Newly Discovered Artists

I have been a Christ follower for at least 16 years. For those who are mathematically challenged, that means that in 1994 I had an important conversion experience where Jesus became Lord of my life. so in my world of new Christian music, I was influenced by the likes of dc Talk and Audio Adrenaline. The most diverse influence that I heard was a group called Out of Eden. Prior to this point, I had been a radio junkie. I focused mostly on the classic rock genre where Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones ruled the airwaves. But my sudden conversion was due in large part to my new love for Christian Rock. So secular radio was out. little did I know what amazing secular artists were beginning to emerge.
One of those amazing new artists was Lauryn Hill. As I have researched the life and work of Ms. Hill I have been exposed to the transformation of a soul. From early on Hill was identified as a "natural performer". Her raspy voice and musicianship was impressive, even as a child. But what became even more impressive was her determination to share her faith and scripture among the pop world's most influential venues. In particular, MTV Unplugged began a series of shows in 2002. Hill was featured in the second of the series. It was in this session that she performed an acoustic set where she accompanied herself on guitar. This concert was her presentation of the Gospel.
Throughout this concert, Hill presented the message of freedom and the lies of the Enemy. She warns against deception and demonstrates an affinity for Liberation Theology. I have been impressed with her boldness to proclaim the message of Christ in a place where so many are afraid of the repercussions. Her commitment to share her faith may indeed have cost her career. Since that time in 2002, not much has been heard from Hill. there have been concerts here and there, but nothing major. My prayer is that Ms. Hill will find her music again and become a force in Hip Hop again. her message is one that needs to be heard.

What’s Taking Us So Long: An Examination of the Scholarship of Hip-Hop in African American Religious Studies

*A Paper Given at the National Council of Black Studies on March 18, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana

by Andre E. Johnson, PhD
ajohnson@memphisseminary.edu
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Religion and African American Studies at Memphis Theological Seminary

Introduction

Since coming on the scene from the dilapidated and decaying streets of New York, Hip Hop has been a powerful phenomenon. Whether one is inclined to see hip hop as a positive or negative influence, the culture has captured the minds and hearts of millions around the world. While many thought hip hop to be a fad, many culture critics caught hold of this phenomenon early on and began to chronicle the new sub-culture. In 1985, Nelson George produced Fresh, Hip Hop Don’t Stop, a book that contained nearly a hundred photographs that celebrated hip hop and its culture. Following George’s book, many magazines, newspapers and other popular media forums focused attention on hip hop, while the academy remained loathe to the study of hip hop.
However, in 1994 the academy’s official dis of hip hop would end with Tricia Rose’s seminal work, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. After her work, some in the academy, no longer caught up in philosophical arguments and debates about whether the academy if the proper forum for the study of hip hop, begin to produce innovative scholarship and begin to start a new filed of study. Led by “New Jack Cultural Studies scholars, such as Rose, Russell Potter, Michael Eric Dyson and others, hip hop found its way into the halls of academia and after a tenuous start at best, it has now found a home in many of our academic journals and other publications. While it would have been a major deal to find someone in any department teaching a hip hop course of any kind, one can now find many hip hop course offerings on many college and university campuses housed in several disciplines.
However, while other disciplines have made peace with hip hop, we cannot say the same about religious studies. Religious studies as a discipline is still hesitant about engaging hip hop and while there are many reasons for this apprehension, one of the main reasons I believe is how hip hop is currently constructed. As framed and constructed by the media and even some practitioners, hip hop is considered a hyper-violent, misogynistic, materialistic and, a so called heathenistic culture devoid of anything holy, sacred and good. Indeed, many spiritual leaders of all faiths indict the entire culture of hip-hop and promote it as the work of the devil (or Evil One). Therefore, there is no reason to engage hip hop because the culture is devoid of anything good. It is this belief that limits research from religious studies scholars.
While it is not surprising to find within the field of Religious Studies this response, it is quite another to find it within the field of African American Religious Studies. African American Religious Studies got its start along side the Black Studies movement in the late 1960’s. Like its secular and at times volatile cousin, Black Religious Studies challenged status quo, reinterpreted theoretical presuppositions, and offered new and exciting theories of its own. The foreparents of the movement maintained that Blacks viewed God and religion entirely different from whites and saw to ground much of the Black religious traditions in Africa instead of Europe. Scholars such as James Cone, Gayraud Wilmore, Delores Williams, Jacquelyn Grant and a host of others, along with many students, stood up to entrenched power structures at seminaries and divinity schools to usher in new ideas and new ways of thinking.
However, as hip hop begin to matriculate and develop, many in the African American religious community turned the proverbial deaf ear and a blind eye towards the culture. During hip hop’s rise in the late 80’s and 90’s, many scholars within African American religious studies rejected hip hop as a definitive voice of many who found themselves on the margins, trapped by the sweeping tide of conservative policies that left many urban areas more desolate. While many Black religious studies scholars showed empathy and sympathy for Black Power advocates a generation before, these same scholars dismissed hip hop as one of the authentic voices in Black America. Black theologians could not understand the pain and anger found in gangsta rap and womanist theorists saw hip hop’s misogyny as not only repugnant and hateful to women but to the Black community as a whole.

