Raw & Uncut

In my teenage years I sold and abused drugs, so much so that my All-American basketball status was overshadowed by conversations of "I know him he deals crack cocaine". What I learned during those times of street hustlin was an important principle that can be applied to the gospel. Let me explain. The typical street dealer almost never has a pure product of what we call "raw and uncut". Typically by the time the drugs hit the street level they have been cut by different additives to multiply the amount and increase profit. You simply do not sell raw and uncut to your clientele if you wish to make a larger profit. 

I had much success in always finding the purest form of cocaine I could find and I would add very little cut to keep the drugs potent and powerful so my folks would come back to me. While others in the game were watering down their product mine was considered the raw and uncut. What the junkies knew was "the purer the dope the greater the high". 

In so many ways that is the gospel. It is most effective when administered raw and uncut. The purer the gospel we proclaim the greater the high. When I say "high" I don't mean ecstatic experiences but rather a deep sense of knowing your infinitely lost but yet infinitely loved. There are a few additives I see people using to "cut" the gospel. What are those cutting agents you ask? 

1- Relativism, or antinomianism. Simply put making the gospel of Jesus Christ about a ticket to get out of hell free. This form of the gospel says no matter what you do Jesus loves you and is well pleased regardless of what your life looks like because after all we are all sinners and no one can add up to God's standard. It downplays how we pursue holiness and surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. 

2- Legalism- The second is equally deadly. This view intermingles works with faith and is a response to human pride and arrogance that we can somehow make ourselves right with God through our righteous deeds. This view is sometimes the most subtle to invade our hearts. We tend to react to licentiousness or antinomianism by adding works as a prerequisite for salvation. Even well meaning Christians who see an apathetic response to the obedience laid forth in Scripture can find themselves crossing this line unknowingly, placing emphasis on works for salvation. 

Both of these views distort the gospel of grace. The raw and uncut gospel is that Jesus saves sinners. It is His incarnation, atonement, substitutionary death and resurrection that secures our right standing with God received by faith and repentance. It is the gospel that takes me deep into my heart to see I don't add up to God's standard and holiness. It doesn't leave me there but rather causes me to go deep into seeing God's grace and mercy, love and patience for sinners. 

Working with the poor I often encounter Christians who are adding to the gospel. They see the lethargy of Western Christians, the materialism and isolation and react by adding justice and good deeds to the gospel. I understand why we do this because human pride wants to elevate our own experience and standing with God by what we do. 

The raw and uncut Gospel is the good news...good news is something has already taken place, and that good news is that Jesus saves sinners by grace through faith and that faith never remains alone if it true faith in surrendering to the Lordship of Christ. The more we preach to ourselves and others the uncut gospel the deeper with go into our sins but the more we see grace. That grace, that love Christ has for us then compels us and motivates to love others, do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. You don't have to add works to make the gospel message more powerful. When rightly understood the gospel produces deeds of love and mercy. It has to happen if we are indeed in Christ but we must not make those deeds of love and mercy part of the gospel. It is the effect of the gospel taking root in us in it's raw and uncut form. 

Ephesians 2:8-10 sums it all up for we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, but faith never remains alone...it produces the righteousness and compassion of Christ in us that changes who we are and propels us to walk in good works that the Lord has foreordained for His people. 

Can Gospel Rap Redeem Hip Hop?

Disclaimer: This blog may be premature as I am still working through this issue. In many ways I have more questions than answers but I want to begin this discussion because I feel it is an important one to have. In no way do I wish to condemn the brilliant work I am seeing from current gospel rap artists. That is not my intent. I simply have a bunch of questions brewing in my mind regarding hip hop. Those of you who know me personally realize my testimony and background as one who used to drink in hip hop. One who used to sell dope in the hood, carry guns, abuse women, smoke weed everyday, sag my pants, and walk around with a F-U mentality. 

