NEW YORK — Urban gospel artist J Moss is a man on a mission to let the world know that "Christianity and salvation is not corny."

Moss sees gospel artists as competing with rap and R&B stars for the ears of young people, and he refuses to let the "good news" lose any ground.

As one-third of the production team PAJAM, Moss has worked with artists ranging from Vickie Winans to Sisqo to Destiny's Child. But now, after years behind the scenes and a stint doing the "nerdy geeky thing" as a programmer with Microsoft, Moss is focused on invigorating gospel with the signature sound that already has people calling him "The Voice." His first album, "J Moss Project," earned him Stellar awards for New Artist and Male Vocalist, and his recent release "V2" has charted among Billboard's Top 200.

On the morning after his cousins Kierra "Kiki" Sheard and Karen Clark Sheard each snagged Dove awards — and just before he headed off to Harlem's Apollo Theater for Byron Cage's live recording — Moss talked to The Associated Press about his career and revealed the reason for all the heavy breathing in his singing style.

Associated Press: Tell me about "V2":

Moss: My pastor has like two different types of sermons. There's the Sunday morning sermon which is really structured, straight to the point, about 20 minutes and he's gone. Then there's "Bible study," where he puts on the little lapel mike, and he comes from behind the pulpit, and comes down into the aisles and just kind of talks to us about everyday life. That's what "V2" is about. It's the Bible study record. It's the everyday life, the issues.

Associated Press: On "Dance," the track you do with Kirk Franklin, you take the phrase: "Don't stop, get it get it" — something that originally referred to getting sexual pleasure — and took it to mean getting spiritual victory. What's the point of that?

Moss: If you do something that (non-churchgoers) are familiar with, they're not afraid of it. ... So a lot of times we have to just kind of flip it. Use something that they're familiar with, but just kind of change the tone behind it, because it's all words. Nobody has a patent on a word. But we just try to strategically use them ... and once they hear the message it will start to infiltrate their lives.

Associated Press: What told you it was time to pursue a solo career?