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.
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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?

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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.

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