The Death of Hip-Hop

            I’ve found that in recent years I have almost completely lost all interest in Hip-Hop. It used to speak to me, my feelings, my emotions. There was hardly anything as therapeutic as blasting a certain artist or song and venting through my iPod, my CD player or (many moons ago) my walkman. Rap music used to be that friend that understood me when no one else did. When Tupac bellowed “Me Against the World” it connected with the soul in a powerful way. When Mos Def and Talib Kweli proclaimed what it meant to be “Black Stars” it gave a sense of pride and healthy militancy. Even when Eminem started delving into his crazy, angry, vindictive rants it connected with people from the “other side of the tracks” as it were.

 

 

          
 

             But what has Hip-Hop done for me lately? What has Hip-Hop done for any of us lately? For the most part, the answer is absolutely nothing. Sure, there are gleams of light here and there, but in general, Hip-Hop has indeed lost its soul. Every song on the radio is replete with sexuality and materialism and nothing else. Beats and production are better than ever, but lyrical content is worse and shallower than ever. And I’m not the only one who feels like this.

            Sales are reflecting this truth. The decline began to take place after the turn of the millennium. Many consider the late 80’s to mid-90’s the “Golden Age” of Hip-Hop because of emphasis on social issues and lyrical versatility. But after the turn of the millennium, the music began to focus more on “bling” than brotherhood; more on posturing than on politics. The numbers show that rap sales have declined 44% since 2000 and have gone from 13% of worldwide sales to 10%. Ironically, this was all prophesied by one of hip-hop’s most eloquent sages and veterans, Nas.

 

            In 2006, Nas released his highly controversial album Hip Hop is Dead. In that year, only 2 rap artists went “platinum” (selling over 1 million albums and a source of great braggadocio within Hip-Hop culture) and 14 went “gold” (selling more than 500,000). The next year, the quality and content of the music continued to decline as did the sales. Nas’ eerily prophetic omen had come true. Hip-Hop had lost its mojo and, in my estimation, still has not gotten it back.

            What does all this mean for the future of this art form? It means that if Hip-Hop is going to survive it must change. The creativity must come back; the lyrical dexterity and poetic genius must return. Artists like Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar and Wale still hold promise for this next generation. While I agree that Hip-Hop is indeed dead, it must not remain dead. Everything must die in order to return to life in a new and fresh way. Hip-Hop must continue to speak for generations to come. Hopefully it can once again be music that speaks to our minds and our souls.

Shalom

How Far Can Christian Art Go and Still Be Christian?

            About two years ago, Christian rapper Sho Baraka announced that he was leaving Lecrae’s high-profile label, Reach Records. He did so because he claimed that he felt artistically restricted. Indeed, Reach Records is one of the premiere Christian rap labels in the nation, and has a reputation for its “unashamed” stance for Christ. Because of this, Reach, like many other Christian rap artists and labels has a tendency to sound the same. Every album sounds the same. Every artist deals with exactly the same subjects: worship, rebuke to hip hop culture, a song to show a promiscuous girl her worth, etc. Every cd drags on repetitively and boringly. Sho felt like he wanted more artistic control. He was determined to deal with subjects that are considered taboo in the Christian community, like racism, poverty, economic disparity, etc. So he split.

 

            Fast forward two years to this past Tuesday when Sho released his third solo album Talented 10^th. It is a concept album based on an article by W.E.B. DuBois that asserted that it will take 1 out of 10 blacks to get a quality education for the race to excel. He deals with precisely those subjects that were denied him before. The most prominent and poignant of those subjects is racism. Sho deals with it on his highly controversial song “Jim Crow”. In the song Sho repeatedly uses the word “nigga” and even throws a “b***h” in the 3^rd verse. However, the later was used in the context of a rebuke to rappers that use it, not in a glorification of it. Regardless of the context of the song and the context of the verse, this song has produced much controversy, leading to the main question of the hour: “How far can Christian art go and still be Christian? I will approach the question from two perspectives: first from the perspective of an artist, and then as a Christian.

            An artist’s job is self-expression. Whether they are a rapper, musician, poet, or a painter they draw from life experiences, feelings, and emotions to create. One of the most frustrating thing for an artist is to be pigeonholed and censored. For an artist to be told “you can’t write this” or “you can’t say that” is to kill inspiration. Truth be told, musicians and rappers/poets are the only artists that “the church” demands must produce purely “Christian art”. I’ve never heard anyone chastise a painter for painting “non-Christian” portraits. Nor have I heard of anyone demanding someone who draws to only draw pictures of Christ. Why do we put this expectation on musicians?

