Beyond Christian Hip Hop

Beyond Christian Hip Hop
Author: Erika D. Gault
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2019-11-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429589654

Christians and Christianity have been central to Hip Hop since its inception. This book explores the intersection of Christians and Hip Hop and the multiple outcomes of this intersection. It lays out the ways in which Christians and Hip Hop overlap and diverge. The intersection of Christians and Hip Hop brings together African diasporic cultures, lives, memories and worldviews. Moving beyond the focus on rappers and so-called "Christian Hip Hop," each chapter explores three major themes of the book: identifying Hip Hop, irreconcilable Christianity, and boundaries.There is a self-identified Christian Hip Hop (CHH) community that has received some scholarly attention. At the same time, scholars have analyzed Christianity and Hip Hop without focusing on the self-identified community. This book brings these various conversations together and show, through these three themes, the complexities of the intersection of Christians and Hip Hop. Hip Hop is more than rap music, it is an African diasporic phenomenon. These three themes elucidate the many characteristics of the intersection between Christians and Hip Hop and our reasoning for going beyond "Christian Hip Hop." This collection is a multi-faceted view of how religious belief plays a role in Hip Hoppas' lives and community. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of Religion and Hip Hop, Hip Hop, African Diasporas, Religion and the Arts, Religion and Race and Black Theology as well as Religious Studies more generally.

I Pastor Hip Hop

I Pastor Hip Hop
Author: Stacey Jones
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2018-07-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781723182259

My dichotomy between Hip-Hop and the Church has appeared a conflict to many, but to me, it never has been. At the same time that I was falling in love with Hip-Hop, I was immersed and in love with the church. My introduction into Christianity is from the Black Pentecostal Tradition (Church of God in Christ). My life was quite busy as a young person; I played drums, sang lead in the junior choir, and attended Sunday school and Young People Willing Workers (YPWW). I had a strong love for both cultures, but I was told by the church that one could not mesh or intertwine Hip-Hop and the church, and so the lifelong conflict begins! Like many of our religious forefathers on western soil, we continue to shut out different forms of expression due to the fear of becoming "too worldly". Have we ever stopped to think that the issue is even deeper? Some of us want to control the move of God because it doesn't fit into our structure or programmed liturgy! However, during the early inception of Hip-Hop culture, people thought it was absurd and sacrilegious if Hip-Hop shared the stage and the microphone with the Church. Due to the church's rejection of Hip-Hop, the younger people from my generation started to develop a contempt towards people within the Christian Faith community. This contempt brought an even stronger divide, and it seemed as though this separation continued to perpetuate. Part of it has to do with the generational divide and the methodology.

Does God Listen to Rap?

Does God Listen to Rap?
Author: Curtis Allen
Publisher: Cruciform Press
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1936760789

A lot of people think that if there is one style of music in the world that God hates, it has got to be rap. Some have even gone so far as to call rap, “An unclean thing before the Lord.” They don’t believe something originally associated with so much evil can ever be redeemed for God’s glory. Lots of other people love and accept rap as their preferred form of musical expression. Many of these who are Christians can’t imagine why God would have any issues with rap – at least, not with songs by believers that encourage and edify them in the faith. Who’s right? And maybe more importantly, who cares? You should. And here’s why. In the past 30 years, rap music has become a vital artistic and cultural force globally, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Like it or not, you are probably exposed to rap in one form or another on a fairly regular basis. If you’re interested in this book you may be a believer in Jesus who likes rap a lot, and as Christians, when we love something that is (if you hadn’t noticed) closely associated with sin and rebellion, our justification for being involved with it really does need to go beyond, “Dude, this is good stuff.” But maybe you’re in a different category. Maybe you’re a Christian parent, concerned that rap music may have a negative impact on your child. Maybe you’re a youth pastor worried about having a rap concert at his church because of the potential pushback. Or maybe you’re just a rap fan who is curious to see if there’s even any biblical evidence for or against rap. To put it simply, if you’ve made it this far, this book is probably for you. Does God Listen to Rap? covers two areas. First, it presents a sociological history of the emergence and development of rap. If you enjoy rap and hip hop culture, you’ll love this part of the book. Then the book explores the Scriptures to bring some biblical (not just personal or anecdotal) resolution to the question of God and rap. Ultimately, this involves a set of larger questions involving God and the arts. This is more than just an apologetic for rap music, this is a biblical way to think about how Christians can be in the world yet not of the world, and how they can express themselves to the glory of God. So, does God listen to rap? Come find out.

