Christian Hip-Hop Responds to Mainstream Music’s New Gospel

A few weeks ago we posted an article that addressed the growing trend of mainstream music’s fixation of doing “gospel music.” The cited the examples of Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, DMX, and a few others. This time around, we asked a set of questions to a mixed bag of artists within Christian hip-hop to gauge their thoughts on the topic.

These were the questions we asked:

1. The media is heralding Chance the Rapper and Kanye West as making great “gospel” music. Yet Christian artists that do the same, are often left out of the conversation. Why do you think it’s ok for non-Christians to dabble in the gospel, but Christians get flack?

2. What do you think of this quote? “[Chance the Rapper’s] Coloring Book, on the other hand, feels like the first great hip-hop album to successfully channel the centuries-old musical traditions of the black church without anything like pretension or irony. This in itself feels like something of a miracle. I say this with the utmost love but hip-hop is a profane music and always has been; its energies aren’t celestial, but fully flesh-and-blood.”

3. Why do you think Christian artists who dabble in “non-Christian” music get blasted for their “lack of faith” or “treason” against Christianity?

4. Do non-Christian artists make better Christian art than the Christians do? Explain.

Here is part one of two articles that will feature Christian hip-hop’s responses.

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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