A royal child with a microphone
The story of MCLA
From Bullied Child to Christian Rapper
Lennart Tomassen is 28 years old, born and raised in Harderwijk, and at first glance, someone who’s taken on quite a lot. He’s a religion teacher at Groevenbeek, where he teaches the freshman classes and the second-year classes of the HAVO and Atheneum tracks. In addition, he’s involved with the Strong Life Foundation, an organization that helps young people put their faith into practice and apply lessons from the Bible to their own lives. This is done through podcasts, videos, and programs, among other things. And as if that weren’t enough, there’s his other great passion: Christian rap music, which he releases under the stage name MCLA.
From samples to lyrics
Lennart doesn’t play an instrument himself. “I’ve always admired that, but it’s not my thing. For me, it’s really all about writing the lyrics.” The music itself is produced by two friends who have their own studio. They play him all kinds of musical snippets—samples—and if there’s something that energizes Lennart, they run with it.
The writing process almost always starts with the music, not the lyrics. “We listen to a number of samples, and at some point I feel: this resonates with me. Then I start digging deeper. What do I feel when I hear this? Does it make me happy, or is it actually very serious? What emotions lie beneath it? Based on that, I determine the theme.” First, he works out the chorus—the core of the track—and from there, the rest of the lyrics grow.
In addition to emotion, faith also plays a major role in the studio. Sometimes they pray before a session, and when a song is finished, a prayer of thanks follows. “Through the emotion, and with God’s guidance.”
For Lennart, collaborating with his friends is indispensable, even though the final decision rests with him. “It’s under my name, I pay them for their services, and they’re properly credited on Spotify. But I regularly get feedback, especially about the rhythm: sometimes it needs to be just a little tighter on the beat.” With live music, there’s simply more room for variation than in rap, where the cadence has to be spot-on.
The name MCLA
If you search for Lennart on Spotify, you won’t find him under his own name, but as MCLA. The abbreviation MC stands for Master of Ceremony, or Mic Controller: the person in hip-hop culture who holds the microphone and sets the mood. LA simply refers to his baptismal names: Lennart Aaron.
That name came about when Lennart, at age seventeen, had written his first song, “Genade,” and performed it during a youth service at his church. The service leader jokingly introduced him as MC Lenny. Later, Lennart’s father came up with the idea to change it to MCLA. “In hindsight, it wasn’t exactly smart for a Dutch rapper to choose an English-sounding name,” Lennart laughs, “because I have absolutely no desire to rap in English.”
That first song, written to a beat he borrowed from YouTube, was a huge hit. The reactions from friends, church members, and people of all ages were overwhelmingly positive. “Everyone said, ‘You really need to do more with this.’ When you’re seventeen and you get that validation for something you’ve loved your whole life, it really affects you. That’s when I knew: I have to keep going with this.”
Two worlds
Around the age of nine, Lennart became fascinated by hip-hop after hearing a song by Ali B. At fourteen, he felt the tension between two worlds for the first time: hip-hop on one side, his faith on the other. “They didn’t always mesh. For a very long time, I kept the two strictly separate. ‘It’s just music,’ I’d tell myself, ‘it doesn’t mean anything.’”
These days, he listens to a lot less hip-hop than he used to, and certainly no Dutch secular rap at all. “I have, however, always remained fascinated by the art of words: the rawness, the comparisons, the wordplay. The way rappers try to outdo each other with creative language in rap battles—I still find that wonderful.”
Around the age of seventeen, something fundamental changed. Lennart began taking a Youth Alpha course, after a whole new world had already opened up to him during his first visit to the Opwekking conference. “I discovered that faith isn’t an obligation, but a relationship with God. It all clicked during the Alpha course, and I’ve been teaching those courses myself ever since.” Gradually, his focus shifted: less secular music, more of a desire to build God’s kingdom. That shift was also reflected in his choice of major.
A sign from God
After high school, Lennart began a degree program in Social Work—a step that turned out to be too big at the time. “Cognitively, I could handle it just fine, but the cultural difference and the sudden responsibility for my own studies were the deciding factors.” He then spent a year in a vocational program in Social Work—which was fun, but it didn’t feel like his ultimate calling.
Meanwhile, his desire to study theology grew. His parents advised him to finish one program first before switching again, but Lennart was determined: he wanted to make the switch to Religious and Pastoral Work. To gain absolute certainty, he asked God for a sign.
