Some see Christian hip-hop as alternative to gospel music

Over the years, gospel music has changed from traditional dramatic hymns, such as “Amazing Grace” and “Wade in the Water” to songs like God’s Property hit “Stomp” and Smoky Norful’s “I Need You Now,” getting play on secular radio stations.
Regardless of where it is played, gospel music has remained conscientious of the message that the song’s lyric have set out to accomplish.
As gospel music evolved, Christian rap or “holy hip-hop” has established its own place in popular music.
Willie Matthews, a former deacon of Star Hill Baptist Church is apprehensive about this new genre called Holy Hip-Hop.
“I do not particularly care for Christian rap, but as long as the artists make sure that the music lines up with God’s word then it’s okay,” he said.
Other Christian rap artists like GRITS (Grammatical Revolution in the Spirit) and The Cross Movement and have been climbing the Top 10 Christian charts for their hot beats and creative lyrics.
Freshman Rosie-Mary Beathley is fan of the fairly new genre of music.
“It keeps young kids involved instead of making them bored in church,” Beathley said. “It’s real. Christian hip-hop tells it how it is.”
Some prefer secular hip-hop, as opposed to that of the Christian persuasion.
The main reason, according to a report on www.gospel.com is that until recently, and with few exceptions, you could only get Christian rap by “going to Christian bookstores; these tended to be in the suburbs, and while church-friendly and partially ‘youth-friendly’ it is in no way urban-youth-friendly.”
This concept has left many fans wondering if the marketing of rap artists by Christian record companies have isolated them from the very young people their music could be influencing.
Senior Donica Jones said that Christian rap fulfills its purpose.
“I don’t think of it as a rip off because it has a faithful message,” she said. “The only difference is that they (Christian artists) don’t use explicit language. If you watch a Christian rap/hip-hop video you would see the flashy cars, clothes, and jewelry just like a regular rap video,” Jones said. “Really, just by watching it for a second you wouldn’t know if it was Christian rap or regular rap.”
Pastor William Davis, of First Baptist Church of Richmond Park in Baton Rouge admitted he has not heard much Christian rap, but agrees that young people involved in the church need to have a genre of music that they can relate to.
“If the music is making the crowd happy and giving the artist a break, that’s not serving God,” he said. “But when the lyrics and music lines up with the Bible and is praising God, I don’t have a problem with it, even though I can’t understand a word they’re saying.”