If We’ve Only Got One Life…

My Hip Hop Apologetic

For the last few months, I’ve been pushing Christian Hip Hop using a purely intellectual argument.  That is, it makes sense to listen to it.  Or, you should want to want to listen to it.  My reasons:

1. Song Length - Hip Hop tends to have very long verses.  With a lot of words, you can communicate a lot of information.  In the case of Christian Hip Hop, it is communicating true information (TRUTH) about the person and work of Jesus and our relationship to Him.
2. Beat - Hip Hop tends to have driving, regular beats.  Beats like this aid in memorization.  Couple this with long verses that contain truth and you can memorize a lot of good stuff just by listening to it.
3. The Artists - they generally have theological training at the college or seminary level (The Ambassador is actually a pastor in Philly and has an M.Div from Dallas)
4. Song Content - they are very explicitly theological, meaning they teach about and talk about God.  They are evangelistic, explaining salvation to nonchristians.  They are a great example of contextualization (at its best, I dare say).  They are discipling, encouraging Christians to grow in their faith.  They are sending, encouraging Christians to reach out and eventually GO on missions.

Beyond that, they actually are pretty good musically.  A comment from my friend Ayan:

Ayan: btw i listened to the song u posted a whilte ago
“were you there”
twas good
christina hip hop is actually good
its also wayy too good to be considered hip hop
or christian music

Some artists to check out:

• The Ambassador
• Lecrae
• 116 Clique <– a group
• The Cross Movement <–

And if you’re interested in checking out a concert, see Lukas from DG’s blog post about The Unashamed Tour.

Last but not least, some Youtube clips:

-Ben