Christian hip hop
Template:Christian musicChristian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as holy hip hop or Christ hop) is a form of hip hop music which uses Christian lyrical themes to express the songwriter's faith. Only during the 1990s did the term "Christian hip hop" become descriptive of this type of music. The audience is typically Christian, but the music is also used in missions work for the purpose of evangelization. Christian rap and hip hop artists are professed Christians in most cases, and use the fact that they are urban or suburban as a positive issue used to spread their religion. Like all Christian music, it can be experienced as Christian worship.
History
Stephen Wiley was the first artist with a commercially released and distributed gospel rap cassette with his 1985 tape Bible Break. Better known was the young Christian emcee Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez, who was murdered in 1990 in Texas. [1] D-Boy is possibly the first Christian emcee martyr, and an album has been published dedicated to him (A Tribute to D-Boy), featuring several underground Christian emcees.
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, two groups emerged in this new scene that not only had the "gospel / christian" part but also had the credible skills and "street wise" artistry to make an impact in the secular or mainstream scene as well; S.F.C (Soldiers For Christ) and P.I.D. (Preachas In Disguise). S.F.C was lead by Californian African-American Chris Cooper who originally rapped as Super C (short for Super Chris / Super Christian) and later became Sup the Chemist and then finally Soup the Chemist. Chris Cooper & S.F.C. were instrumental in bringing up and exposing newer gospel groups such as Dynamic Twins, the Original Gospel Gangstas, Freedom Of Soul, and L.P.G. Cooper retired from the industry in 2003.
dc Talk was the first major commercial success among Christian hip hop groups, with rapper tobyMac later rising to prominence as a solo artist. Outside of dc Talk, though, Christian hip hop was a very small niche throughout most of the '90s, with few artists reaching major success and most being disregarded by both the secular and Christian industries. Many of the artists of the time performed hip hop simply to spread a Christian message, while others would consider themselves "Christians who make hip hop" (proselytizing was not their primary focus). Many suffered from low-budget production.
Christian hip hop rose in popularity with the arrival of Gotee Records in 1994, which signed popular artists such as GRITS and Knowdaverbs (now known as Verbs), who was regarded by All Music Guide as "that rare thing: a talented gospel rapper." [2]
The 1990's also produced funkier artists such as D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ) who emerged out of Oklahoma as well as the Gospel Gangstaz from Compton and South Central LA. D.O.C. matured under the guidance of former Prince guitarist and vocalist Dez Dickerson, while the gritty Gospel Gangstaz were ex-Bloods and ex-Crips who began ministering to gang-affiliated street youths and winning fans from Interscope to Snoop Dogg. The Gangstaz' 1999 release I Can See Clearly Now became the biggest selling Christian hip hop record at the time and won the group a Grammy nomination.[3]
In 2003, The Cross Movement out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania released their breakthrough album Holy Culture. A followup release to that album, Higher Definition, was nominated for a Grammy.[4]. One year earlier, Holy Hip Hop: Taking the Gospel to the Streets in 2004 received a Grammy Nomination during the year that Kanye West Jesus Walks hit the mainstream.
In October 2006 the second holy hip hop station, KHDZ was founded as Holy 106.3 FM was the first station to air content in Atlanta, GA 24/7 over the airwaves in 2004.
Artists and style
Many mainstream hip hop artists constantly make acknowledgements of their faith in songs (including Tupac Shakur, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Ma$e, DMX, Bizzy Bone, Young Buck, NAS, Will Smith, and Chamillionaire) but are not typically considered Christian hip hop artists, as the lyrics in many of their songs contain content considered offensive or objectionable by many Christians.
Christian hip hop is typically more experimental and diverse than mainstream hip hop, and pop-rap artists such as tobyMac, KJ-52, John Reuben and Paul Wright have risen to dominate the genre in contrast to those artists who imitate mainstream hip hop. Many of these popular Christian rappers fuse hip hop music with other musical genres. For example, tobyMac, KJ-52 and John Reuben include nu metal and rapcore songs regularly, and often unify rapping and singing in the vein of R&B and pop as well. Paul Wright describes his music as "folk hop," and much like fellow Christian singer Mat Kearney, his albums consist primarily of acoustic pop with occasional hip hop elements. Other popular fusion genres include techno, reggae, funk and jazz.
In many cases, fusion takes the form of collaboration with rock artists. This usually leads to songs with rap verses and pop choruses, such as John Reuben's "Nuisance" featuring Matt Thiessen of pop punk band Relient K, and KJ-52's single "Are You Real?" featuring Jon Micah Sumrall of rock band Kutless.
