Christian Rappers That Do Not Rap Christian?

When God gave me the vision for EX Ministries back in day, I can remember being in somewhat disbelief as to exactly how it all would unfold. I just could not believe that a street born sub culture full of violence, profanity, and sexual sin would one day be openly promoted in God's church as a tool for ministry. But now after 20+ years of doing ministry against Hip Hop, I can see why God warned me and why I had to travel the world warning others. It's the same fatherless movement it was back then. It still lures young men looking to replace the missing father in their own lives. It still causes young people to glorify the very things that they should be avoiding. Hip Hop hasn't changed but all of the so called Hip Hop ministers have!

First came the Cross Movement, who attempted to use Hip Hop Culture to win souls back in the 90's. They attempted to redeem the street born culture of fatherlessness, degradation of women, pimping, and the "do what you want" mentalities associated with this dark movement by insisting that Holy and Hip Hop be merged. They believed that as long as you claimed Christ, you could redeem this street culture by enjoying the movement and forsaking the sinful parts of it. Because Hip Hop Culture is rooted in sin, they learned a hard lesson. Not only can you NOT redeem it but if you try to name the name of Christ along with Hip Hop you give birth to a hybrid mentality that basically turns a street thug into a Holy thug! Those born again to Hip Hop would confess change, but internally they were still bound by the sins that the culture is laced with.  The Cross Movement faded and soon took a back seat to more secular themed Christian movements like Reach Records and Lecrae!

Lecrae has endeavored to separate who he is from what he does. He says he is a Christian but he does not do Christian Rap. He says that his music is authentically Hip Hop, therefore it embraces not only the behavior of this street born culture but also validates the behavior of those that do not name the name of Christ. In other words, he is the "Kirk Franklin" of the Christian Hip Hop game. He came to make all Hip Hop the same and to take Christian out of the equation. He started out doing altar calls and praying for kids in his concerts, but now he just raps and make them dance to his beats while trying to be positive in his messages. He no longer desires to be associated with "Christian Rap" but continues to do concerts for large church gatherings? Some of the Reach Records rap acts are now justifying the use of profanity in their music and even questioning the validity of the bible. So, they took the Holy Hip Hop that The Cross Movement was pushing to another level. They are now Hip Hoppers that just happen to be Christians! 

This has led the way for a new frontier of Christian rappers. Chance the Rapper is making music that includes profanity, sexually explicit content, vulgarities, and degradation of women while claiming to be a Christian.  In a recent interview with XXL magazine, he stated “I Don’t Make Christian Rap, But I Am a Christian Rapper” Here are some of Chance the Rappers Lyrics from his Grammy Award winning album.

Chance the Rapper - No Problem

Ooh, watch me come and put the hinges in their hands
Countin' Benjis while we meetin', make 'em shake my other hand

Milly rockin', scoopin' all the blessings out my lap
B-tch I know you tried to cheat, you shoulda never took a nap, hey
F-ck wrong with you? What you were thinkin'?
F-ck you thought it was?You talk that talk that make a lame a-s nigga fall in love

Not me, though, b=tch you can keep those Bruh, I'm at your head like Craig did Deebo

Don't tweak, bro, it's never sweet, ho  My shooters come for free, so

You old Petey Pablo, take your shirt off Wave 'round your head like a helicopter

I ain't put enough weed in the blunt All you do is smoke tobacco

Where the h-ll you get them from? Yeezy said he ain't make them

My niggas chasin' bounty hunters And gettin' chased by their baby mommas

My first tat was on my stomach Got a pocket full of money

And a mind full of ideas Some of this sh-t may sound weird
Inside of the Maybach Look like it came out of Ikea

Run sh-t like diarrhea Big yacht, no power steering

Aye, aye, captain I'm high, captain I'm so high

Me and God dappin' This is my blessin' This is my passion

School of hard knocks I took night classes

I spoke about this day coming in my Truth Behind Hip Hop Series and it has come to pass!  I remember talking to The Cross Movement and begging them to reconsider their stance on Hip Hop back in the 90's. I urged them to call what they were doing Christian Rap and take Hip Hop out of it. I warned them that if they pushed Hip Hop, they would be pushing the opposite of what they are teaching and it would degrade the message of Christ. Their followers would basically hold on to Hip Hop while claiming to be truly converted. This will lead to many young people falling into the sins promoted by the Hip Hop culture. Cross Movement  insisted that they could embrace Hip Hop and do ministry with it. But the origins of Hip Hop and the founders of the culture are the first to tell you that merging Christianity with Hip Hop can never work because the foundation of Hip Hop is "doing what you want!"  This is an anarchist approach. "Independent thinking", "conscious thought", "knowledge of self", "do what thou wilt" are all self as god mentalities that do not work along side the selfless Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to accept Him you must first deny yourself. Hip Hop makes you promote and push yourself to the forefront to be seen and glorified by others. 

KRS ONE even penned a Hip Hop bible and believes that he and the founders of Hip Hop are gods! How can this be merged with Christianity? Chance The Rapper is now saying that he is a Christian, but his music is not Christian Rap? Then what is is? How can a Christian not rap Christian? How can a believer not believe? If you are a Christian, every time you rap, it should be Christian Rap. Isn't it ironic that Reach Records, Lecrae, and now Chance the Rapper are all desperate to be labeled "Hip Hop" but they do not want what they do to be labeled Christian? They love the label of Hip Hop and hate the label of Christian Rap. People wake up. A real Christian raps Christian. A real Christian does not use profanity, vulgarity, lasciviousness, and the degradation of women as sex objects in their lyrics. This is not rocket science, this is just another ploy of the devil to use music to deceive the masses. I have said it before and I will say it again.  The devil will ALWAYS use music and if you are not careful he will use YOU!  For more information on this topic, please visit us at exministries.com