“I prayed: I want to be encouraged in some way this coming Sunday at church—a clear confirmation that I should make this choice.” That Sunday, the sermon was about Jonathan, the son of Saul, who, together with his armor-bearer, attacked a Philistine outpost, after which God caused confusion in the enemy camp. The core of the message? Taking that first step with complete trust in God. “That sermon hit me like a bomb. I thought: I’m just going to take this step, and I trust that God will turn it into something wonderful.”
He would later need that confirmation more than ever. During an internship in Suriname, he had to rush back after just three weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which set his studies back by half a year. “In the moments when I was really at my wit’s end, I thought back to that sermon. God spoke through this. I’m going to see this through; this is His plan.”
Anne Martine
Last year, Lennart married Anne Martine, whom he’s known since 2021. They both grew up within the PKN, but while Lennart was more drawn to evangelical events, she had a Reformed background with some Reformed influences; she attended a Reformed elementary school and studied at Driestar in Gouda. She is originally from Alblasserdam.
“When it comes to faith, we’re completely on the same page,” says Lennart. “She’s always been open to other churches and congregations and sees them all as places where God is at work.” For the past few weeks, they’ve been official members of the Christengemeente Sefanja in Harderwijk.
In daily life, Anne Martine is above all his source of calm. “She’s my rock. Whatever I do—making music, performing—it doesn’t matter to her. She thinks it’s great for me and is super proud, but she really doesn’t need to be in the spotlight herself. While I can sometimes talk nonstop about who I’ve met or what I’ve experienced, she prefers to stay in the background. She supports me through thick and thin, without needing to step into the spotlight herself.”
Bullied, yet a ‘Koningskind’
A more emotional topic is Lennart’s history of bullying. That period ultimately led him to write the album Koningskind, which is entirely centered on identity. The closing track, “God’s Plan,” tells the story of those elementary school days and the scars they left behind. “Something inside me still occasionally slips back into the patterns I learned back then,” he explains. “I wouldn’t really call it suffering—it also shaped me. But in large groups, you’re more likely to find me in the background.”
In elementary school, Lennart was a diligent student: he always knew the answers and raised his hand immediately, which caused resentment among his classmates. “For them, it was like, ‘There he goes again.’ Looking back, I realize that bullies are sometimes victims themselves, or simply misunderstood.” Even now, he finds that in large groups he has to consciously take a step back to remind himself of his foundation: “I am a child of the King.”
That realization—letting what God says about you sink in deeply—is the central theme of the album. “And that journey is far from over; I’m only 28. The album marked the end of a specific phase: the search I went through as a teenager regarding self-worth, self-confidence, and trust. But that dynamic continues throughout one’s entire life.”
The door locked
Another track on the album is called “The Door Locked,” about how you can unconsciously keep doors closed to new steps that God is pointing you toward. As a concrete example, he mentions gaming: a hobby he loves, but one in which he used to get too carried away with shooting games. “At some point, I realized that God was showing me it was better to stop doing that. These days, I’d rather play a racing game or a round of FIFA.”
He also recognizes that mechanism in his work as a teacher. If a student’s comment touches him personally, he can sometimes shut down for a moment. “That’s directly related to my history of being bullied; after all, I’m now teaching at the very school I used to attend as a student. A comment can be a trigger. Fortunately, I’m aware of that. It gets to you, and then you have to process it for a moment.” He no longer sees this as a weakness, but as a sign of personal growth.
Applause for the King
Within the Christian music world, there are artists who enjoy true star status and draw large crowds of fans. How does Lennart maintain his own humility when he stands before hundreds or thousands of young people, such as at Opwekking events?
“It gives me a huge adrenaline rush, but it’s also nerve-wracking. I think my past as a bully—as paradoxical as that sounds—helps me keep both feet on the ground. My upbringing also plays a big role in that: at home, there was always the down-to-earth rule that you just had to act normal.” That’s why he’ll never ask for applause for himself during performances. “We cheer for God; we clap for Jesus. I always end my sets with, ‘Let’s make some noise for King Jesus!’ That way, I send the glory straight back up to heaven. I do this for His kingdom, and that’s more than enough. I don’t need any applause for that myself.”