            Why must musicians, above any other artist, be defined by their Christianity? I don’t believe it’s fair. Furthermore, the church still has a problem with this idea that something “Christian” is always neat, clean, and family-friendly. Let’s face it, if we put the same content limitations on the Bible itself as we put on musicians we would have a very small Bible. The Scriptures are full of R and X-Rated content. Rapes, murders, incest, illicit sexual affairs, prostitution, and countless other things are part of the biblical narrative. Is the Bible’s portrayal of such events glorification or description? I think we would all agree it is description. Therefore, what matters more than content is context. What is the context in which “questionable” material is presented should be the real question.

            So back to Sho Baraka’s dilemma; is Sho’s use of provocative content a renouncement of his “Christian” title? By no means! If those critics of the song “Jim Crow” would actually listen to the song and get a sense of the context in which both words are used I think they would understand a little better. Part of the problem is that the church has ordained musicians, poets and rappers as “ministers” simply because they use words when, in truth, they are simply artists. And even if they were ministers, that does not mean they must censor their content to meet Christian criteria. I wonder what the church would say about the prophet Isaiah walking around naked for 3 years (Isaiah 20:1-3). Sometimes the message God wishes to convey is messy and uncensored and we dare not reject it just because it makes us uncomfortable.

 

Shalom

Even Thugs Cry, But Do the Lord Care?

 Part 2 of my religion and Hip Hop series examines the question of theodicy (God's allowing suffering) and how it impacts Hip Hop's hermeneutic.

 

If God is really good how can He allow evil and suffering in the world? This is essentially the issue that theodicy deals with. However, its primary concern is with the goodness of God. Belief systems such as deism, agnosticism, and atheism have even gone so far as to question God’s actual existence. All because they cannot seem to reconcile God’s claims to be good and involved in human life and the ever present reality of suffering and oppression in the world.

 

Hip-hop as a culture, and rap the mouthpiece of that culture, voice some of the same concerns. In fact, the issue of suffering and oppression is central to hip-hop’s hermeneutic. They approach the Bible to see what it has to say about their existential situation and if it provides any relief. It is only as good as it helps me to survive “these streets”. In the classic “hood” movie Boyz N the Hood, there is a conversation between the character Doughboy (played by gangsta rapper Ice Cube) and his posse. When asked whether he thinks God exists Doughboy replies, “man there ain’t no God. If there was a God, why He keep lettin’ all these brothaz get smoked out here everyday?”.[1] In another “hood” movie, Menace II Society, the character O-Dog (dubbed the “craziest nigga alive”) responds to a question posed by his friend’s grandfather: “I don’t think God even cares about us out here [the ghetto]. Why else would he have put us here?”. Notice, in the first quote the assertion was made that there is no God, while the second quote does not deny God’s existence but His goodness and concern for human beings (specifically young black males). Here are the two spectrums of the reaction to the issue of theodicy within hip-hop culture!

It should be noted here that hip-hop is rooted in the struggle for social justice. In truth, it was the driving force that started hip-hop! It was the voice of a disenfranchised group who decided it was time to tell their story. Everything in hip-hop, from the gritty beats that cannot help but transport the listener to the streets of New York, Compton, or Atlanta, to the blues samples that provide the melodic tune tells of the pain and suffering of inner-city life for young black males. It is in light of this sense of communal suffering that any critique or evaluation of the Bible, the church, or religion in general is made.     Take for instance, Tupac’s response to a question about churches in black communities. “If the churches took half the money that they was making and gave it back to the community, we’d be aight!” He continues, “Have you seen some of these god**** churches lately? There’s ones that take up the whole block in New York! There’s homeless people out here!! Why won’t God let them stay there?!” It is clear that Tupac’s angst is not with the church’s teachings, but its activism, or lack thereof. He essentially asks the question “what are you doing for the community?” In hip-hop, this is the primary question. Those who have influence in this culture are those who are concerned about the suffering, pain, and death experienced by young blacks in the ghettos. In truth, this pain and suffering was most eloquently and powerfully expressed by Tupac Shakur.

His was a life particularly ridden with pain being the son of a revolutionary. His mother, Afeni Shakur was a prominent member in the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party. It does not need to mentioned the obstacles and hardships faced by black revolutionaries during the 60’s and 70’s. But what has typically been overlooked is the impact this must have had on their children. Tupac’s music is a transcript of his short, yet troubled life. His life and words are also intentionally representative of the lives of thousands of young black males trapped in the “cage” of the ghetto. This experience of suffering has had an impact on Tupac’s (and all of hip-hop’s) relationship to the Bible and religion. His cry, “even thugs cry/ but do the Lord care?” is telling. In Tupac’s eyes, thugs were not irresponsible hooligans who just robbed and killed for the fun of it. Thugs are the product of the neglect of society. He even created an acronym for it: The Hate U Gave Little Infants F***s Everyone. These are the disenfranchised of society who feel that they have no other choices. So does the Lord care about them? Other questions such as “I wonder if heaven has a ghetto” and “is there a heaven for a G [gangsta]” tell of the thought process of this young man and the generation he represented.