This narrative—that hip hop offers nothing in the way of religion and thus unworthy of study from Religious Studies scholars permeates throughout the discipline even today. However, this could be further from the truth. From its beginning, I suggest that hip hop has a profound spirituality and advocates religious views—and while not orthodox or systemic in anyway, nevertheless, many in traditional orthodox religions would find the theological underpinnings in hip hop comforting, empowering, and liberating.

In the rest of this paper, I offer a brief literature review of scholarship within African American religious studies and offer some suggestions as to the direction religious studies scholars need to head to establish this field.

Literature Review

While other disciplines were opening the doors to hip hop scholarship, Black Religious Studies came late to the party. One of the first books published that spoke on hip hop and religion of any kind was Anthony Pinn’s Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music. Published in 2003, this edited volume, while focusing on rap music, nevertheless opened the door to hip hop’s spiritual side. The essays collected in this volume, from well noted African American Religious Studies scholars such as Garth Baker-Fletcher, Juan Floyd-Thomas, and Ralph Watkins, demonstrated that hip hop has much more in common with the African American religious tradition than many previously thought. In addition, by not just focusing on Christianity, with this volume, Pinn also demonstrated the connections hip hop and the African American religious tradition has in common with other religions. The African American religious tradition has always been much bigger than Christianity and by using hip hop as the vehicle; Pinn helps us to see this reality.

The next book published was Five Percenter Rap, by Felecia Miyawaka in 2005. Her insightful work focused on the religious themes developed and found in the work of the five percenter nation. Though not written by a religious scholar, Miyawaka offers a deft account of the spirituality and theology of the five percent nation from interviews and an analysis of their texts. Her works demonstrates that while rapping and performing within a secular context, groups such as Poor Righteous Teachers, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan and Erika Baydu, spoke from a well of spiritual insight and knowledge.

The next book published in 2005 was James Perkinson’s Shamanism Racism and Hip Hop culture. While the first two books focused entirely on the element of rap music, Perkinson is the first within religious studies to center his analysis on hip hop culture. In this collection of essays, Perkinson become one of the first to theorize hip hop culture spiritually. By way of personal narrative and testimony, Perkinson argued that the spiritual flavor of hip hop can position itself as a response to racism and by way of shamanism, again, part of the African and African American religious tradition, can begin to strengthen communities.

After these books and several other articles published in both academic and popular journals and magazines, the Black Church woke up to the fact that after 30 plus years, hip hop was not going away anytime soon. Recently, there has been a slew of books published that necessarily do not focused on the spirituality of hip hop and what it means, but on how the church can relate to hip hop culture. In short, these books focus on evangelism and how can the church be more proactive in understanding the culture. Books such as the Hip Hop Church, Disciples of the Street, Timothy Holder’s The Hip Hop Prayer Book, and the aforementioned Watkins, Connecting with the Hip Hop Generation are part of this genre.

New Directions and Conclusion

While one can see there is still much more to do in this field, I am glad to report that newly minted Ph.D.’s, other scholars awaiting defense dates, and some awaiting acceptance into doctoral programs, are beginning the work. To my knowledge, I taught the first hip hop class in the country at any accredited seminary or divinity school at Memphis Theological Seminary. Since that time in 2005, while there is not a plethora of courses offered at seminary and divinity schools, there has been an upsurge in conferences, workshops, and weekend class offerings that discuss hip hop theology/spirituality.

I have also attended the National Communication Association and the American Academy of Religion conferences along with this one and others to present papers on hip hop’s spirituality. While there, I have met with several scholars who would want to do this work but are not sure of what direction they need to take. Therefore, where do we go from here? Well, I suggest three major areas.

