Christian Rappers or Rapping
Christians???
So, are you a Christian rapper or not? This is a question that is not easily tackled. As a Christian, it is hard to answer without giving something up. To some people, answering in the negative would be a denial of Christ as atrocious as that of Peter. To others this is simply a good marketing scheme.
To
say that one is a rapper who is also a Christian can open many opportunities
that are closed to “Christian rappers.”
When my unsaved brothers hear that this is a Christian rap CD, they
freak out, and require a change in musical selection. Instead of announcing in such a blatant way, it is much more
productive to simply respond with the name of the album, and let the lyrics
themselves tell the story.
Closing
our minds and stigmatizing good albums with the Christian rap label is dooming
the music to a lifetime of sitting on Christian bookstores, only to be picked
up by the few true heads out there. Instead
we must market this quality hip-hop as what it is: pure hip-hop, and let the
buyers decide what they want. I
guarantee that more albums will get out there, and there will be more support
for such an industry.
To
stick with the current format of releasing mediocre albums into the small ma
and pops stores and hoping that they sell is destining all artists to low
sales. Hiding poor hip-hop behind the
wall of “ministry” can go on no longer.
Wack rap is wack rap, whether Christian or not. To look beyond this simple fact is to
encourage the stagnation of the entire industry. How are we to make a difference if the entire industry accepts
wack music as a standard?
To
become a true ministry, the music that is released must be on the level of
mainstream artists. I will not call
them secular, for the whole purpose of this article is to destroy such
labels. Once we produce albums that are
on the same level as anyone else then respect is earned maintained. What is ministry if it is not being heard,
and it will not be heard if it is either wack or sits on the shelves at a
Christian bookstore.
This is
not unbroken ground. We simply have to
look at the Remnant or NuWine, and we see artists that are breaking out of the
shackles that OUR music has been under for too long. This is only a start. To
be truly revolutionary, Christian music must stop hiding under their own name
and start to actually reach the masses.
Email me with any comments…please!!!