Consider this lyric from his song “Blasphemy”: “The preacher wants me buried, why? Cause I know he’s a liar/ have you ever seen a crackhead, that’s eternal fire”. Here is a prime example of hip-hop’s use and interpretation of the Bible. He is clearly familiar with the biblical teaching of punishment and hell fire. However, he reinterprets the traditional view in light of what he sees around him everyday. And truly, if anyone has lived with or been around an addicted person[2], it is not a pretty sight. Therefore, eternal punishment is reinterpreted as addiction. This is completely permissible in hip-hop’s hermeneutical method. This is not to say that Tupac or any other artist does not have a clear concept of sin and its consequences. Even a frivolous listen to some of Tupac’s songs would quickly repudiate that idea. Rather, the consequences of sin in many instances are seen as more desirable than the current situation they find themselves in!

“God forgive me cause it’s wrong but I plan to die” Tupac cries in the song “Troublesome ‘96”. He continues, “Either take me to heaven and understand I was a G/ did the best I could raised in insanity/ or send me to hell cause I ain’t worried about my life/ ain’t nothing worse than this cursed a** helpless life!” This is a powerfully striking statement! He recognizes that the direction he is going in is wrong yet there is still a cry for mercy. However, this is not a cry of renunciation. He is doing what he feels he has to do given the situation he has found himself in (“I did the best I could raised in insanity”). And, according to Tupac, the consequences of this course of action (hell), can not conceivably be worse than the situation he finds himself in now. It should also be noted that this line is directly connected to a cry made earlier in the song: “I’m hopeless!!” This feeling of hopelessness has led to a type of anarchic nihilism in hip-hop culture. As Malcolm X himself once said, “The most dangerous man in the world is the man with nothing to lose”.

The situation of misery and oppression that many of these artists have come up in is the starting point of their hermeneutic. Similar to Dr. James Cone’s method, they read their sitz em laben (situation in life) into the text rather than having the text speak to their situation. The conclusion is, if the Bible has nothing to say to my immediate situation, I have the liberty to reinterpret it so that it does. An example of this reinterpretation is Tupac’s concept of “Thugz Mansion” which is essentially a type of heaven for thugs.[3] It is clear that this is a reinterpretation that seeks to absolve one of his/her moral or religious obligations thereby creating, what I have termed, a “Jesus walks with me” theology. This will be the topic for next week.

 

 

If there is any goodness found in this work, then that goodness belongs to the Creator. If there are any mistakes or shortcomings, those are mine.

 

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[1] It should be noted that these so-called “hood” movies are really a genre unto themselves. They are movies that deal with the harsh realities of life in the inner city, also termed “the hood”.

[2] Tupac is speaking particularly from the heart on this line. His mother struggled with crack addiction for several years in Tupac’s teen years.

[3] The length restrictions of this paper will not allow me to elaborate on this point but it should be noted that “Thugz Mansion” is an attempt find peace and rest in the midst of the proverbial storm. A line from the song illustrates this: “where do niggaz go when we die? Ain’t no heaven for a thug nigga. That’s why we go to thug mansion.” Remember that the embrace of “thug life” is more of an obligation than a real choice.

"It's All the Same to Me" Postmodernism and its Impact on Hip Hop's Biblical Understanding

For the next few weeks I will be doing a series on Hip Hop, specifically, how Hip Hop culture engages with religion and the Bible. Just for clarification of terms, “hermeneutics” refers to the lenses through which one studies, reads and interprets the Bible. Some may be saying, “Hip Hop has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible!” Many would agree that hip-hop is clearly in opposition and rebellion against everything the Bible teaches and stands for! Nevertheless, hip-hop draws from the Bible and biblical images more than one might think. In fact, hip-hop is obsessed with it!! Various songs contain cries and pleas for God: His presence, His mercy, His forgiveness, His peace, His deliverance, and His guidance. Numerous music videos and even album covers contain religious symbolism and invoke biblical images to get their message across. This series will explore how Hip Hop’s use of biblical and religious images and symbolism gives us insight to Hip Hop’s “hermeneutic” or interpretation of the Bible. The first such segment will explore Hip Hop and postmodernism.