Grace as a gift
The title of Lennart’s very first song, “Grace,” might seem a bit heavy at first glance for a seventeen-year-old. At the time, the theme stemmed directly from the youth service for which it was written. When asked what grace really means to him, he replies: “Grace is that I receive from God what I absolutely do not deserve, and that I do not receive what I actually do deserve. It’s a gift that’s ready and waiting for everyone, but you have to unwrap it and accept it yourself.” And what’s inside that package? “The deep certainty that you are a child of the King. The confidence that God is always there, and that absolutely nothing can separate you from His love.”
Christian music with a secular twist
Does Christian music always have to be explicitly evangelistic? Lennart takes a nuanced view on this. “In my opinion, a Christian artist doesn’t necessarily have to drop die-hard Christian lyrics. There are plenty of artists in the scene who are Christian and occasionally slip a subtle reference to God into their tracks, without making it overly obvious in the chorus. That’s music made from a Christian heart and with Christian values, but packaged in a secular style.”
According to him, the trick is to maintain that balance: making music that also appeals to a non-religious audience, without watering down the essence of your message. “I just want to make cool tracks that young people love to listen to in their earbuds while biking to school in the morning.” In doing so, he steers clear of forced ‘occasional music.’ “If a pastor thinks, ‘Let me try to be cool for the kids and start rapping,’ you can tell right away that it’s half-hearted. The idea is well-intentioned, but it just doesn’t come across at all.”
In the classroom, with respect for differences
Lennart finds teaching—despite the energy it takes—a fantastic thing to do. “No two days are the same; the dynamics are different in every lesson.” At a Christian school with a very diverse student body—including a group of young people from Muslim backgrounds—he consciously seeks dialogue. “They know full well that I’m a Christian—after all, I walk around the school in Christian attire. But I fully respect their background. I’ll never tell a student they’re wrong; I explain my own perspective and simply ask for their own views.”
A small gesture, such as a token of appreciation during Ramadan—a bag of candy that students can take home to eat after sunset—characterizes his approach. He also doesn’t shy away from challenging theological discussions, such as one with a student who was struggling with the concept of the Trinity. “You’re simply trying to sow seeds. That’s the beauty of this work: between classes, you get to plant a seed every now and then.”
What young people need
As a teacher and sought-after speaker, Lennart has his feet firmly on the ground. He’s noticed that faith, partly due to social media, is regaining popularity among young people. “As far as I can tell, Gen Z is the first generation to be more actively engaged with faith than the generation before it—the millennials.” At the same time, he notices that many young people who are coming to faith have received little foundational knowledge from their upbringing. “I sometimes talk to people who’ve been Christians for a year; they’ve opened the Bible, but they’re still far from knowing all the stories. They find the story of Jonah bizarre and fascinating.”
What he points out above all is an enormous need for structure and clarity. “Young people today can literally become anything they want. Online, they constantly see the perfect image, while reality is, of course, very different. It is precisely in that abundance that they seek direction: not the message that anything goes, but that there is one solid foundation you can consciously choose.”
He believes this also presents a clear responsibility for parents. Topics such as sexuality and religious upbringing shouldn’t be conveniently passed off to schools or youth programs. “It’s wonderful when youth leaders provide guidance, but that starts at home. As parents, set a good example yourselves and, above all, explain the reasons behind the choices you make.”
Recharging the battery
With a full-time job in education, speaking engagements, and an active music career, his schedule is packed. How does he keep all those balls in the air? As an extrovert, Lennart actually gets energy from interacting with people, though he also needs to unwind. For him, coming home often means first zoning out on the couch—for example, watching a sports game on TV—before turning off the lights.
Spiritually speaking, he recharges his batteries mainly during Sunday morning at church. Bible in hand, pen at the ready, taking notes during the sermon, followed by a good cup of coffee and a good conversation. “I’ve noticed that Sunday morning has truly become sacred to me. That’s the moment when I’m allowed to just receive completely.” Quiet time during the week helps, of course, but as an extrovert, he really needs the Christian community to stay nourished.
It’s precisely that interplay—of music and faith, of vulnerability and regained self-confidence—that makes MCLA’s story deeper than that of just another rapping teacher. It’s the story of a man who, after a long search, knows exactly where he stands: he is a child of the King.
@wimvanputten