First, work must examine hip hop spirituality and theology. We must go beyond rap music or textual examples, we must begin to examine clothes, dance, and in short, the entire hip hop performance. This could also lead to the reappearance of early hip hop elements such as break dancing and graffiti.

Second, we should welcome multiple methodologies in doing this work. Hip hop is the ultimate interdisciplinary phenomenon, taking us into music, communications, culture studies, black studies, anthropology and several others. All of those disciplines have methods appropriate to its field. We should welcome them to examine the spirituality hip hop. However, as I mentioned at the top of the paper, hip hop is enjoying major attention and some are considering hip hop studies as its own field. If this is the case, then methods would be developed and thus used in examining hip hop religious centering as well.

Lastly, we should keep on writing. While many still are not on board as of yet, we should continue to speak. I believe hip hop’s religious sensibilities have much to offer to the public as well as the academy. For example, just in my own research of those sensibilities, hip hop’s God is much bigger than many of the god’s of our own religion. This God is more inclusive, more tolerant and more understanding than the god that society seemed to construct for itself. This god goes by several names and cannot be located into one position. This god understands the struggle, the pain and the game that one has to play in order to survive. I wonder how these and other theological presuppositions would work in the broader public as a rhetorical or public theology. It would be great to find out and the only way we will get there is if we keep doing the work and supporting one another.

Hip Hop Inclusivity

Inclusion has become one of the hot topics in many churches today. What makes a church spiritually empowered is when church leaders expand outside the box and bring diversity into church culture. Hip hop genres should be included into some of our churches activity to reach generations right where they are in their lives. As a church we cater to all facets, but when it comes down to embracing the younger generation , we shy away from those outlets to help them. Our God is a God of inclusivity, which suggests that God doesn't discriminate in ministry work and or in people in doing ministry work. With that being said, why are there so many churches turning a deaf ear to such an immediate need in our churches? Is the Hip Hop inclusion, too, funky and radical in church culture today, which causes this deaf ear to many churches? Help the church to open their deaf ears by elaborating on this topic of Hip Hop inclusivity.

The Hip Hop Pastor

What kind of pastor should be the leader of his/her congregation? Will he/she be the one to embrace all facets of their congregation? If so, then why is the pastor discouraged to welcome in the hip hop culture that seems to be rapidly surfacing in the church? In Ralph C. Watkins' book, The Gospel Remix, Jamal-Harrison Bryant suggests that the church should be of all places a launching tool for the hip hop expression since the church is said to be vocal for spiritual practices, symbolism of justice, and congregation of diverse believers (p.90). Bryant's statement can be proven to be true due to the fact that the Bible sets the ambiance for our Christian ministries. You can find churches engaging in different styles of praise and worship experiences, fighting peaceful movements over racism, poverty, blight, war on drugs, etc. The church is a melting pot for all ages, generations, ethnicities, and denominations. Therefore, the pastor should take on the traits of his/ her congregation. As a pastor, one of the major factions the church should do evangelism is in the area of our younger generation because they are the future of the church. How can the pastor be a friend to the hip hop phenomenal and cling to a more radical style of worship/ culture?

The Crucible and the Response

The crucible of life always requires response. Sometimes our responses validate or represent God, and other times they do not. But whatever our situation, there is always the response. For those who are oppressed, the responses are more limited because of reduced resources or fear of retribution. For those who suffer from disease, the response can be either God-honoring or not so God-honoring.

When I look at the birth of Hip Hop, I see a response to life in the Bronx in the 1970's. The response was born out of destroyed neighborhoods, a destroyed infrastructure, and fear. Fear for the long term well-being of the family but also the well-being of myself...NOW. Hip Hop's inception was a response to the desire to avoid violence in the Bronx and take the street competition from the "rumble" the dance floor. The Bronx Crucible demanded the response of Hip Hop.

Only God's timing and hand will determine whether the Hip Hop response to the 1970's Bronx crucible will honor God or not. But as we watch God's plan unfold, should we simply sit and watch or engage in the discussion? do we leave the Hip Hop discussion to the secular world? What will our response be? As I ask the question, I also wonder what my children and their children will see in our response. Will our response to Hip Hop honor God or not? Some things of God are difficult to understand, but I am sure that God does not sit on the sidelines and turn a deaf ear. God is engaged, because redemption is real.

Let us be a people of redemption who aren't afraid to engage Hip Hop. And may our response honor God.

