10 Christian Hip-Hop Artists Who Have Written Books

Over the years Christian hip-hop has been vocal about everything from faith, temptation, race, and even the highs and lows of being an artist. Sometimes the emcees have to take their message out of our headphones, and visualize them onto the pages of a book. The following is a list of 10 artists in the Christian hip-hop community who have written books (in no particular order).

Lecrae

Lecrae became a first time author this year with the release of his book “Unashamed.” The book chronicles his journey of an erratic childhood into a troubled adolescence. Through it all, he was able to find God and his calling for his life.

Trip Lee

In addition to rap, Trip Lee is also an author and a pastor. He has penned two books, “The Good Life” and “Rise: Get Up and Live in God’s Great Story.” There is also a third book coming at the end of this month, “Incredibly Normal: The Shocking Truth About Who You Really Are.”

“The Good Life” is about how “good” living life as a Christian is and “Rise” is about living to your maximum potential in Jesus. His newest book continues in that same vein and further pushes Christians to realize how special they are in God.

Propaganda

Propaganda is an emcee and a spoken word artist, so it makes sense that his book, “I Am Becoming” is a selection of poetry.

The book was put out by Humble Beast and showcases the artist’s way with words on paper for the first time.

Thi’sl

Thi’sl put out his first book this year, an autobiography called “Against All Odds.” The name references his victorious bouts with poverty, gangs, drug dealing, and a false murder charge that awoke him to God.

Soup the Chemist

Christian hip-hop pioneer, Soup the Chemist, took his experiences from the late 80s and early 90s, and documented them in a book. He released, “Through My Windows” a couple of years back, and the book shows snippets of what it was like touring and performing as a Christian rapper before it was as well known or accepted as it is now.

Phanatik

Not only is Phanatik one of the legendary emcees in The Cross Movement, but he is also a prolific author. Over the years the emcee has written five books, “City of Allegory, Book 1: The Immanuel City Saga,” “City of Allegory, Book 2: The Handy Man’s Fix,” “The Death of Hip-Hop, Marriage & Morals: Helping Youth Resurrect Culture, Family and Faith,” “From Hip-hop to Hollywood: The Art of Christianity: A New Millennium Perspective on Christianity and the Arts,” and his latest work, “Navigating the ’N’ Word: How Keeping “N****s” Alive is Killing Black Folk.”

Urban D.

This next artist wears many hats, and writes many books. Urban D. is a pastor, speaker, author, and rapper who has published three books, “Next Steps on Your Spiritual Journey,” “Un.Orthodox,” and “ReBuild.”

His books generally speak on the church, culture, and a person’s faith walk. They serve as tools to help people live as Christians.

Flame

“All In” is the first book written by hip-hop artist Flame. The book is geared toward young adults and deals with going “all in” on a commitment to God.

Manafest

More rock star than rapper, Manafest has had ties in the Christian hip-hop community since the early 2000s. Over the years Manafest’s style has evolved away from rap, but his passion for creating and helping others has remained constant.

A few years ago he released his first book, “Fighter: Five Keys to Conquering Your Fear and Reaching Your Dreams.” The book is about his come up and struggle to become an artist, and it provides tips for aspiring musicians to “make it.” It also helped launch his current “Smart Music Business” series.

DC Talk

Although DC Talk has been associated with Christian hip-hop for around 20 years, they still play an important part in the culture.

The trio put out five books under the DC Talk name, and each one highlighted people who were killed for their faith in Jesus.

“Jesus Freaks,” “Live Like a Jesus Freak,” Jesus Freaks Volume II: Stories of Revolutionaries Who Changed Their World Fearing God, Not Man,” Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries,” and “Jesus Freaks: Martyrs” have inspired generations of people to ask themselves if they would die for Christ.

Which one of these books have you read? Are there any that you’re going to add to your reading list? Let us know in the comments.

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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