from church performance.
LT FINESSE: It was just God through that mic.
Dude, I wanna cry now because that moment was just so powerful. By the time I was done, I opened my eyes and everybody else was crying too. And that's the transition that happened for me to becoming a Christian rap artist.
Christian rap is testimonial for me, because when you get out of your storm, you're able to help somebody else get out of that same storm.
As soon as I got clean was the moment I met my husband. Like God was rewarding me for doing what I was supposed to do. The thing I love about my husband is his love of music. It's equal to mine and that is beautiful. My love language is music. To have somebody that sings to my soul is amazing.
I have a new single out. It's called “Walking Away.”
Sound of song “Walking away.”
LT FINESSE: (rapping a capella) “Yo, I'm talking about walking away,I've been walking all night and all day.”
The hook even says, “This is my fight back to music, show me the way.”
None of my music was written by me. All my music is written to God, bro.
Do you understand what it feels like to have a download from God? To hear God rapping in your ear? God is the most dopest rap star I ever heard in my life. He raps in my ear, and it comes out my pen into my pad. And it’s so healing. You can feel it when you listen to my music.
I always say my music has a heartbeat. If somebody’s listening to my songs, I want them to know that it’s gonna be okay, that they’re not alone. I want them to know that it’s okay to ask for help, that you can literally get on your knees and pray and watch God do something different.
Sound of song “Walking away” building.
