Thursday, July 2, 2009

Cool Christian Rappers

Listening to Christian radio, as I often do, I heard an old Carman song played. "JC In Da House". Robin Sullivan from WMUZ in Detroit played it like it was a normal song in her rotation. As if it was cool and hip. Though I have to say that there was a sense in her voice that she thought it was kind of silly. Can you tolerate more than 30 seconds of it?

If you make it and you want to take it up a notch, try the Huckabee show on Foxnews where two white nerd boys rap it up for abstinence and Jesus. Check the looks on the face of the two attractive females in the audience with their pained politely smiling faces which say "How did we ever get involved in this?"

Of course there are a lot excellent Christian musicians that I listen to all the time on my iPod, including MercyMe, Third Day, Casting Crowns, and Chris Tomlin. I like to mix that in with a little Pantera and some Megadeth.

3 comments:

jason said...

There used to be many good Christian rappers in the early to mid 90's. Evan as a devout believer, I still had to stifle the occasional snicker at the cheese-factor that seemed inevitable. There's something slightly incongruent about a form that comes from and represents a harder way of life being appropriated for sweetness and light and what-have-you.

The good ones tended NOT to be too syrupy and to NOT only rap about how great Jesus is. Maybe that's why they were good. But even they seemed to feel obligated to throw a really sappy tune or two on each album.
If you yearned for the great old school stylings of a Run-DMC but wanted a wholesome Christian message (as if Run-DMC was really terrible) you couldn't beat P.I.D. (which stood for Preachers In Disguise... not the most creative name). I heard one of them eventually left Christianity to become a Black Muslim, though.

Chris said...

I've heard a lot of Christian music. It all sucks. It's so contrived that the music seems almost an afterthought. Even if you back centuries, secular music always seems to touch the "soul" more profoundly.

Jermaine Cobbs said...

I agree with the above post in that there used to be a lot of good Christian rap in the early 90's but then again you can say the same thing about the secular market. You don't hear many artists that sound like Tupac, Biggie or even Jay-Z for that matter. I believe that DC talk set the bar for Christian rap, I can fondly remember a concert of theirs I attended while growing up in VA. Most Christian artist these days don't have a clue as to who they want to serve, it certainly can't be Jesus (as evidenced by a lot of the lyrics & actions). Some of it is outright secular with a Christian veil.

If you want to hear some truly uncompromised Christian rap music that, I suggest you go to jermainecobbs.com and check out what God is doing in my life.