Christian hip hop
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| Christian music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | A variety of genres evolving from Jesus music. |
| Cultural origins: | 1960s United States |
| Typical instruments: | Electric guitar, Bass guitar, Drums, Keyboard, Synthesizers |
| Mainstream popularity: | Continuous from 1990s |
| Subgenres | |
| Christian alternative rock - Christian bubblegum pop - Christian hardcore - Christian industrial - Christian hip hop - Christian metal - Christian pop music - Christian punk - Christian rock - Christian soft rock - Christian ska - Worship music - Cprog | |
| Other topics | |
| Christian entertainment industry - Christian girl group | |
Christian Hip Hop (originally Gospel Rap, also known as Holy Hip Hop or Christ hop) is a form of hip hop music which uses Christian themes to express the songwriter's faith. Only during the 1990s did the term "Christian hip hop" become descriptive of this type of music. While the audience is typically Christian, the music is also used in missions work for the purpose of evangelization. Christian rap and hip hop artists are professed Christians who often use their background as a positive issue to spread their religion.
[edit] History
Stephen Wiley was the first artist with a commercially released and distributed gospel rap cassette with his 1985 tape Bible Break. [1] Better known was the young Christian emcee Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez, who was murdered in 1990 in Texas. [2] As a tribute to his memory an album has been dedicated to him (A Tribute to D-Boy), featuring several underground Christian artists.[3]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, two groups emerged that not only had the "gospel" / "Christian" lyrics specific to the genre, but also remarkable skill and "street savvy" to make an impact upon secular audiences[citation needed]; 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.[citation needed] Cooper retired from the industry in 2003.
The 1990s 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,[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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].
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.[5]
[edit] Artists and style
Many mainstream hip hop artists constantly make acknowledgements of their faith in songs (including Tupac Shakur, Kanye West [6], 50 Cent[citation needed], Ma$e, DMX[citation needed], Bizzy Bone, Young Buck, NAS, Lil Scrappy, Will Smith, and Chamillionaire[citation needed]) 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.
Popular conventional Christian hip hop groups include GRITS (who have received notable 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.[citation needed] Also, Christian rappers such as Tre-9, Stikk, K-Drama, Todd Bangz, Corey Red & Precise, Sean Slaughter, Lecrae represent a group of rising Christian hip hop stylists whose music is more acceptable in mainstream and changing the misconceptions of Christian hip hop.[citation needed]
In 2006, Rawsrvnt signed with the newly formed Flavor Alliance Media Group[citation needed] and released a first for the industry[citation needed] - 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).[citation needed] Rawsrvnt released 2 previous albums with more of a crunk/dirty south style. Other releases from Flavor 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. [7]
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."[citation needed] Christian hip hop also contains less sampling, possibly due to legal or financial reasons.[citation needed] John Reuben's music is notable[citation needed] for its lack of sampling, with a band in place of samples. Mars ILL is a notable exception,[citation needed] using sampling regularly; their album Pro*Pain was delayed due to legal issues related to this. [8]
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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 Films entitled Holy Hip Hop which made it to Blockbuster Video Stores in March 2006.[citation needed]
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 Music Awards & Artist 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.
[edit] 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, in becoming a dominant force within contemporary Christian music. For example, Secular and Christian music awards shows such as the Grammy Awards, GMA Dove Awards and Stellar Awards have added rap and hip hop categories [9] [10] and many church congregations have adopted hip hop-themed musical worship.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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".[11] This also led to the single being disparaged by VH1,[citation needed] 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,[citation needed] with artists such as Yoshi Blessed and Hinds 57 who is now in the comedic pop group BAD. In other countries Christian hip hop has been growing in recent years, for example in Germany and South Africa.[citation needed]