When Hip Hop Went to the Church

I've had a strange relationship with the music I create and perform. I don't actually like addressing it directly. I sort of address it within the lyrics from time to time.

You see I came in the double doors of Hip Hop and gospel music. What a strange entrance. Traditionally one of the doors should be marked entrance and the other exit since it seems you can't do both at the same time. I don't subscribe to terms such as "holy hip hop" (because I think that is corny and something Robin from the old Batman series would say as in "Holy Hip Batman, to the Bat mobile!) and I don't subscribe to the definitions "christian hip hop" and "christian rap" because I think the word Christian is a bad adjective and a better noun. Even the term "gospel rap" just doesn't totally feel authentic to me. If you subscribe to any of these terms please don't shoot me, I'm not dissing anyone else for doing so. It's just a personal thing to me. Don't mind me with my personal opinions! Lol.
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Russell Simmons On Mosque Hoopla

Here’s a snapshot of Russell Simmons’ apartment perched near Ground Zero. In his windows are images of religious symbols that spell out C-O-E-X-I-S-T. There’s been much controversy surrounding the erection of a mosque two blocks away. Rush told the NY Daily News that he wants the message to unite instead of divide.
Read more here, especially the comment section

MooKee – The Music News Blog Rotating Header Image Is There Room For Religion In Hip Hop?

For many people hip hop proves the existence of a higher power, because it has allowed them to rise from something to nothing through having faith, being persistent, and by pursuing a gift or passion that was given to them by the Most High. As a result, it is safe to assume that religion or spirituality has played a part in the development of careers of these artists and executives alike. Followers of Christ for instance, are well aware that no sin is greater than the next and as long as you profess your love of God and ask for forgiveness his love will endure forever. One thing is for sure, unlike the music industry, your Most High will be around, no matter how many nominations you get or what your record sales look like this year.
Read more here

The Soul of Hip Hop

Click here for more information on a new book on the religious in Hip Hop

Christ Appropriating the Culture of Hip Hop The Soul of Hip Hop, Pt II

Maybe you’ve noticed that Hip Hop often evokes strong reactions from Christians. Hip Hop doesn’t always make it easy for a Christian to look and say, “Wow, now there’s a people group I’d just love to learn from and minister with!” No, in fact, often people have quite the opposite reaction.

In turn, many run far from Hip Hop, never really understanding the culture, its people, and its message; moreover, some Christians even see it as “demonic”. When we’re willing to look closer, we might find that Hip Hop has a lot to offer the broader society. What, then, might it mean to both embrace and engage Hip Hop from a missional perspective?

Read more here

The Soul of Hip Hop Part 1

Hip Hop, in the words of KRS-One, is “something that is being lived.”¹

Hip Hop is larger than the radio, larger than commercialized artists, larger than record industry branding. It is a culture, a people, a movement, a growing community of people that live, breath, eat, love, hate and work just as anyone else does. Hip Hop cannot be easily understood or defined. It is complex and full of narratives that would blow away many of the strongest anthropologists. But as I always tell my students, we have to discuss the obvious to get to the obscure. I am suggesting we begin to deconstruct parts of Hip Hop as a larger phenomenon in order to understand the whole—in this case, its theology.

Read the rest here

Call for Chapters

Call for chapters for the forthcoming volume “Hip Hop Spirituality and Urban God Talk.”

As framed and constructed by the media and even some practitioners, hip hop culture is considered a hyper-violent, misogynistic, and materialistic culture devoid of anything holy, sacred and good. Indeed, many spiritual leaders of all faiths indict the entire culture of hip hop and promote it as the work of the devil (or Evil One). However, we suggest that a different reading of hip hop culture will allow one to discover a profound; yet diverse spirituality emanating throughout the culture. While not orthodox by typical religious standards and traditions, hip hop culture, like any other culture, finds hope, joy, comfort, relief, and understanding, through the practice(s) of its worship and spirituality.

Therefore, I am interested in compiling and editing a book of original essays on hip hop’s spirituality. Essayists in this volume hope not only to contribute to the lack of scholarship that focuses on hip hop’s spirituality, but we are also interested in examining how discourses concerning hip hop could change if a reading of hip hop included its spirituality. In addition, we hope this book begins an interdisciplinary dialogue that provides a rigorous, creative, and critical examination that encourages others to take up this exciting field of study. Essays in this volume will cover all aspects of spirituality and hip hop.

