I’ve decided to start this search. I must admit, I have tried before but not this seriously. Over the remainder of the internship, I am going to explore the genre of Christian rap. Sadly, in my experience, it’s one of the few genres that doesn’t seem to have skilled artists or much cultural impact. It has the reputation of producing cheesy stylistic imitations of secular artists in an effort to stay current whether that style works for the artist or not. So I’ve decided to explore it for myself, take time to listen to what the artists are saying and how they’re saying it and, hopefully, find someone worth listening to and, just as importantly, worth referring to other people.

So what exactly am I looking for? Good rap music that happens to be made by Christian artists. To begin, I  must establish a couple of things. I believe music, Christian or secular, should intrigue people, move them physically and/or emotionally, inspire and be pleasing to one’s ear. However, these are not requirements, which means all do not need to be accomplished in every song. In my opinion, the best songs do many of these things but, of course, not every song will. Christian artists have the extra task of having to glorify God through their music. While the creation of each song should inherently be an act of worship, I don’t believe every song needs to have an outward expression of Christ. That also applies to preaching the gospel through their music. It’s great if they do it, but it shouldn’t be an issue if they don’t. Preaching the gospel with their lives is more important than that.

Each week, I’ll be focusing on an artist and listening to as many of their albums as I can. I figure it should take a week to listen to all their stuff and fully digest it at which point I’ll give some remarks. The focus is on the artist. Artists can be viewed as a collection of their albums which are collections of their songs but I will be focusing more on the big picture. So news, Twitter feeds, Youtube channels, websites, etc. are all included but their music is obviously much more heavily weighted.

If there’s anything I might be missing or if you’d like to discuss the topic further, feel free to leave a comment. Also if you have any suggestions for artists I should listen to, let me know. My first update will be up tomorrow. First up, Lecrae.

God bless