It is no secret that we live in an age that has been classified as “postmodern”. The precise meaning of this term, however, is quite ambiguous and open to interpretation (ironically right in line with postmodern principles). Webster’s College Dictionary defines the term this way: of or pertaining to any of various movements in architecture, the arts, and literature developing in the late 20^th century in reaction to the precepts…of modernism. So postmodernism is essentially a reaction to modernism. This begs the question, what is modernism? What were its “precepts” and tenets? Being that this is not a paper on postmodernism, this subject will not be dealt with exhaustively. Our purposes here are to provide a basic summary of postmodernism and then evaluate its influence and impact on hip-hop culture and hermeneutics.

English writer and theologian David Cook says this: “Postmodernism moves beyond the ‘modern’, scientifically based view of the world by blending a skepticism about technology, objectivity, absolutes and total explanations with the exploration of every spiritual and material perspective.”[1] Modernism’s emphasis was on science. Science and technology were going to be the savior of mankind. I like to describe modernism in terms of the popular TV show that arose as a result of its ideas, Star Trek. In my estimation, Star Trek summarizes the main tenets of the modern perspective. The main gist of the show was that through science and technological advances, mankind rose above all its problems and ascended to a new level of evolutionary existence. In the motion picture, Star Trek First Contact, Captain Picard explains to an earth-woman he had met that humanity no longer suffers from divisions and wars. When asked about his financial stability he replies “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force for humanity in the 24^th century. We work to better ourselves and all mankind”. The idea is that humanity is capable of solving its own problems through the advance of reason, science, and technology.

Postmodernism, is essentially a reaction to, and rejection of this idea. It was quickly realized that instead of advancing humanity, technology was contributing to its destruction! Instead of helping find cures for cancer, it helped discover how to burst an atom to destroy thousands of people. Rather than making warfare more “civil” and efficient, it has only made it more brutal and inhumane. Nihilism and hopelessness are the children of this age. Stanley Grenz puts it this way, “postmodernism replaces the optimism of the last century with a gnawing pessimism…Members of the emerging generation are no longer confident that humanity will be able to solve the world’s great problems.”[2] In general, the postmodern worldview is that “no worldview exists”.[3] Its main tenets could be summarized as follows: a reaction against modernity, a rejection of objective truth, skepticism and suspicion of authority, a continued search for the transcendent, materialism, and individualistic pluralism.[4]

Now the question is, what has postmodernity to do with hip-hop? The answer is simple: postmodernity is hip-hop and hip-hop is postmodernity!! The main aspect of postmodernity I would like to focus on in this section is what Smith and Jackson call, “the culture of questioning everything”.[5] Hip-hop is rooted in this idea of questioning everything. In truth, it is very much in line with the postmodern principle of innate suspicion of authority and institutions. Hip-hop has thus questioned just about every authority and institution that has shaped American society, especially the place of police (basically the entire criminal justice system), the government and, surprisingly enough, the Christian church.[6] It should be noted here that social movements such as civil rights and the black power movement, along with religious movements like the Nation of Islam form some of the roots of hip-hop culture. These movements radically questioned the Christian churches validity and effectiveness for young black Americans.

Keeping this line of thought, hip-hop has questioned just about every “truth” that society tries to impose upon it. In his song “Rock N Roll”, conscious rapper Mos Def questions the true origins of the musical art form saying, “Elvis Presley ain’t got no soul/ Little Richard is rock n roll/ you might dig on the Rolling Stones/ but they ain’t come up wit that style on their own”. Rapper Kanye West, in his album College Dropout, questions whether it is really necessary to go to college to achieve success (using his own example). Rapper Common questions “what if God was a her?” in his song “Faithful”. Slain rapper Tupac Shakur questioned the relevance of the educational system for poor, inner-city black youth. “I think that we got so caught up in school being a tradition that we stopped using it as a learning tool, which it should be…I’m learning about the basics, but they’re not basic for me….To get us ready for today’s world [the present curriculum] is not helping”.[7] Hip-hop is truly a culture of questioning.

