Your boy’s been a Christian, quite a few years
Victory and faith, but I failed in my fears
I heard a lot of words that have tickled many ears
That’s why I praise God for the Word that we adhere
The Word became flesh, lived for thirty years
Died at 33, but after days reappeared
Jesus Christ anointed one ascended in the air
Or you can say the air where the Father made Him heir
Of all things the throne know it’s more than a chair
But after our redemption yes He did take a chair
Greater than the angels name superior to theirs
This is Hebrews Chapter 1 if you cared
I’m leaning to the right
The light is where I’m running
I thought I wanted life, drunk, sexed out and blunted
But all I really wanted was the One who really won it
Fought death, beat it gave His life to the public
I love it!

Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

Man I’m trying to lift Him high
Higher than the stars
I am not of this world like I’m from the planet mars
I love to preach Jesus you can read it in my bars
I’m pretty straight forward when I’m speaking bout my Lord
He paid the sin price being beat by Roman guards
But when He resurrected gave us life free of charge
Now me and my boys need to be in a psych ward
Cause we went crazy for God our lives was scarred
Now in the Book of Life, our names have been written down
We’re casting our crowns before His feet on the ground
It’s such a holy melody and a heavenly sound
Hearing holy holy holy coming out of the mouth
Of the four living creatures by His throne all around
Can you picture the scene this this is how it’s going down
You just need a little faith and a new set of eyes and a telescopic lens to look in and see God
I love it!

Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

One day we gon’ be out man, like three strikes
And home son like a homerun CHRIST
IS – KING – LION – LAMB – GOD – MAN – SIN CONQUEROR – GRAVE CONQUEROR – SATAN CONQURER
Can take a sinner, atheist sinner to God conscience
Can take nothing
Make creation and lives honor
The same God that came through a fetus as Jesus
Limited to breathing
Got believers singing

Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

(Check out the album version and lyrics here.)

-Ben

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

Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Lemme go lemme go!

I seen it with my own two,
There’s no way i can show you
A perfectly poverty stricken people with no view.
And i bet you can’t believe this,
They never heard of jesus.
Heard young butler, lil wayne, and young jeezy.

No one’s signing up to go on missions this summa.
Rather sit at home and watch exibit pimp in a humma
While a nine year old is shot down.
No one’s screaming ’stop now!’
No bridge illustrations for criminals who on lock down.

People deep in africa
Looking for an answer bra’.
In china man,
They’re dieing man,
Until they know who died for sins.
So look what grace did.
Not for us to stay here
Inside our comfort zones
At home in mama’s basement.

Get out on the grind y’all.
Ain’t no better time doll.
I know y’all read the great commission.
Let me just remind y’all:
Make disciples of the nations.
Teach’m to obey the lord.
Have to lead someone to christ before i face the lord.

Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Lemme go lemme go!

Hey! After, 1,000 years in the west and the churches
Get’n bigger daily without understand’n worship. (say what?)
Some regenerate but a lot ain’t saved.
You walk outside and be surprised cuz the block ain’t changed.
And the numbers they be get’n me.
Something just ain’t hit’n them.
America ain’t Christian they practice’n the ritual.
That’s why we should be missional.
Hey, what you think i’m spit’n for?
The united states is die’n
And in the east is looking pitiful.

Some places if they catch you
They’ll arrest you.
They’ll serve you,
But they still need the word too.
The gospel should be heard too.
We claim we ain’t ashamed,
But we ain’t hit the block up.
Were in our christian bubble,
While our brotha’s get’n locked up.
Lord I wanna stock up,
Pack a bag and walk up
In a country where my faith may get me shot up
Anywhere i go, whether my city or far abroad,
I just wanna show’ christ the risen holy god.

Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Lemme go lemme go!

I know they’re die’n in the streets over in the middle east.
Some kids sink in piece
Others hold’n up a piece.
If the violence doesn’t cease,
Then at least the deceased
Might know jesus as their savior as their bodies hit the streets.
And i know this is a graphic view.
And i pray that it’s attack’n you.
Track’n you to act and do
What you see in the back illusion.
Mathew twenty-four and fourteen.
We should read it twice
Before we think that life is just a battle
See we free in christ!
Look dawg! Life is more than church work and football!
What if you were dead and seen that christians overlooked y’all!
This is why we leave the couch
And leave the comforts of our house
To show a die’n world a God they’ll probably never read about.

The great commission says make disciples of all nations.
Have we even made them in our own nation?
Come on Christians!
Missions exist because worship doesn’t.
People don’t worship the God who made them.
We’re ambassadors.
Let’s go!

Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Send me I’ll go,
Lemme go lemme go!