Christianity Today recently highlighted Reformed Rap and Hip-Hop. Click here, to see a PDF of an entire page describing the key Reformed artists and this new phenomenon.
Some of the key rappers include: Trip Lee, currently a pastoral intern under Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church; Marcus Gray (Flame), studying for a master’s degree in biblical counseling at Southern Seminary; Curtis Allen (Voice), an assistant pastor in Maryland; Shai Linne; Timothy Brindle; and LeCrae. All of these men are involved in ministry beyond their music, and all are affected deeply by Reformed Theology.
Here are a few excerpts from CT’s write-up.
SPOTLIGHT: Reformed Rap and Hip-Hop
Not since Maranatha! and contemporary praise emerged from Chuck Smith\’s Calvary Chapel in the 1970s has a genre of Christian music become so associated with a specific stream of evangelicalism. And while not all Christian rappers are Reformed, nor do all see themselves as preachers and teachers working in a musical medium, the growing edge of the movement is explicitly taking its cues from Calvinist leaders. Several tracks have included direct references to (and even sermon clips from) John MacArthur, John Piper, C. J. Mahaney, and other pastors, and Curtis \”Voice\” Allen\’s recent rap on the Westminster Catechism (with theologian D. A. Carson) went viral in March\””as did his Heidelberg Catechism rap last October.
Is it the sound of Reformed resurgence?
While hip-hop has become a staple of young Reformed conferences, it\’s not yet the dominant sound and it rarely appears in Reformed churches, said D. A. Carson. \”I doubt that hip-hop with Reformed lyrics will ever become a primarily congregational corporate worship medium. It is a performance medium, and as such it is very useful for communicating with certain groups of people. . . . But that does not make it inappropriate for the more limited goals that it achieves quite strikingly at the moment.\”
“The genre allows the rapper to cram loads of biblical and theological content in a single verse. I think we love hearing the Scripture \”˜preached\’ lyrically. Second, there is a \”˜cool factor,\’ which has helped bridge generational and cultural divides. But we can\’t explain this without acknowledging the sovereign workings of God.” \”” Thabiti Anyabwile, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman
“Reformed hip-hop is a theologically driven masculinity movement. It says no to the prom songs to Jesus in CCM, no to whiny emo Christian music for hipsters, and no to empty, shallow, individualistic Christian music lacking theological content produced out of Nashville.” \”” Anthony Bradley, associate professor of theology and ethics at The King\’s College and author of Liberating Black Theology
Many conservative Christians, and fundamentalists in particular, refuse to endorse rap music or hip-hop of any kind. They cannot think of the genre without its cultural associations with a sinful lifestyle. But conservative evangelical leaders see the value in this music and the movement under-girding it. John Piper has interviewed LeCrae personally, and Desiring God has produced a three part video interview of him as well. Desiring God partnered with LeCrae’s Reach Records for a Don’t Waste Your Life tour. Mark Driscoll has interviewed LeCrae too, and Mark Dever interviewed Voice and Shai Linne (see the video here).
I’ve highlighted this musical phenomenon before (here and here), and I encourage you to listen to the music before rejecting it out right. I have a CD by Timothy Brindle entitled Killing Sin, which is basically John Owen’s On the Mortification of Sin translated into a new medium. Shai Linne has a CD called The Atonement which explains in depth the intricacies of limited atonement, substitutionary atonement and more. The music requires a high degree of lyrical intricacy, poetry and a command of language, not to mention an artistic sense. The songs these men are producing are excellent and filled with God honoring lyrics. Check out Reach Records or Lampmode Recordings for audio samples and lyrics.
I pray the Reformed Rap movement will continue to pick up steam and influence the hearts and minds of many people for Christ.
This genre is a juvenile one. It does not mean it cannot contribute but it is still a juvenile one and will be limited in its appeal to juvenile contexts.
Rap, while some claim is lyrically intricate as the lyrics to the Atonement CD are claimed to be (I certainly disagree and you can listen to many samples listening to the links), is actually inconsiderate with regard to superior articulation and appropriate emphasis because its primary use of language is as a tool for entertainment while information is secondary.
In other words we have to make rhyme that which would otherwise be better stated without this forced construct. And it is forced because a certain product is in mind, hence the form takes precedence to its substances. This is the quixotic nature of Rap.
Some might argue that there is some substance and certainly if you read the words of some of the lyrics there can be found a few mild staples but the discussion or the assertion is that Reformed Rap rises to a high or middle form, it does not even with the exceptions in a few of the songs that might have some body to it or should I say some body to portions of songs.
And Rap itself as a form of thoughtful articulation is stunted by its very design. It utters words as fast and rhythmically as possible so that it may accommodate the demand of a rapid tempo leaving the listener with little effect as to what is being considered more so than what is being rhymed.
In the end Rap may provide one consistent contributor but even then this is limited since this is not the normal thought process of the human being for deep analysis and that is an easy form of memorization for a few motivational phrases.
I wouldn’t say it is just a juvenile genre. It is also an urban genre. There are other cultural swaths beyond just youth that are impacted by it.
Yes the lyrics are constrained to the form, but so are lyrics for other song genres, and poetry for that matter. The amount of intelligent and rational, theological content in Killing Sin beats that of any other Christian music CDs I have ever heard (and I’ve sampled lots of CCM/Christian rock and classical/high-churchish Christian CDs of all types). It’s almost like rhythmic preaching with a beat, in a certain sense.
There are limits, and straight up lecture will obviously be way more instructive. But it might not appeal to the culture and communicate to the same level that Reformed Rap does.
To those unaccustomed to the music, sure it is hard to catch the words, but to those used to this genre, they can pick up on the information in the songs quite easily.
It isn’t the be-all/end-all tool for sure. But it is a useful tool, and I applaud the effort of those seeking to redeem its use for Christ. Many of their songs are directly countering the prevailing mindset of the hip hop culture, and are using that very music to turn the message on its head. I think their goals and motives are laudable. And I also believe their use of the genre is permissible in a 1 Cor. 9 sense (all things to all men).
Thanks for your thoughts though, you do bring up a valid point.
It really does not matter if it is urban, suburban, country, folk or whatever adjective, it remains constitutionally juvenile. This does not mean I have in view “youth” by the use of the word juvenile. We do have a rather immature adult demographic (thank you Baby Boomers and beyond for your infatuation with perpetual adolescence) in the Western world which demonstrates juvenile tastes and no doubt many of those are in the church.
Again, I do acknowledge it can be a useful instrument but certainly quite limited. Thanks for the interaction.
I’m pretty positive the above commentator couldn’t be more off base and biased.
Let’s stop for a moment to realize that one it is not juvenile. Many of those who started the genre in the secular arena in the early 80′s where it was birthed are now in their late 40′s.
I’d argue that older individuals during the 60′s probably thought the same of rock & roll as well.
Hip Hop really has a lot to do with culture, especially in the black community. Which can be hard for old white guys to fully understand.
But what you should appreciate it is the fact that you have some talented, gifted young black men who are reaching out to the culture with this medium and presenting a reformed position and theology.
They’re not just challenging secular culture, but they are challenging the african american church which leans predominantly towards the left. Lecrae did an interview discussing the challenges in tackling the “Prosperity Theology” in the african american church head on, and other issues like trying to convince the african american community that abortion is wrong.
These young men are using their God given talent well.
And you know what, 20 years of Christian contemporary music and I rarely hear the words or quoted lines of scripture I hear most of these young hip hop artist’s signing.