So how does this affect hip-hop’s hermeneutic? What impact do the postmodern traits of universal questioning and institutional suspicion have on hip-hop’s interpretation of the Bible? Fundamentally, it has created a type of religious pluralism where no one religion can claim to have all truth. As noted earlier, hip-hop is automatically suspicious of institutions (primarily because institutions have proven themselves untrustworthy). Therefore, any church or religion that claims to be or have absolute authority or truth is automatically viewed with suspicion. Take a lyric by Philadelphia rapper, Black Thought: “Sex, drugs, murder, politics and religion/ forms of hustling…”.[8] Hip-hop is fundamentally distrustful of any religion that makes an outstanding claim to truth.[9] Well this poses a very potent problem with Christianity and its Bible that claims to be the exclusive Word of God. Rapper Talib Kweli says this: “Who was King James?/ and why did he think it was so vital to remove chapters and make his own version of the Bible”.[10]            So the Bible cannot even truly be trusted! This inevitably creates, what has been termed in the academic community, religious pluralism. In the everyday language of everyday people it is adequately termed “survival”. These people are so frequently lied to by social and government institutions that they feel it necessary to be suspicious so as to not be sucked in by another “hustle”.  There is no absolute truth in one religion, but they all hold information that can lead any of their adherents to God. Consider this striking statement made by Chicago born rapper, Common: “As a child given religion with no answer to why/ just told believe in Jesus cause for me he did die”.[11] So first, he questions the validity of a religion evidently handed down from his parents. It seems that Common is addressing a type of religious ritual or formalism that takes place in many Christian families across the country: church. If we had a tally of how many children were dragged to church on Sunday or Saturday mornings with no other reason than the threat of a belt, I doubt this page could contain the results. Common’s statement also suggests a sort of agitation at the fact that he was brought up with only one religious viewpoint. “Just told believe in Jesus cause for me he did die”.

His next few lines will illustrate what he did with this youthful frustration. “My mind had dealt with the books of Zen, Tao, the lessons/ Koran and the Bible, to me they all vital/ and got truth within ‘em, gotta read them boys/ you just can’t skim ‘em, different branches of belief/ but one root that stem ‘em”.[12] As a reaction against his seemingly narrow upbringing, he took it upon himself to investigate some of the other religious claims ranging from Buddhism to Islam. His conclusion? “To me they all vital and got truth within ‘em”! Now do we object that some truth can be found in other religions? I hope not. I hope we are not that narrow. However, for us, the Bible still holds the absolute authority and is the basis by which we judge the “truth” in the other religions. For Common however, (and here Common is representative of hip-hop as a whole) the only authority by which to judge this truth is rooted in survival. Truth is that which can help one survive in this life. Author Terrence Tilley points out concerning hip-hop’s grandparent, the blues, that for blues artists, “truth is experience and experience is the truth”.[13] I believe the same observation can be made of hip-hop.

Consider the next line: “Who am I or they to say to whom you pray ain’t right/ that’s who got you doin right and got you this far/ whether you say ‘in Jesus name’ or ‘Al-hum-du’Allah’”.[14] In Common’s eyes, nobody has the right to dictate the “rightness” or “wrongness” of a religion that has helped one survive. A lyric in Talib Kweli’s song, “Give ‘Em Hell” has the same ring to it, “So it all sounds the same to me/ that’s why when they say one is right and the other is wrong it just sounds like a game to me”. Numerous other artists deal with the same issues and they are all saying essentially the same thing: all of these religions and their holy books are valid paths to God and no one of them has absolute truth. There is a rampant pluralism that exists within hip-hop that makes pinpointing an actual hermeneutic a very difficult task. However, even with hip-hop’s pluralism, some things that were mentioned earlier are essential to understanding the key to unlocking hip-hop’s hermeneutic. We noted that hip-hop’s critique of the Bible or any religion and religious book is rooted in that which helps us survive in this life. This leads us to the major issue that drives hip-hop’s hermeneutic which will be explored next week: the question of theodicy or suffering.

If there was any goodness or merit found here, that goodness and merit is from the Creator. If there were any flaws or errors, those were mine. Blessings

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[1] David Cook, Blind Alley Beliefs (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 9.

[2] Stanley Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 3.

[3] Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World: A Guide to Reaching Twenty-first Century Listeners (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 27.

[4] Ibid, 26.

[5] Smith and Jackson, The Hip-Hop Church, 103.

[6] It would be more accurate to say organized religion as a whole, but this will be explored later.

[7] This is taken from a homemade interview of Tupac when he was 17 years old.

[8] The Roots, “It Don’t Feel Right”. Game Theory (Def Jam Records, 2006).

[9] It should be noted here that while this statement is true in general, there are many hip-hop artists that subscribe completely to a religion, even though it is mostly Islam.

[10] Talib Kweli, “Give Em Hell”. Ear Drum (Blacksmith/Warner Bros Records, 2007).

[11] Common, “G.O.D. (Gaining One’s Definition)”. One Day it Will All Make Sense (1997)

[12] Ibid

[13] Anthony B. Pinn. Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology. (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 1995) 118.

[14] Ibid