Popular conventional Christian hip hop groups include GRITS (who have received some mainstream success), The Cross Movement, T-Bone, LA Symphony and Mars ILL. Among underground Christian rappers and hip hop groups, conventional hip hop such as crunk is generally preferred, as opposed to pop-rap and artists such as Mr. Del, Canton Jones and Ziklag are popular with this style.
In 2006, Rawsrvnt signed with the newly formed Flavor Alliance Media Group and released a first for the industry - an all Worship Hip Hop album entitled In Rare Form featuring the hit single "Holiness" (Raw's hip hop version of the popular worship song). Rawsrvnt released 2 prevoius albums with more of a crunk/dirty south style. Other releases from Fla.vor Alliance in 2006 includes Craig Nice - self titled; Beyond Skillz - Past Tense; Fla.vor Alliance - A Little Off the Top. Pastor Tommy Kyllonen, aka, Urban D will release his 6th national release in 2007 entitled Un.Orthodox, under the label. [5]
Many Christian artists consider the genre superior to its secular counterpart, as evidenced by the tagline of GRITS' album Factors of the Seven: "the most innovative hip hop in the industry." Christian hip hop also contains less sampling, possibly due to legal or financial reasons. John Reuben's music is notable for its lack of sampling, with a band in place of samples. Mars ILL is a notable exception, using sampling regularly; their album Pro*Pain was delayed due to legal issues related to this. [6]
While many notable studios and artists share influence in Christian hip hop, no one style dominates. Traditionally, hip hop tends to fall into such categories as East Coast, West Coast (or Left Coast), Dirty South or even prison rap. Christian hip hop features all of those styles and more, transcending geographic restrictions and commercial underpinnings. HolyHipHop.com exceeded 140,000 Digital Downloads in 2006, as the first website to offer digital downloads worldwide. Web stores such as DaSouth.com, RapZilla.com, 3Hmp3.com, SphereofHipHop.com, HipHopFortheSoul.com and CDBaby.com have opened the commercial market to artists not under contract with a particular record label, but whose recordings measure comparably and favorably with industry recordings.
Christian hip hop themed videos and DVDs are also increasing in availability and popularity. Christopher "Play" Martin (formerly of Kid 'N Play) released a DVD on Amen Filmsentitled Holy Hip Hop which made it to Blockbuster Video Stores in March 2006 see or http://netflix.com - key words "holy hip hop".
Live events such as RapFest (held annually in August in New York City) as well as conferences such as Flavor Fest (held annually in Nov at Crossover Church in Tampa, FL), the Holy Hip Hop Showcase (held annually in January in Atlanta, Georgia), and the Texas Holy Hip Hop Achievement Awards (held annually in Houston, Texas) have helped to foster the genre among evangelical youth and young adults. Other notable events include The Yuinon & H.P., based in Detroit, Michigan.
Reaction
As with many inchoate and newly formed musical genres and subgenres, Christian hip hop initially had difficulty finding an audience. Despite early rejection, Christian hip hop has managed to follow other forms of Christian music, such as Christian metal and punk, in becoming a dominant force within contemporary Christian music. For example, Christian music awards shows such as the GMA Dove Awards and Stellar Awards have added rap and hip hop categories and many church congregations have adopted hip hop-themed musical worship. 2007 Holy Hip Hop Music Awards received appearances by Kurtis Blow, GrandMaster Caz and even Ma$e walked in unannounced and went to Pastor Eddie Velez on stage in front of a packed audience to apologize for saying that christian rap was not of God five years earlier. 2007 Holy Hip Hop Music Awards also received a written endorsement letter from the mayor of Atlanta acknowledging the event's support by the City of Atlanta and recognizing its 7th year.
Christian hip hop has enjoyed some crossover acceptance as well. One of the most notable mainstream reactions to Christian hip hop was to KJ-52 (pronounced "five-two") and his single "Dear Slim," which was written to Eminem in an attempt reach him with the message of Christ. The song became famous and controversial among Eminem fans when it was featured on the hit show Total Request Live. KJ-52 began to receive hate mail (including death threats) from Eminem's followers, though KJ-52 claimed that the song was not a "diss". This also led to the single being disparaged by VH1, an issue the artist addressed in his song "Washed Up."
The United Kingdom has also recently received Christian hip hop with groups such as BoomboomTown and One Love; although their music has been increasingly played in underground Christian hip hop circles, they have yet to achieve mainstream success. The Christian hip hop scene is also growing in Japan, with artists such as Yoshi Blessed and Hinds 57[7] who is now in the comedic pop group BAD[8]. In other countries Christian hip hop has been growing in recent years, for example in Germany and South Africa.
External links
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