Great artists aren’t born great. They develop over time. They experiment with the talents God gave them—all the while reaching beyond their potential. Great artists challenge their own perspectives and chase innovation with abandon. Then, in one pivotal moment, they find their true voices. Art and passion collide in one watershed event.

For dc talk, Free At Last was that defining moment.

Boldly irreverent and unapologetically honest, Free At Last established dc talk as an artist to be reckoned with, a pacesetter in Christian music. Produced by Toby McKeehan, Mark Heimermann and Joe Hogue, the album mixes the hip-hop conventions of the early ’90s with themes of racial harmony, sexual abstinence and love as action.

Free At Last, which spent an incredible nine months atop the Billboard charts after its debut, was named Billboard’s Contemporary Christian Album of the Year in 1994 and won the GRAMMY Award for Rock Gospel Album of the Year.

The record also contains the #1 song “The Hardway” (the video received a 1994 Billboard Music Video Award), “Socially Acceptable” (won a Dove Award for Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year), a cover of Bill Withers’ classic “Lean On Me,” the original slower-paced “Say the Words” (remixed for 2000’s Intermission: The Greatest Hits), the driving to action “Luv is a Verb,” and the adrenaline-charged Doobie Brothers’ cover “Jesus is Just Alright,” an enduring fan favorite.

But beyond what any one song could reveal, beyond the awards and recognition, Free At Last catapulted dc talk from merely a “decent Christian” expression to a new level of musical innovation and spiritual consciousness. It carved a bold new path in Christian music history. More importantly, it gave a largely suburban Christian youth culture a big shot of reality, a strong, explicitly Christ-centered challenge to live boldly, righteously and free.

In the 10 years since its release in 1992, this GRAMMY Award-winning album stands not only as a ground-breaking testament to dc talk’s artistic coming-of-age, but also as a revolutionary turning point in the history of Christian music—the day when the chains of convention and status quo were cut off.

Rediscover Free At Last, and hear history in the making.