These were the words on the last track of Shai Linne's album Still Jesus. And it's true. The hip-hop genre of music has not been viewed in a positive light among "responsible" members of the community. I remember the early times I got interested in the whole hip-hop thing, my mum would be like; "Turn that thing down! "What would the neighbours think?" And you can't blame her for thinking that way. Tracing the origins of hip-hop will even show you a lot of clashes with the authorities. Like, who would forget Tupac and his run ins with the law? And how about all those lines about drugs, guns and girls in hip-hop music?
But then comes along the Christian hip-hop genre. Some people still have a long way to go figuring out how the christians feel comfortable praising the Lord with hip-hop. To quote Lecrae from his song Hallelujah, he said; "how you rapping but you're Christian. They don't get it so they diss it." But honestly, a lot has changed in the CHH genre from the time The Cross Movement were big. We've had Lecrae, Trip Lee, Shai Linne, Beautiful Eulogy, Andy, KB and a bunch of other great artists changing the narrative about CHH while winning souls to God simultaneously.
This whole thing began to take a new shape when Lecrae went mainstream. I mean, it was his own choice, wasn't it? His own decision to make, right? But then, the whole thing just began to seem different from that moment. It was a big thing in CHH with the release of Shai Linne's Still Jesus album, where he addressed a couple of these issues, and was really direct on all these things.
But I want to look at one of the artists that probably defines all these drama. NF.
Rapper Nathan Feuerstein has defined reality for a couple of people. He has been rapping about his issues and struggles and fights since he came on the scene. With Mansion and Therapy Session, he has been the voice for those christians who struggle but don't want anyone to know about their struggles or don't have the words to express their struggles. At a time, he was really direct with putting his faith in his songs with tracks like I've Got Jesus and Oh Lord, but then he all of a sudden doesn't put his faith in his songs like he used to. Right now, he's a rapper. Just a rapper. A rapper who's a christian's should be the phrase.
A couple of days ago, I saw a post about NF. Someone was like; "NF is not a christian artist. Nobody should call him that anymore." This post made someone comment something like; "CHH is just a way to cause segregation in the hip-hop genre. The sooner you realize that there's no such thing as CHH, the better you will enjoy hip-hop."
Personally, I enjoy NF. I feel like he's an alternative to Eminem. Like Eminem Lite. No cuss words, no obscene lyrics. Just clean music. And that's really awesome you know. I feel he should know what's best for him. But then, people like NF are making other people say stuff like the comment above about CHH. Yes, NF and Lecrae might not be christian rappers anymore because they want their music to reach other kinds of people and not be stuck in a box. And that's fine. In fact, NF said once; "I'm a Christian, but I don't make Christian music. You're not going to reach everyone with just one point of view. I write about things I'm actually dealing with. You don't have to be Christian to relate to them." And yes, that's his point of view. But THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGULAR HH AND CHH! Why does Datin always sing CHH Ain't Dead? You wouldn't find any one with a life change with regular hip-hop. The best you can find is "Oh, I finally get someone who understands me." Hey, how about finally getting someone who can solve your problems?
CHH is alive and well and thriving whether anybody likes it or not, and we will always use that medium to the praise of the glory of God.
Now, I'll conclude with one more quote from Shai Linne's last track on his Still Jesus album. There, Paul Washer said, and I quote; "The art form you're doing here: what is it known for, in the world? It is known for sin and immorality. It is known to be vile and to cause destruction. But yesterday and today, I saw the same thing happen to a music form that has happened to my life. God has taken it, cleaned it off, made in new, and filled it with life."
And I guess that's the difference between CHH and regular HH.
CHH is alive and well and thriving whether anybody likes it or not, and we will always use that medium to the praise of the glory of God.
Now, I'll conclude with one more quote from Shai Linne's last track on his Still Jesus album. There, Paul Washer said, and I quote; "The art form you're doing here: what is it known for, in the world? It is known for sin and immorality. It is known to be vile and to cause destruction. But yesterday and today, I saw the same thing happen to a music form that has happened to my life. God has taken it, cleaned it off, made in new, and filled it with life."
And I guess that's the difference between CHH and regular HH.
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