This blog is concerning Lecrae’s most recent blog “Purpose/Passion/Progression” that can be found here. http://reachrecords.com/blog/post/Church-Clothes-Purpose-Passion-Progression Although I don’t agree with some things Lecrae said I do agree with other things. My purpose is not to attack him but more so to talk about the implications his statements have for the Christian hip-hop community at large.

I am glad Lecrae posted this. It was well thought out and I’m sure it helped some gain a better idea of the direction he is going. As others have mentioned though he could’ve elaborated more on the whole label thing in a direct manner.  I appreciate Lecrae’s talent, passion for the lost, and desire to meet people where they are at. I just disagree with him when it comes to methodology and the way certain things are worded.

The reason people have had an issue with Lecrae being so adamant about saying, “I’m not a Christian rapper” (which he said about 4 different times on Church Clothes and been stating in every interview) is because he started his career and gained popularity as a Christian rapper. The reason why he’s ruffled so many feathers with his comments on the label thing is because he is stressing it so much. I believe it would’ve been received better if he just targeted the mainstream audience and maybe said he doesn’t like the label when an interviewer asked him; but didn’t go out of his way to say repeatedly in his songs that he is not a Christian rapper. He is free to drop the label as he pleases.But, it never seemed to be an issue over the last 7 years (at least publicly) However, now that his target market has changed the concern over the label has shifted. The reason why he may feel “boxed in” is due to him making Christian music and becoming probably the most popular Christian rapper ever. It’s not as if he never made Christian music or Jesus music. I can understand why someone like Mars Ill who’s never embraced the Christian rapper label and only reps Christ subliminally for the most part would be really annoyed if people always called their stuff “Christian rap”; because that’s NEVER what they called it or did. I can somewhat understand that now that Lecrae wants to target the mainstream audience it can be frustrating if people write him off and say “Oh you’re just a gospel rapper. You’re probably corny. I’m not gonna give you a chance” I’m sure that can get mad frustrating. But the reason is because that is what his track record shows (being a Christian rapper). His motto is Romans 1:16, “For I am unashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.”

But why not embrace it? The popularity is already there. The recognition of talent is already there. Why not help change the negative connotation into a positive one? During the 2008-2009 season the Oklahoma City Thunder had a winning percentage of .280 That’s brutal! This year they will be going to the Western Conference finals and maybe the NBA Championship. They were known for losing. If you rocked their gear around you would probably say “I like the colors or the logo is hot” because you obviously weren’t representing them due to their winning. They changed the negative perception they had as losers through hard work, perseverance and building up a dope squad. The same could be done for Christian hip-hop. The public perception could change if more of the mainstream was exposed to the ones who do it well. At least as far as quality and skill go. They may still refuse it since the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing- 1 Corinthians 1:18.

On “Gimme a Second” Lecrae says,

“You a Christian and you rap? That must be the way you flow - No
I talk reality like mama on her death bed
The birth of a child, the soldier losing his left leg”

I have all his releases except for Overdose and have never heard him do a verse mentioning a mom on her death bed, the birth of a child or about soldier. Maybe he will in the future but he hasn’t made any songs like this before but he has made Christian anthems, which is why people label him as such.

Lecrae said “We limit spirituality to salvation and sanctification. As long as we are well versed in personal piety and individual salvation, we think we’re good. But most Christians have no clue how to engage culture in politics, science, economics, TV, music or art. We tend to leave people to their own devices there.”

He makes a good point there. I think we should remember that salvation is of upmost importance though. When my co-worker passed out by the basketball court a few months ago going into cardiac arrest, he hit the ground pretty hard scraping his head and knee. However, the main concern was that his heart stopped working and he wasn’t breathing. The rescue team didn’t sit there and make the main priority getting his head and knee taken care of. They had to get him to breath again! After that is accomplished then it is appropriate to take care of the scrape on his knee. In the same way a clear gospel which can bring life to dead men is of primary importance when reaching people. It doesn’t do them much good to teach them about politics (the knee scrape) if they are dead. I believe Lecrae has the gift to do both and would add that he DOES do both which is refreshing.

I do believe it is very beneficial to talk about those subjects though. Politics, science, economics, tv, music, art, education, jobs, sports, relational issues, etc in our music. We talk about this coming from a biblical worldview and are fine with that label. Ironic how biblical worldview and Christian worldview are synonymous terms.  We have been missing out on talking about these things in our music on a regular basis so I agree with Lecrae here that we need more of it. I’m guessing he thinks if his music is labeled “Christian rap” that if he wants to do a song that doesn’t have the gospel in it directly and he wants to make a jam about politics that people will accuse him of it not being Christian. I believe those people would be in the wrong. God isn’t mentioned in the book of Esther but it is a wonderful book that gives glory to God. I believe Lecrae has the gift to speak about the gospel as well as politics and would add that he DOES do both now which is refreshing.