I love listening to Lecrae, Derek Minor and most of the solid gospel rappers. I love what they are doing, the concerts and the message they put forth. I buy their albums and vibe with their work. Let me repeat...I LOVE them! So please don’t see this as a diss. I simply have questions that I believe we need to critique and address if we want to impact urban youth. I work in urban ministry and find myself around urban youth who have been drenched in hip hop culture just like I was. So the following is simply questions I have as to the effectiveness of the current gospel rap music. 

Hip Hop... What is it? How do we define it? How do kids in the hood see hip hop? Can you be hip hop and value education? 

For most folks in the hood hip hop is a culture not simply music. Most modern hip hop artists condemn education and promote a self-centered, materialistic lifestyle. The young fan of hip hop introduced to gospel rap finds it incompatible with real hip hop as he sees it. Hip hop music is simply not what it started out to be. It is now a culture that is pervading kids nationally. It used to be you could clearly discern between hip hop and gangsta rap, hip hop and R&B. You could clearly see distinction between Keith Sweat and Tupac. But now the R&B guys are tatted up and speaking the same things the thugs are talking about, so much so you can’t find an album that doesnt have a collaboration of those different artists. Everybody wants to be hard now, even most of the R&B dudes. Hip hop culture, not just the music has taken over the inner cities. 

The Problem

The young men I have spoken with disdain gospel rap as real hip hop because to them hip hop carries with it a thugged out mentality. In their eyes you cannot be educated, stay in school, care about others and still claim to be hip hop. Hip hop as they see it through their lens is gangsta, it is popping bottles, it is being hard and carrying heat. It is driving nice cars, buying out the bar, and living life as a modern day god in society, being idolized by others and influencing culture. 

On the other side people from the burbs and middle class think holy hip hop (thats the term they use) is breaking down barriers in the hood and promoting Christianity but is it really working? Are kids in the hood responding to this new form of rap? Or do they simply find it incompatible with true hip hop as they see it? Why do most African American churches resist gospel rap as a form of evangelism and deem the hip hop culture (not people, culture) unredeemable? I don't think most suburban pastors who endorse gospel rap and use the word hip hop in association with it understand that hip hop is it's own religion. 

KRS-one defined hip hop as a religion, a way of life which is antithetical to the reality of the gospel which calls us to self-denial and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The gospel doesn’t call us to blend in a culture that is promoting death and narcissism. No indeed the gospel calls us to abandon ourselves and put on Christ. 

With that said I am certainly not denouncing gospel rap. I am simply coming to ask some hard questions. Most suburban pastors hoping to see racial reconciliation who admire young theologically sound rappers fail to address these concerns because they have never lived in the hood nor realized the impact hip hop culture has on urban youth. They don’t understand nor recognize what urban youth are saying about gospel rap and hip hop. They (Suburban pastors) think its a great tool to bridge the gap between urban youth and the gospel but who are the majority of people buying the albums and going to the concerts? Primarily not urban youth, rather suburban kids, or old heads like myself who already know Jesus. 

Having lived the hip hop culture for over 15 years I have experienced the destructive nature of it. It influenced me to sell dope, sleep with women, and chase the boastful pride of life (all came from my filthy heart yet fueled by hip hop music & culture). I needed deliverance through a Savior who would take me out of that culture not teach me how to do it in a way that glorified God (2 Cor. 5:17). 

Is Gospel Rap making a difference in our inner cities or is it simply a cool form of rap that myself and many others love to listen to? Can gospel rap provide an alternative to the hip hop music that is currently engulfing urban culture? I hope so. I personally think it is amazing how talented these artists are and how deep theologically they think through certain issues. So if they are speaking the truth why are so many black churches against it? I believe this is so because they find it incompatible as well to divorce a death culture from Christianized version of it. They simply cannot assimilate solid theology over the very same kind of music that has contributed to ghetto nihilism. I am not saying they are right but they certainly have a point especially when you understand that hip hop is a religion. 

I believe Gospel Rap is never going to be fully endorsed because it is, in the opinion of many, mimicking a cultural movement that has devastated urban America. The term hip hop cannot be associated with what gospel rappers are doing but can we truly make a distinction? Thoughts? Feedback?