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  Hip hop artist Sean Slaughter writes regularly-appearing column for Gospelflava.com on the wide-ranging topic of Gospel hip hop. September 3, 2003 Welcome to Hip-Hop as I see it. In Holy Hip-Hop today there is a well-known battle going on. The Artistry vs. Ministry battle. Let me explain. The “Artistry” side of HHH argues that in order to win people to Christ, they must mention his name as little as possible because people will get offended. They are Christians but don’t want anybody to call them Christians. They try not to sound too churchy so their lyrics are about skills, wack MCs, gimmick songs and a bible reference or two. The “Ministry” side of HHH mentions Jesus Christ in every song, sometimes more than once. They speak or preach in their concerts and give altar calls and usually have name like Dan Dan the Evangelistic Man or Deuteronomy Chapter 5 Verses 1 Through 7. Now, I’m not here to pick a side or hate, but to give you some general truths about each contender. The “Artistry” side usually has very few great MCs. They usually have very few good MCs. Most are considered underground, which usually means not good enough to have commercial success, whatever that is in HHH. But the good ones are good. Good to the point that they open up for secular bands and have very good success in sales and touring. These guys are usually the ones all over Christian and internet radio. They are signed to record labels and have good marketing, promotion, distribution, publicity, record production, and do excellent shows. The variety of subject matter they rap about is awesome, but the message of Christ is very vague. Almost invisible, yet because they’re Christians, they have advantage of two markets, secular and Christian. The “Ministry” side of HHH has a lot of good MCs but few really great ones. Usually [they feel that] their subject matter is less diverse, so often they all rap about the same thing. You have raps about the cross, ex-thug rap, Jesus freestyle rap and “Christ is my man” rap. They have weak sales, small independent labels and don’t tour much. Most are future preachers, teachers, speakers and evangelists and usually have very close ties with their home church. Most have excellent Bible knowledge, love to worship and in their concerts, always give altar calls and testimony. Their record production is weak and the quality is less than semi-professional. Although the good one are really good, their “pinnacle” of success is rapping at a T.D. Jakes conference or on TBN. Each side has very strong points and weak points. But here is what I think. I believe one reason so many things in church today are so suspect is because we don’t know how to keep things balanced. Proverbs 11:1 say “ The Lord hates dishonest scales, but he is pleased with honest weights”. In other words, just like you balance your diet or balance your budget, let’s balance our rap. How come we can’t be the greatest artists and ministers at the same time! Our artistry has to be right because without great performances, bangin’ beats and diverse subject matter, we become very boring. We need to begin to plan and budget and release our music ON the release dates. And exposure is needed to get ANY message across. But our ministry must be there as well. Because music hasn’t won a soul yet, but Jesus has. Mark 16:15 has given us our marching orders and if you’re a Christian, which is a disciple or follower of Christ, then this scripture pertains to you. You don’t have to be a preacher to win a soul, you just have to be willing. The anointing or God’s power for service is the only thing that will change a persons life, not music. So balance yo’self fool! We need all three, super artists, super ministers and super...er.... balanced...uh...minis ....artis..... umm..... you get the idea. Previous Freestylin' Columns: June 2003, July 2003 
September 3, 2003 |
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