Networking the Black Church

Networking the Black Church
Author: Erika D. Gault
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1479805866

Provides a timely portrait of young Black Christians and how digital technology is transforming the Black Church They stand at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, push the boundaries of the Black Church through online expression of Christian hip hop, and redefine what it means to be young, Black, and Christian in America. Young Black adults represent the future of African American religiosity, yet little is known regarding their religious lives beyond the Black Church. Networking the Black Church explores how deeply embedded digital technology is in the lives of young Black Christians, offering a first-of-its-kind digital-hip hop ethnography. Erika D. Gault argues that a new religious ethos has emerged among young adult Blacks in America. To understand Black Christianity today it is not enough to look at the traditional Black Church. The Black Church is itself being changed by what she calls digital Black Christians. The volume examines the ways in which Christian hip hop artists who have adopted Black-preaching-inspired spoken word performances create alternate kinds of Christian communities both inside and outside the walls of traditional Black churches. Framed around interviews with prominent Black Christian hip hop artists, it explores the multiple ways that digital Black Christians construct religious identity and meaning through video-sharing and social media. In the process, these digital Black Christians are changing Black churches as institutions, transforming modes of religious activism, inventing new communication practices around evangelism and Christian identity, and streamlining the accessibility of Black Church cultural practices in popular culture. Erika D. Gault provides a fascinating portrait of young Black faith, illuminating how the relationship between religion and digital media is changing the lived experiences of a new generation of Black Christians.

Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit

Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit
Author: Dr. Sunday J. I. Etsekhume
Publisher: WestBow Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2014-05-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1490835415

Moving Jesus beyond the Pulpit: Doing It the Community Way Can Help Church Growth describes the challenges facing Christianity and the church. Although these challenges are very significant, they help to boost the efforts of the present disciples of Christ to be good ambassadors to the world. What prompted the writing of this book is that author Sunday J. I. Etsekhume clamored for a dramatic change in the way some churches do outreach. Some churches only prefer to do outreach from the pulpit, but ignored the practice in the community where they are situated. The book also describes various ways in which the church can show love and care, which indicates the various ways that can portray the church healthiness. For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me, (Matthew 25:35-36). The book also argues against the idea that church leaders would not compromise their positions as spiritual leaders, due to financial insufficiencies, in order to become fleshy leaders. The arguments further center on how the church can do evangelism without jeopardizing church principles and some of the Christian rules of conduct. Finally, the book focuses on the pulpit, where sermons are preached without the preachers practicing what they preachedhypocrisy! Dr. Etsekhume has written an insightful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking rationale for getting back to basics in terms of the way the Church approaches ministry. Moving from pulpit to pew, from leadership to follow-ship, and from minister to member, Dr. Etsekhume identifies the spiritual, organizational, and interpersonal challenges facing the Church and recommends Scriptural principles for addressing them. By turns compassionate and passionate, Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is a wonderful reminder of the restorative, renewing, and revitalizing power of Christ, both in the congregation and in the community at large. Minister Sonja A. West Associate Minister, Mariners Temple Baptist Church, New York, NY. Dr. Sunday Etsekhume analyzes some of the issues that address the Church, both from inside the institutional church and issues in the context that hinder the mission of the Church. In this book, one finds thoughtful and pragmatic methods for addressing some of the problems of the church and the larger community! Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is an important work that will be beneficial both to the church and the academy. I highly recommend this work! Dr. Cleotha Robertson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Old Testament at Alliance Theological Seminary, New York City and the Senior Pastor Sound View Presbyterian Church, Bronx, New York.