Please submit a 300-500 word proposal and CV to me at aejohnson762@bellsouth.net by July 31, 2010

Losing My Religion

When I was a teenager, during one of my bouts of depression, I wandered about the streets of Wilkes-Barre in tears. I felt unloved, unwanted and totally friendless. I wanted comfort, security, some form of relief from my misery. I was ripe and ready to be approached by a cult.

And I was. Several members of a cult known as “The Family” approached me and tried to convince me that they were my friends. I wanted them to be, but all I heard were the same empty promises that I heard on Sunday at the church I attended.
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Post Soul Theology: Reversing The Hermeneutic with Tupac Amaru Shakur

Tupac died September 13, 1996. His death was in no way short of controversy—as was almost his entire life. Yet, in death, his message became even stronger and global. Tupac has touched the lives of many and, as many people that I have interviewed told me, brought them closer to an understanding of who God was, is, and can be. Tupac presented a conundrum of sorts. On one hand, he represents the hope, vigor, and excitement of a post soul generation. Yet, on the other, he represents the despair, depression, and marginalization of several generations all gathered into one person. Tupac presented both sides. His half brother asserts that he represented both the good and evil in people.
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Pastor Tim Interviews Lecrae from Re:Sound on Vimeo.

Features : Minister Sharrieff Muhammad: On Rappers, Responsibility and Religion

Features : Minister Sharrieff Muhammad: On Rappers, Responsibility and Religion

Hip-Hop and Islam: Intersections and Parallels

There are a number of profound parallels between Hip-Hop and Islam. Both are in the ‘hoods as well as the suburbs. Both are in jails as well as the free world. Both are in the community. Both are in rap music. Both offer a colorful display of personality, hues, and cultural varieties. Both are ways of life embraced by millions the world over.?
Hip-Hop and Islam intersected early on in rap’s history when the young poets began to embrace the teachings of Malcolm X (also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz). Rakim was the first and most widely recognized rapper to outwardly profess the teachings of Islam, and at one time, he even rapped under the moniker Rakim Allah (or “Sun God”). Public Enemy name-checked Minister Louis Farrakhan on songs such as “Don’t Believe the Hype”: “A follower of Farrakhan / don’t tell me that you understand / until you hear the man.” And, KRS-One emulated a famous “guarding the house” photo of Malcolm X on the cover of Boogie Down Productions’ “By All Means Necessary” in 1988.
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Hip-Hop Has Saved My Soul (and Spirituality) by BYC

I know this is long but I hope everyone tagged will read this and forward if they want.As insomnia kicks in, another profound post (I hope) is produced. I only get exciting ideas to write about in the middle of my sleep- surely, it’s divinely inspired. It’s like the Tupac line from Ghetto Gospel, “Never forget, that God isn’t finished with me yet//When I write rhymes, I go blind, and let the Lord do his thing.”I dedicate this entry to all my friends and family from Seattle Chinese Alliance Church. It’s hard to write this and not think about the past five years of what could have been had I continued ‘growing in Christ’ with you all. I ask that you will be patient as you read this, as I’m sure much if not all of this note will provoke some kind of offense, and genuinely welcome and encourage your comments at the end.A second audience I want to address here are some of my progressive friends who do listen to hip hop, but intentionally limit their listening to ‘underground’, ‘political’, and ‘socially conscious’ rap—artists like the Blue Scholars, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Mos Def.I think the title of this note is really fitting, because I wish to say that hip hop, in its entirety, including its most violent incarnations (i.e. gangsta rap, horrorcore), has rekindled my spirituality when I had completely abandoned God by providing me an alternative conception of Christianity and faith that was understood and embraced by people struggling against a system that had marginalized them from the political process and from economic opportunities. Hip hop has also taught me so much about the world and has given me so much purpose to what I do as a community organizer.
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Bringing Hip-Hop to Church

Hip-Hop is here to stay. Pastor Efrem Smith not only understands this, he embraces it. And he believes other leaders in his position also must learn to embrace it if the church is going to do its job in urban communities.
Smith is the senior pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis and coauthor, with Phil Jackson, of The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting with the Movement Shaping Our Culture. It's been said that jazz and hip-hop are cut from the same improvisational cloth, so it seems fitting to have UrbanFaith's resident Jazz Theologian, Robert Gelinas, interview hip-hop pastor Efrem Smith.
Read the interview here

