Things I learned, remembered, or asked while doing research for part 1 and part 2 of my timeline:
Remembered: Stephen Wiley - The Bible Break - This, not D-Boy, was the first christian hip hop I ever heard. And while it’s not great by today’s standards, I think it is pretty much on beat for the original, original rap. Like if Sugar Hill Gang had wanted to rep scripture, this is what they would have come up with. I listened to this about 10 times yesterday. I really don’t hate it. It actually makes me wish that CHH hadn’t taken a huge-ass detour between the early 80s and the mid to late 90s.
Learned: Apparently D-Boy’s sister had a rap career too. So I’ll check that out.
Learned: I was listening to Lecrae’s Church Clothes 4 (which is a pretty fire album) and he’s got a feature from A.I. the anomaly, another female Christian rapper. Another person to go learn more about.
Asked: What role does sampling play in CHH? It’s a huge part of the culture, but you don’t hear a ton of sampled beats (plenty of borrowed lyrics though).
Didn’t Quite Remember: I was too young to recognize or understand anything of the response to CHH from the evangelical church at large. I’m very curious how that has changed over the years.
Asked: Is there a huge underground/local market scene in CHH? Every city has its aspiring young rappers putting out mixtapes and small circulation albums. Are there Christian artists making similar moves?
Asked: Also, social media (TikTok, YouTube, SoundCloud) has played a huge role in the development of new talent in the hip hop community. Is there a CHH contingent among the throngs looking for their big break?
Asked: Why don’t Christian rappers swear? I know there are plenty of Jesus followers who do, but nary a n*gga shows up in most current CHH.
Asked: Where are all the features? It’s pretty clear that artists in the umbrella of Christian hip hop listen to ‘secular’ hip hop, but rarely do artists from either camp feature on each others’ work. You’re not gonna find Crae on a Kendrick record or vice versa (much to my chagrin). Why is this?
Asked: There is a huge role for producers in mainstream hip hop. Some producers have their own rap careers, many have clearly identifiable markers to their work (tell me you can’t immediately identify a Timbaland or Pharell beat?). Are there such producers in the CHH ranks? Are there mainstream producers that work with CHH artists?
All that to say, there’s a lot of room to play with this newsletter. I’m pretty excited.
I like where this is headed, and especially the questions.