Religion and Hip Hop

Religion and Hip Hop
Author: Monica R. Miller
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2013
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0415628571

This title brings together the category of religion, hip hop cultural modalities and the demographic of youth. Bringing postmodern theory and critical approaches in the study of religion to bear on hip hop cultural practices, the book examines how scholars in have deployed and approached religion when analyzing hip hop data.

Global Popular Music

Global Popular Music
Author: Clarence Bernard Henry
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 543
Release: 2024-11-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1040151930

Global Popular Music: A Research and Information Guide offers an essential annotated bibliography of scholarship on popular music around the world in a two-volume set. Featuring a broad range of subjects, people, cultures, and geographic areas, and spanning musical genres such as traditional, folk, jazz, rock, reggae, samba, rai, punk, hip-hop, and many more, this guide highlights different approaches and discussions within global popular music research. This research guide is comprehensive in scope, providing a vital resource for scholars and students approaching the vast amount of publications on popular music studies and popular music traditions around the world. Thorough cross-referencing and robust indexes of genres, places, names, and subjects make the guide easy to use. Volume 1, Global Perspectives in Popular Music Studies, situates popular music studies within global perspectives and geocultural settings at large. It offers over nine hundred in-depth annotated bibliographic entries of interdisciplinary research and several topical categories that include analytical, critical, and historical studies; theory, methodology, and musicianship studies; annotations of in-depth special issues published in scholarly journals on different topics, issues, trends, and music genres in popular music studies that relate to the contributions of numerous musicians, artists, bands, and music groups; and annotations of selected reference works.

Religion in Hip Hop

Religion in Hip Hop
Author: Monica R. Miller
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2015-04-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1472507223

Now a global and transnational phenomenon, hip hop culture continues to affect and be affected by the institutional, cultural, religious, social, economic and political landscape of American society and beyond. Over the past two decades, numerous disciplines have taken up hip hop culture for its intellectual weight and contributions to the cultural life and self-understanding of the United States. More recently, the academic study of religion has given hip hop culture closer and more critical attention, yet this conversation is often limited to discussions of hip hop and traditional understandings of religion and a methodological hyper-focus on lyrical and textual analyses. Religion in Hip Hop: Mapping the Terrain provides an important step in advancing and mapping this new field of Religion and Hip Hop Studies. The volume features 14 original contributions representative of this new terrain within three sections representing major thematic issues over the past two decades. The Preface is written by one of the most prolific and founding scholars of this area of study, Michael Eric Dyson, and the inclusion of and collaboration with Bernard 'Bun B' Freeman fosters a perspective internal to Hip Hop and encourages conversation between artists and academics.

Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning

Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning
Author: Christopher M. Driscoll
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2019-09-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351010832

Kendrick Lamar has established himself at the forefront of contemporary hip-hop culture. Artistically adventurous and socially conscious, he has been unapologetic in using his art form, rap music, to address issues affecting black lives while also exploring subjects fundamental to the human experience, such as religious belief. This book is the first to provide an interdisciplinary academic analysis of the impact of Lamar’s corpus. In doing so, it highlights how Lamar’s music reflects current tensions that are keenly felt when dealing with the subjects of race, religion and politics. Starting with Section 80 and ending with DAMN., this book deals with each of Lamar’s four major projects in turn. A panel of academics, journalists and hip-hop practitioners show how religion, in particular black spiritualties, take a front-and-center role in his work. They also observe that his astute and biting thoughts on race and culture may come from an African American perspective, but many find something familiar in Lamar’s lyrical testimony across great chasms of social and geographical difference. This sophisticated exploration of one of popular culture’s emerging icons reveals a complex and multi faceted engagement with religion, faith, race, art and culture. As such, it will be vital reading for anyone working in religious, African American and hip-hop studies, as well as scholars of music, media and popular culture.