The Soul of Hip Hop Part 1 Toward A Missiological Gospel of A Culture

Hip Hop is larger than the radio, larger than commercialized artists, larger than record industry branding. It is a culture, a people, a movement, a growing community of people that live, breath, eat, love, hate and work just as anyone else does. Hip Hop cannot be easily understood or defined. It is complex and full of narratives that would blow away many of the strongest anthropologists. But as I always tell my students, we have to discuss the obvious to get to the obscure. I am suggesting we begin to deconstruct parts of Hip Hop as a larger phenomenon in order to understand the whole—in this case, its theology.
Read more here

A Socio-spiritual Snapshot of Hip Hop from the West Coast Between 1992 and 1995

As the elements of Hip Hop were advancing with their eternal and universal purposes, Hip Hop took a look at her community and heard the cries of her people. So, she started to question and lobby for the redressing of Black Economics that was long overdue. The West Coast is know for some brutal stuff--gangs, earthquakes, Hollywood, O.J., Rodney King, and so on, and so forth. So, when observers see the heavy, systemic proportion of Black victims as results of structural poverty, it is not a surprise to anyone who has already seen the news, but for some, it sparked a collective attitude to get things situated economically. The authenticity of Hip Hop cared about and should still be the voice for the holistic need of people who dwell in the poor corners, the ethnic dumps, and recycled areas of the city (i.e.-lower 9th Ward, New Orleans, post Katrina). And this was not just on the West Coast. Statistics doubled and quadrupled themselves in crime databases amongst African and Hispanic Americans in Chicago and D.C. Being in community was seen as riot and gang affiliation (hints to the scowl and indignation of what is now know as"racial profiling").
After the Uprising (the Riots) and The Gang Truce of 1992, authorities were stuck on stupid, beating their nightsticks in their palms, and delirious that crime rates had actually declined. So, the Police beefed up their security and gave themselves the green light to pollutingly harass and mistreat the "Black family." Police questioned the motives of peace treaties between once rivaled gangs in speculation that the fight was now against them, as it rightfully should have been. From here, we can stiffly affirm that the Prison Industrial Complex's Juvenile Division made for the arrest of very young people a very easy thing with the underpinning of petty laws to the busting of youths "beyond reasonable doubt" and/or "on the grounds of suspicion."
The backlash of cosmic opposition pressed down on those who resisted the unjust arm of the law. The communal pieces of the Hip Hop generation (peace, dance, fashion, et alia) were pierced by the sharp infiltration of quasi-Justice in the spirit of COINTELPRO. Being young was now a criminal offense. NO Sagging pants, no more of that breaking bugaloo shh-stuff, and none of that hideous spray painting, saith the Law. Curfews, anti-cruising laws, noise ordinances and restrictions on public displays of affection were strategically placed obstacles that tripped up many youths into the pipeline of The "Justice" Department.
With the attention focused at the bottom of social ranks that were under the heaviness of piss poor politicians, pissed smelling projects, and pissed-off Police persons, the role models--the Rappers--became involved in a hot debate with government officials, and yes, even the President of the Unites States.
A young, Black activist by the name of Lisa Williamson, better known as Sister Souljah, a community organizer, public speaker, as well as a rap mogul, stunned America and the American President of that time, William Jefferson Clinton, with her equalizing rhetoric on the violence of the riots which had beat Reginald Denny to death on national TV.
To this day, the two anacronym blows responsible for the blinding of Liberty were the hands of Hip Hop's Sister Souljah and Ice T's album "Body Count" which underwent vehement protests from disgruntled cops responding to his controversial single "Cop Killer" and was later discontinued from record shelves and media airwaves.
But, also in this cultural snapshot of Hip Hop's timeline is the liberating presence of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan who constructed the historic reconstructing, reconciling Million Man March which happened that Monday morning of October 16th, 1995. Afterwards "a generation went home with themselves, back to the business of becoming," said Jeff Chang in his book "Can't Stop Won't Stop."
Here, we can percieve the cultural aesthetic of Hip Hop calling us back to her undisputed spirituality. Common said he "used to love H.E.R." Love, Peace, Joy, and having fun is ecclessial, and so is Hip Hop. She embodies the healing power for the collective trauma of the oppressed. I deduce here that Hip Hop is the Secular Church; that the Beloved Community has never been clearer when one beholds Hip Hop. It is universal, cross-cultural, even pluralistic. Hip Hop has an inextricable solidarity with the poor. What a compliment it is to the reign of God. A conscious look at Hip Hop can be the social forcasting of where we as people should be headed. Amen.