 On the Hardknock.tv interview when asked if Lecrae’s main goal was to convert people he said he wanted people to know he was just like them and just wanted to offer hope. But on Spazz he says

 “Tryin’ to get up in my zone, watch me hit this boy receivers/ If you ain’t a believer I’m looking for conversion”

 It would be nice if he were more consistent.

 Another thing I have to disagree with is the notion that if something is labeled as “Christian” means it is limited to Christians only and is not inviting to others. Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ- Romans 10:17. The primary means throughout history that God has used to accomplish that are the Bible and his church (via preached word and evangelism) Both the Bible and the church are universally recognized as Christian entities. Being identified as such has not limited God’s saving. Over the last 2000 years that’s been His means of bringing people to salvation- through entities known as Christian. The power does not lie in them being known as Christian but the power comes from God’s ability to change the hearts of men.

Dropping the label doesn’t mean more people will be susceptible to believe the gospel.  I may add that keeping the Christian hip-hop label does not mean more people will be susceptible to believe the gospel as well. A person still has to come to grips with their own sin, their unworthiness before a holy God and faith in Christ alone. If God works on that person’s heart and draws them in that person you are trying to reach will need to grow in the Lord through spiritual disciplines. Eventually they will need to throw off the negative misconceptions that the “Christian” stigma will have regarding the Christian Bible and a Christian church by reading the word and attending church.

 At the same time holding on to the “Christian hip-hop” label as the means by which someone will become saved is also flawed and dangerous. God alone does the saving and unless He gives someone a new heart and regenerates them it doesn’t matter what we call it. Let’s stop trusting in our own man-made methods to reach people and preach the Word and let God do the rest. If you want to read an excellent book on this topic check out ‘Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God’ by JI Packer.

If you have any questions for me and want to dialogue about this please email me at stephenbrindle@gmail.com if you are unable to comment below.

I believe the genre of Christian hip-hop has an inferiority complex. Let me explain. Due to previous negative connotations from the world who tend to think CHH is corny or wack we tend to go along with that view of the genre. Due to not being accepted by the mainstream throughout the years we agree with them that CHH is wack..”except for me and my crew” mentality. Yes there are lots of wack rappers who are Christian just like there are lots of wack rappers who are not Christian. If you talk to most CHH rappers or whatever title they wanna be called you’ll find they think CHH is wack. Yet how many have really dug deep and listened to a lot of the most skilled CHH albums/mixtapes? In sports, we have Christians at the top of the game like Tebow in football, Lin in basketball, Watson in golf, and Pujols in baseball. And that’s just a small list. There are mad other successful skilled professional athletes who are Christians. Yet, we have an inferiority complex of Christians who rap and doubt that any can be as skilled as our secular counterparts. Why?

As my bol Ackdavis  tweeted last week I’m convinced there are a rack of Christian mcs who are way better than their secular counterparts. I think in the next few years what I just tweeted will make more sense due to Christians gaining more exposure by mainstream secular media. But I don’t think we need to wait for the acceptance of the mainstream to start believing it now that there are Christians who are sick rappers! I’m not saying all this to say our main goal should be to prove that Christians are better than non-Christians. I am writing this because I know the mind state of many involved in hip-hop who are Christians needs to change. I believe this inferiority complex is one of the main reasons why Christian artists have a tendency to bite more well-known secular artists. They are looking up to them as the standard of what excellence is instead of making the best art possible. Let’s stop sleeping on how gifted some of our fellow Christian rappers are. I’m done.

On a message board recently people were talking about who their favorite MCs of all time were. After thinking about it here is my list.

In no particular order. I don’t think there’s too many people toppin the people on this list. From wordplay, similes, delivery, punchlines, schemes; ability to stay on topic, etc.

Wordsworth
Eminem
Timothy Brindle
Black Thought
Copywrite
Phanatik
Cassidy
Evangel
Shai Linne
Big L

Honorable Mention: Ackdavis, Braille, Stephen the Levite, Illmaculate (illest battle MC), Juice, Mos Def, Big Pun

Two more days! Rowdy!

Freestyle Fam

DJ Ant G

Zae Da Blacksmith

Phanatik

Stephen the Levite

Timothy Brindle

Society Park

Believin Stephen

J.Johnson

Check out this thorough interview with Trip Lee from Hip-Hop DX’s site. He talks about his new album and the state of Christian hip-hop.

