Natan el Profeta — Natanael Philippe, born January 8, 1987 — is a Dominican rapper and songwriter, a founding member of Aposento Alto and one of the artists who established Christian hip hop as a serious form in the Spanish-speaking world. He spent a decade inside the country's most influential Christian rap group before building a solo catalogue that has run since 2019.

Santo Domingo

Philippe was raised in Santo Domingo, the third of five children of Haitian parents. He came to hip hop through Vico C, the Puerto Rican rapper who effectively invented Spanish-language rap and remains the reference point for almost everyone who followed him in the Caribbean. His older brother Esteban, who records as El Philippe, was rapping first, and Natanael followed.

In 2003 he formed a Christian rap group called Los Profetas and began writing explicitly religious lyrics — a decision with real cost at the time, when Dominican rap audiences and church audiences were largely separate constituencies with little interest in each other.

Aposento Alto

In 2005 he met Franklin Pérez, who records as Sr. Pérez, in the San Luis neighbourhood. The following year Pérez assembled Aposento Alto, with Philippe, his brother El Philippe, La Noe Aposento Alto, Francis Omar and Lors El Prieto.

The group became the central institution of Dominican Christian rap. It released four studio albums — A precio de Sangre in 2008, El último testamento in 2010, Tratado en Audio in 2012 and Almas in 2016 — and in doing so proved there was an audience for rap that took both the music and the theology seriously. Almas was Philippe's last record with them.

Solo work

His first solo album, Oveja entre lobos, arrived in 2019, carrying Mi Fe, Levántate, Pa Loco, Cabecea with Lápiz Conciente and Corazón Loco with Jay Kalyl. The Lápiz Conciente collaboration stands out: pairing a Christian rapper with one of the most prominent secular figures in Dominican rap crosses a line the scene had mostly observed.

Obra maestra followed in 2021 with Brayan Booz, and Púrpura in 2023. The live album Modo leyenda appeared in 2022. He has also recorded with Redimi2, Alex Zurdo and Madiel Lara.

Los Hermanos del Rap

In 2020 Philippe and his brother formed the duo Los Hermanos del Rap, opening with Isaías 60:2. The pairing was well received and took the award for urban duo or group at Premios El Galardón in 2021. A second project, Fe, followed in 2022 with Juan Fernando Quintero.

Recognition

Beyond the Galardón award, Philippe has been nominated repeatedly at that ceremony and at Premios Q and the Glamour Music Awards, and took best music video at the 2023 Videoclips Awards for Flow cristiano. In 2023 the magazine Discolai named him among the figures relevant to the development of Dominican rap.

He made an acting debut in the 2022 film El hombre transformado, and in 2023 served as a coach for urban Christian artists on the first Christian music talent competition produced in the Dominican Republic. A documentary about his career, titled LEYENDA, was announced in 2024.