Daniel White Hodge: Tha Hostile Gospel: Missionaly Embracing the Theology of Hip Hop: CCDA 2009 Audio: Free Christian MP3 Podcast | UrbanMinistry.org

Daniel White Hodge: Tha Hostile Gospel: Missionaly Embracing the Theology of Hip Hop: CCDA 2009 Audio: Free Christian MP3 Podcast UrbanMinistry.org: "Daniel White Hodge: Tha Hostile Gospel: Missionaly Embracing the Theology of Hip Hop: CCDA 2009 Audio"

Post Soul Theology: Reversing The Hermeneutic with Tupac Amaru Shakur

From September 13, 2009
Today marks the 13-year anniversary of Tupac’s violent and shocking exit of this world. He died September 13, 1996. His death was in no way short of controversy—as was almost his entire life. Yet, in death, his message became even stronger and global. Tupac has touched the lives of many and, as many people that I have interviewed told me, brought them closer to an understanding of who God was, is, and can be. Tupac presented a conundrum of sorts. On one hand, he represents the hope, vigor, and excitement of a post soul generation. Yet, on the other, he represents the despair, depression, and marginalization of several generations all gathered into one person. Tupac presented both sides. His half brother asserts that he represented both the good and evil in people.
Read the rest here

Hip Hop: Call for Papers

Call for Papers: RAP AND HIP HOP CULTURE

PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations
Joint Conference
April 20-23, 2011
San Antonio, TX
http://www.swtxpca.org
Proposal submission deadline: December 15, 2010
Conference hotel: Marriott Rivercenter San Antonio
101 Bowie Street
San Antonio, Texas 78205 USA
Phone: 1-210-223-1000


Proposals for both Panels and Individual Papers are now being accepted for the Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture Area. We had excellent representation in this Area for 2010, and we are looking to expand in both quantity and complexity for 2011. This year, we are particularly interested in proposals that address the following:

- Intersections of Hip Hop and Pedagogy
- Rap Music, Hip Hop Culture, and Space/Place
- Theoretical approaches to Hip Hop (i.e., Language Theory/Postmodernism/Social Theory)
- Rap, Hip Hop, and Academic Disciplinarity
- Rhetorical Approaches to Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
- Rap, Hip Hop, and Film/Documentary
- Hip Hop Subjectivities/Agency
- Anthropological/Sociological approaches to Hip Hop Culture
- Economics and Hip Hop Culture
- Discussions of international Hip Hop
- Intersections of Hip Hop and Religion/Theology
- Hip Hop and Technology
- Latino Hip Hop
- Women and Hip Hop
- Hip Hop in the age of Obama

As always, papers and panels that consider the myriad ways that Rap Music and Hip Hop culture impact and feed upon Popular and American culture are encouraged. This Area should be construed broadly, and we seek papers that aren’t afraid to take risks. Proposals from Graduate Students are particularly welcome, with award opportunities for the best graduate papers.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words with relevant audio/visual requests by December 15, 2010, to Robert Tinajero at the email below. Panel proposals should include one abstract of 200 words describing the panel, accompanied by the underlying abstracts of 250 words of the individual papers that comprise the panel.

Robert Tinajero
Area: Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
hiphopcfp@hotmail.com
www.swtxpca.org

Robert Tinajero Tarrant County College English Department 817-515-4616 Email: hiphopcfp@hotmail.com Visit the website at http://swtxpca.org

Hip Hop On Sacred Ground: The Culture and Spiritualization of Rap Music

Hip Hop On Sacred Ground: The Culture and Spiritualization of Rap Music

Does God Hate Hip Hop?

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Calls for Chapters

Call for chapters for the forthcoming volume “Hip Hop Spirituality and Urban God Talk.”

As framed and constructed by the media and even some practitioners, hip hop culture is considered a hyper-violent, misogynistic, and materialistic culture devoid of anything holy, sacred and good. Indeed, many spiritual leaders of all faiths indict the entire culture of hip hop and promote it as the work of the devil (or Evil One). However, we suggest that a different reading of hip hop culture will allow one to discover a profound; yet diverse spirituality emanating throughout the culture. While not orthodox by typical religious standards and traditions, hip hop culture, like any other culture, finds hope, joy, comfort, relief, and understanding, through the practice(s) of its worship and spirituality.

