For The Love of Music!

Okay so being that I am a lover of many things, you know like chocolate, movies, hair, and oh! Jesus too, music is on my list of one to five. Music has always been used as entertainment and a way of communicating through cultures without using words. Fast forward to the 21st century, music has changed tremendously, for better I believe. Looking at pop culture one could assume that the entertainment business is an absolute disgrace to the generation, old and new. But don’t let this fool you. With the emergence of rap resulting in hip-hop culture, America has been the catalyst in presenting tough issues to and for the public. Beginning from an oppressed culture of blacks in the inner city ghettos of America, rap music is like none other. Compared to genres like the classics, or country, rap music was created by the blacks in protest of socio-economic and political inconsistencies that gave them a hostile view of America- the police force, political leaders, schools, and essentially all forms of authority. This was the beginning of rap music and what resulted was hip-hop culture, a watered down version of these principles. In America, rap music is almost always included in the hip-hop genre, though not particularly the same. The entertainment business has monopolized on this form of music, it was belittled when it first started but now the genre has seen so many musicians and artists come to fame. Rap music nowadays do not hold the same principles or seek to do the same things that it used to, the cause is generally money.

In regards to religion, in the black culture, Hymnals has been used by black slaves who wrote and sung them in order to give them a better hope than their current state. These songs were mostly adopted into black churches in the United States. And in some churches these songs have stayed the archetype that describes what a person hears when they walk into a church. However with the rise of rap music and hip-hop culture, so the rise of rap music and hip-hop culture began within people of God who find it not foolish or too modern to rap about the Risen. Too often have Christians fallen to the idea that Gospel music could not exist in a form of rap or rhyme. Traditional Christian are okay with the usual Gospel and maybe a few Hymnals but when it comes to rap music, it is a huge NO. I understand the reason for its sour connotations, in the past rap has caused many problems, its lyrics promote misogyny, violence, hedonism, egoism, promiscuity, and pretty much everything that Christians are against. So when new age artists rise up to rap about Christ the hairs on the heads stand on end of most Christians. However when thought and prayer are put to the idea of “gospel rap” what is really the problem? Some might say that the Bible teaches that Christians are in the world but not of the world. I believe that this means that Christians are definitely a part of the world but we do not have to engage in its practices. I also believe that many Christians have grown in fear of the world and its practices so much so that we forget that we have an assignment in this world, unbelievers. How ever are Christians going to reach “the world” if we are too afraid to go in it? There is no harm done in introducing a person who loves rap music (like myself) to some artists who rap about God’s love and can tell of His power. Not the usual sex, money, and drugs lyrics that most people are prone to hearing, but it is about things that give life, Christ, and how to obtain it. Some Christians are not called to this type of ministry, I get it, but do not say that talking about Jesus is wrong. Which is essentially what Gospel Rap, Spoken word, poems, devotionals, and the Bible is!

These faithful artists have taken rap music back to  its original state: protesting against dark practices that belittle the minds of people.images

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