Set a new bench max yesterday- 380 lbs, weighing 212 lbs. (An athlete is cursing at the first few seconds of the video so please view with discretion)

Underground Sound show in Philly on April 14. You’re not gonna wanna miss this one. I’ll be rockin with some of my favorite lyricists and MCs in hip-hop. Zae Da Blacksmith, Freestyle Fam, Muze One and Stephen the Levite, Phanatik and my brother Timothy Brindle

Victory March featuring Phien off The Suffering Servant album

Victory March featuring Phien

Background

As soon as I heard this beat on Big Juice’s website I knew I wanted it. It has that anthem type of vibe and I love the energy! (The horns on it are crazy and remind me of Joshua blowin the rams horn in victory). Most of the album has a contemplative feel with many of the songs having dark, emotional vibes to them. This was purposefully done since the album is talking about the topic of suffering. I felt like this beat was the perfect match for how I wanted to close the album- on a triumphant note! We may suffer temporarily while here on earth but it can compare to the glory to be revealed! (Romans 8:18)

Lyrically I did something different than I normally do on this song. I spit with a “double time style”. I wrote most of this song on the bus while travelling with the track athletes I trained at the University of Pittsburgh.  This is the fastest you probably have ever heard me spit as well. I spit this way for the variety in flow and also because I feel like the beat called for it. I still used multi-syllable rhyme patterns like normal and it was a challenge to spit with schemes this fast. Normally when I write I tend to include about 10-13 syllables per bar in my lyrics. On this song I was around the 13-16 range. Here’s an example below for you to count:

“No more boredom, no more whining, been reborn I’ll go to Zion (15)

No more storms and no more dyin, no more mournin, no more cryin!!” (16)

Whenever I choose artists to be on a jam with me I choose them for a purpose. I felt Phien would be a good fit for this song because he spits with as much passion and energy as just about anyone I know and he did his thing on here. While living in Pittsburgh I initially drove to Cleveland to record this song. I wanted to get it in with Big Juice and have him in the studio to give his input on the jam. Having the producer who made the beat with me while I record is becoming a preference of mine. Bumps showed love and let me record at his spot but I didn’t quite like how it turned out so I re-recorded it when I moved back to Philly. Young Joshua was in the studio with us while we were recording and he actually helped us come up with the hook!

The concept of this song is based on the victory we have in Christ Jesus through his resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15) and the hope we have of eternal life. I thoroughly reviewed the book of Revelation before writing my verses in order to focus in on the details of this future glory we will experience. One of my favorite chapters in the book is chapter 7. This chapter talks about a great multitude in heaven from every tribe and every nation. Humans are way too concerned about racial elitism and often look down upon members of other races. God delights in showing grace to people of all nations regardless of their skin color. We get caught up on external appearance while God looks at the heart. We might as well get used to worshipping with people from other races now and get out of our comfort zones. We will be worshipping with them for eternity! The last part of the chapter talks about how God will remove every tear from our eyes and cause us to hunger and thirst no more. Another noteworthy passage is in Revelation 22:4 where it says that we will see the lamb face to face. I’ve heard R.C. Sproul once say that one of the hardest things about being a Christian is that we cannot see God. We know He is there but it is challenging because we cannot physically grasp what He looks like. When we get to heaven this will no longer be the case! I can’t wait to look my savior in the eyes and hug and thank Him for saving me from my sins!

Practically

Christ has defeated the devil (never sinned- went to the cross) and has defeated the grave (resurrected)  Due to him earning the victory we can have victory as well. Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” For most of the album I talk about the real problems that pain and suffering bring to our lives. Circumstances and situations cause us real hurt and we should not downplay how painful things can get. However, the joy that we will experience in heaven is going to be much larger compared to the pain we experienced. I believe that God is sovereign and that God could have prevented Adam’s fall into sin. God could have made a world in which we never experienced any type of trial, misery or pain. However, I believe God did not choose to do things that way because we would not have appreciated His goodness towards us if things were like this. I think God designed a world that has obstacles and challenges so that we will appreciate His grace all the more. God is concerned with His own glory and I believe He gets more glory this way!

Looking forward to our future hope in heaven should comfort us in times of trial. We know that things may hurt for a moment but we also know that God will one day relieve us of this pain and give us joy in exchange. Christ suffered for us on earth so that we won’t suffer for eternity in hell (what we deserve). Instead of suffering for eternity in hell we’ll have joy for eternity in heaven. All of the infirmities we wrestle with now will come to an end and this should be something we constantly look forward to! No more sickness; no more broken homes; no more loneliness, no more depression; no more physical injuries; no more racism; no more betrayal; no more war; no more hunger; no more worry; no more lust; no more hate; no more death; no more sin!! All because The Suffering Servant Jesus came to earth and paid the price we couldn’t pay and suffered for us!