Therefore, I am interested in compiling and editing a book of original essays on hip hop’s spirituality. Essayists in this volume hope not only to contribute to the lack of scholarship that focuses on hip hop’s spirituality, but we are also interested in examining how discourses concerning hip hop could change if a reading of hip hop included its spirituality. In addition, we hope this book begins an interdisciplinary dialogue that provides a rigorous, creative, and critical examination that encourages others to take up this exciting field of study. Essays in this volume will cover all aspects of spirituality and hip hop.

Please submit a 300-500 word proposal and CV to me at ajohnson@memphisseminary.edu by June 30, 2010

Faith Complex: Michael Eric Dyson on hip-hop theology

The Conducive Nature Of Hip Hop Culture For Missional Praxis

One of the most unique, creative, and influential cultures in not only North America but throughout the world is hip hop culture. Hip hop’s appeal can be seen locally and globally as its style, music, and attitude continue to spread fast through various mediums. In the midst of this culturally explosive movement, we also note that the North American Church is struggling, as its popularity and draw fades with each passing year. However, rebirth is found as thousands of Christians are taping into the fountains of biblical wisdom that are redirecting them back to God’s Mission. A movement known as the missional church, is pleading with the body of Christ to be the Church, and to bring the gospel of Christ in a relevant and contextualized fashion to all peoples. Read more here

Hip Hop and the Nation of Islam

In April 1997, Minister Louis Farrakhan (who arrogated leadership of the reconstituted Nation of Islam in 1978) along with key figures in the Hip Hop Industry summoned rap artists from around the country to attend what eventually became the first official Hip Hop Peace Summit. The driving force behind the summit was to encourage and to educate East and West Coast rappers but mainly to put an end to the East/West rivalry that was threatening to implode the Hip Hop industry.

Read more at Suite101: Hip Hop and the Nation of Islam: The Blueprint of the Million Man March http://alternative-religions.suite101.com/article.cfm/hip-hop-and-the-nation-of-islam#ixzz0oEXouyC9

RZA’s The Tao of Wu: Hip Hop Religion, Spiritual Sampling, and Race in a "Post-Racial" Age

You’d think that seven years after the release of Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks” that there would be little need to explain the link between hip hop music and religion. Yet in a recent NPR interview, I was asked once again what the often profane posture of hip hop has to do with the sacred aspirations of spirituality. So perhaps it is still necessary to pause at the outset and offer a few examples as a reminder to readers of rap music’s long tradition of religious ruminations. Read the rest here

Spiritual Strain of Hiphop Part 2 - Christianity
Although I recently wrote about hip-hop's spirituality and "religion" the Universal Zulu Nation, that doesn't mean people from other religions don't use hip-hop as an expressive tool. Other religions use hip-hop music, dance and graffiti within the contexts of worshiping their god or higher being. Christianity is one of the religions that use hip-hop as that form of tool. Also known as "Holy Hip Hop," hip-hop art in Christian culture has been known as the new and hip way to rally a younger audience into the church. People from the Christian faith that believe hip-hop, although it is "created by man," is used for God's purpose to reach out to the youth. Those who accept Holy Hip-Hop hold similar beliefs as the Universal Zulu Nation, but believe it is the principles of Christianity that need to be pushed in the lyrics and that the Christ figure should be added into songs. Even some famous hip-hop artists are now apart of the Holy Hip-Hop community, including Christopher "Play" Martin (from the hip-hop rap group Kid N' Play) and Kurtis Blow. read the rest of the post here

Spirituality and Hip Hop

Spiritual Strains of Hiphop
Within the culture of hip-hop lies another element often ignored by mainstream society -- religion. There has always been the question of where the people of hip-hop get their energy from, and the answer is often umbrellaed as an energy that is used to fight freedom. However there is a deeper layer in the hip-hop community than the mere desire to be equal, and most people attribute it to a form of religion within hip-hop culture formed by hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Read the rest of this post here

My Hip Hop Role Model

A few years ago the young and tumultuous life of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was depicted in a motion picture titled after his 2002 debut album, Get Rich or Die Trying. The film was accompanied by a soundtrack and a book length autobiography, From Pieces to Weight. His music, film, and autobiography tell a rags to riches story of a poor black kid from Jamaica Queens, New York who hustles his way out of chronic poverty, rising from a nihilistic drug dealer to a hip hop superstar and businessman. His story of struggle and hustle is the mythological stuff that consumers of hip hop love and what is typically called the American Dream. Hip hop artists thrive off of this mythology and without it hip hop would not be hip hop. In fact, no hip hop artist is credible and authentic apart from this myth.
Please continue this article here.

Are We Losing Religion?

Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."

Read More from the USA Today column here