Rollin' with the Holy

He takes a deep breath and continues, recounting one such incident when God showed him who's boss. "I have a million-dollar deal on the table and I'm about to close ... and it don't close. God is saying, 'That wasn't for you.'" Ted raises his voice. "I'm like, 'What you mean? What are you talking about that wasn't for me?'" He stands up, raising his arms in the air for emphasis. "'We right here to close and it's ready to get done. I'm getting ready to make a million dollars! What are you talking about?'" He sits back down. "Man! I used to get upset. I felt like I had the power. But if God don't want it to happen, it is not going to happen. I had to learn that the hard way. But I learned it, you know?"

Miami rap stars Trick Daddy, Trina, and Rick Ross are all part of the Slip-N-Slide family, and they all have new albums coming out soon. Their songs glorify the thug life: expensive cars and jewelry, drug dealing, AK-47s, and lots of sex. But Ted has a response to that.

"A lot of Slip-N-Slide artists don't believe in Jesus. I don't beat it across their head. But I feed them Jesus at all times," he insists. "When Rick Ross or Plies says, 'Ted, let's pray,' they know I don't care what time you call and say let's pray. They have all started charity foundations, giving back to their communities, doing something positive in the neighborhood where they came from. People don't understand. Once you surrender, and God know your heart, He opens up doors for you that you would never even imagine. No other rap label is doing better than Slip-N-Slide."

A man steps into the office to discuss some legal matters, and they talk quietly as I duck out. When I return, Ted resumes by asking, "You thought we were gonna be some gangstas with guns, smoking blunts, huh? Let me tell you something. I don't need no security, no bodyguards, none of that. This business is covered, I'm covered, and this place is covered. I wake up at 5:00 every morning with my wife. We pray — before the sun rises, before I get distracted, before I get to work ... just to start my day off."

Born in 1973 in Miami and raised here, Ted is optimistic about the future of the city's hip-hop. "Miami is headed in the right direction. Every day it gets better and better: with DJ Khaled, [producers] Cool & Dre, Rick Ross, [fellow local label] Poe Boy, [and] all these different labels. One problem is that you got Miami and South Beach. It's like two different sides.

"Not to dis a place like ATL; there's a lot of things goin' on in Atlanta, but it don't have no ground behind it. It's just come and go right quick — one-hit wonder songs, and they be gone. In Miami we've really built a strong foundation behind it, so it sticks. In Atlanta you don't know who's rappin' this week. It's just a hot record, know what I'm sayin'? Down here we got a great foundation."

But what about the dichotomy between his religious beliefs and some of the content of the records his company puts out? Again, Ted doesn't sweat it. "I tell everybody how I serve the Lord. Some people be ashamed or be scared. They don't want nobody to know because they have an image to live up to," Ted says. "They be like, 'How you gonna do that rap music and talk about how you go to church?' When I first started, I wasn't where I'm at today. I still was makin' some sins. I didn't know how I would stop certain things. But one day that blunt ain't gonna taste good no more."

His phones are ringing like crazy, and it seems that, two hours on, our time is up. "I gotta go to my son's baseball game. You ready to pray?" He stands up and holds out his hands. I take them. "All you gotta do is accept Jesus Christ. And once you accept, He can do the rest. Now your life doesn't get easier. It gets harder — because the Devil is upset now. You gotta ignore the Devil and tell him to flee in the name of Jesus." We hold hands in the center of his office as Ted prays. Letting go, I thank him for his time. He bellows, "Don't thank me. Thank God!"