As the whole world faces this prison term because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some folks still deny there's such a thing as COVID-19. Some folks still think it's all political or something. As for me, the time when the reality of all that's currently happening hit me was when the federal government closed down all tertiary institutions and we had to go home. I remember when my classmates and I were having discussions about this pandemic and doing our analysis and our predictions, and none of them were pretty at all. So after all the negativity and scary stories, I decided to share some hope. I decided to share two of my favourite songs from one of my favourite rappers, 1K Phew. They were all from his album What's Understood 2. High Up and Glory, where he featured Aaron Cole and Jamie Grace. High Up was awesome, and dare I say Glory is currently Phew's masterpiece, but my classmates were really angry that I called High Up a christian song because according to them, it doesn't qualify since it doesn't mention God or Jesus.
It got me thinking; what actually qualifies as christian hip-hop? What makes an artist a christian artist? Is someone a christian artist because he's a musician and a christian or is there more to this?
Putting the prefix "christian" before the hip-hop word tells you something. It tells you that the music you're about to hear was written by a christian probably for christians. It tells you the music was given by God to the artist, and the artist isn't taking credit for the song at all. It tells you that the song is designed to be performed to the praise of the glory of Jesus. But a christian artist can write a song for the non-christian community can't he? In fact, he can write a song for the unchurched people can't he?
These days, what you find is people criticising a particular genre of music when it is performed by a christian, saying stuff like "Oh that's the devil's music" "How can you rap and be a christian?" "Why aren't there enough mentions of God or Jesus in your song?" and they forget the fact that God created all things. Every genre of music just to be used for His glory. They forget the fact that these artists are yielding themselves to reach out to folks that Charles Spurgeon couldn't reach or maybe even Billy Graham. They forget the message the artist tries to pass and criticize the method he uses to pass the message.
Besides, isn't God concerned about everything that concerns His children? I remember watching Teen Titans once and Raven was fighting her dad, and she said stuff like; "You may have created me, but you're not my father. Fathers are kind and they care for their kids." Hey God is not your average dad you know? Everything, EVEN THE MOST INSIGNIFICANT OF DETAILS OF OUR LIVES, are important to Him JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO US. So what if as a christian artist, I write about my love life? Or I write about my wife? Or I write about my successes and failures? Or I just want to talk about how I feel? Isn't God concerned about all that?
In High Up, 1K Phew talked about his successes. About how he had to work really hard to come from where he was before to where he is now. The important thing is who gets the glory eventually. At the end of the album, after he talked about everything he received from God, he ended with Glory. To show that God's the author of all that he enjoys.
Whoa!!!!....this is amazing!!
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