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?