Posted on 04/30/2010 8:55:29 AM PDT by alleyesonCHRIST
I come from a day and age where rap was first making its appearance on the scene. I admit that I enjoyed Run DMC, Kool Moe Dee, Will Smith (back then Fresh Prince), and Kid N Play as much as the next guy or probably more. However, the lyrics of those rap artists are a far cry from the violent and vulgar lyrics of many of today's artists. Today if I want to listen to rap music I will listen to Christian rappers KJ-52, T-Bone, or the eclectic styles of Toby Mac. Yes, there is such a thing as Christian rap music and many of the artists are trying to impact their more worldly brethren. Take for instance KJ-52 and his numerous letters and even songs reaching out to Eminem.
(Excerpt) Read more at alleyesonchrist.blogspot.com ...
“Christian rap music’
Reminds me of what Jay Leno once said: ‘If Jesus came back and saw evertyhing they did in His name, he would start throwing up and not stop”
And while listening to the “Christian” rap, I drink my “Christian” beer, and surf the internet for “Christian” porn. Riiiiiight.
Just smacking “Christian” in front of something doesn’t make it Christian. I don’t kid myself about secular music - nor “Christian” music that has the exact same sound as secular music. Just because the words are changed, the music isn’t, and the beat isn’t.
“You people aren’t making Christianity better. You’re just making rock n’ roll worse!” — Hank Hill
The Bible says to “sing a new song.” Certainly sticking Christian in front of something doesn’t make it so, but if the lyrics are promoting Jesus and Christianity then I believe it is pleasing to God.
I think it is incorrect to believe that your way of worshipping is the only way to worship. As long as Jesus is the center and the message is the same then I could care less if the words are put to the rhythm of Mozart, Gershwin, Aerosmith, or Run DMC.
I also do not believe that any certain domination has a corner on the market of the blueprint of the way to get to Heaven. Never be it so!
It is rather funny that you have quoted Hank Hill though. Kudos for that bit of humor.
Have a blessed day.
Christian Rap is a hard concept for many to get their arms around. But I think I would rather have my kid listening to that than the violent explicit lyric variety. And we are not to hide from the world - rather we are to rise above it and in so doing be the salt and the light for it. Rap in and of itself is just a type of poetry to music. If we can bring it out of the gutter and into the word it can be a tool rather than a detriment.
KJ 52 is great, Toby Mac not so much (some of his fame seems to have gone to his head at times)...whose glory are they performing for? That is the litmus test...
I recall some of the uproar some of the "contemporary" hymns of the 1980's created...that are now found in the bound hymnals of many churches...
Sing a new song doesn’t mean every form of music is acceptable and pleasing to God simply because of references to Christ in it.
Try listening to “Christian Thrash” and “Christian Speed Metal” sometime. They have references to Christ in there, though the average person will never even hear it, they sound no different than any other thrash or speed metal bands. And if you can’t tell the difference between what’s suppsosed to be “Christian” and what’s secular, you’ve got a big problem there.
We are to conform the world to us, not conform to the world. That’s what you do when you try to wrap Christianity into secular veneers of music.
Salt and light, yes. But you are not acting like salt and light with “Christian” rap. You say the regular stuff is violent. How does Christian rap expose secular rap? How does Christian rap explicitly rebuke rap? Look at rap’s origins and the subject matter rap encompasses throughout its history. It is inherently violent. It is angry violent music, highly illicit sexual music.
And to say the music itself has no bearing is to deny the power of (ANY) music and the very heavy beat that comes with rap. And the way people dance to rap - well, they could just as easily dance lewd and sexually to “Christian” rap because there’s no difference in the music.
Somewhere, at some time, someone said the same thing about the guy who started tacking intervals of a 3rd above the melody of a Gregorian chant.
And counterpoint. Oh my God. Multiple independent lines all happening at the same time?
And harmony in the classic (1750-1800) period? How dare they use the the diabolus in musica in sacred music.
That’s what you do when you try to wrap Christianity into secular veneers of music.
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Music, in and of itself, is neither secular nor sacred.
“Music, in and of itself, is neither secular nor sacred.”
That’s not true.
If it was you could take AC/DC and change the words and voila! according to you it would be sacred. That simply ignores the music itself. What you are saying is the actual music itself has no impact at all on the spirituality of the music. That couldn’t be more wrong.
If you look at the kinds of music unsaved peoples that pray to spirits and such, in Africa for example, you see these strong beat rhythms. Juju and voodoo use heavy beat drums, and it’s no accident that a lot of the ritual dancing devolves into sex and sacrifice and shedding blood.
We have documented stories of Christian missionaries going over to Africa with their kids, who bring their rock music along with them, only to have a saved African who once was involved with pagan religion, to come up to them while the kids are playing that music, and asking them why they are playing devil music/voodoo music. Because of the beat, the heavy rhythmic drum that gets things going. If anyone knows what kind of music that is, it’s someone who’s been incolved in that kind of pagan practices. To hear supposed Christians listening to what he considers the kind of music unsaved people in his country listen and dance and do rituals to, that tells you something.
If you lack the ability to tell Godly music from stuff that clearly isn’t, I feel for you.
If you believe everyone who calls what they do “Christian” then you’re I think too trusting and naive.
And your examples aren’t even the same thing as this. All you describe are people doing something new to music. What we are talking about here is people who are not doing anything new, they are trying to take a secular form of music (rap) that already exists, and have agreed the secular form is violent, sexual and generally evil, and instead are trying to change the lyrics to somehow make it palatable and Godly. They aren’t making anything new as an art form, they are trying to convert an ungodly form of music to a godly form, and it cannot be done. The end product still sounds and looks like the secular product. For those people who don’t care what the words are, it’s just rap. You may not even be able to clearly hear the words, but damn, you can still bump and grind to it. That isn’t Christian.
I say you can’t separate the music from the bad, because the hard driving beat that’s behind the words affects things and the rappers still sound like the secular rappers and largely look like the secular rappers (maybe the bling has a cross or two in it).
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