I would have loved to be in the meeting room with the people who decided the bracket placement of the MCs on the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards ciphers. After a few years of establishing a pretty consistent base of popular and fairly popular artists, it seems Black Entertainment Television wanted to stretch their reach a tad to bring in some of the hottest spittas around. There were a couple of misses resulting from the effort taken by the network; Tech N9ne (due to his oddity) and Soprano (due to his lack of understanding of the English language) to name a few. And there were some flops because of plain lack of skill; i.e. Ace Hood and the entire Maybach Music Group (even William Roberts II on that day was lazy on the mic). And of course Slaughterhouse and North Side's own [Mad] Skillz did their thing, but there was one MC who I felt spit exceptionally well and I was happy he did so--Houston, Texas MC, Lecrae.
No, he didn't talk about the candy-painted cars or codeine beverages many of his H-Town contemporaries often do. Nor did he choose to brag about his clothing, campaign about his street credibility, or attempt to put Texas on the map (again). He didn't even talk about himself ad nauseam like each other artist in the cipher did. His subject matter pertained mostly about Jesus Christ and his (Lecrae's) relationship with Him. For about 16 bars he did this; in such a way that along with crediting him, I have to give BET a little bit of props for arranging this. I think we all know BET is much like the lukewarm Christian; the one that will give God the glory on Sundays and some Wednesdays but every other day (and even some of the hours on Sundays and Wednesdays) it's a sinny-sin-sin (in my Bernie Mac, Friday voice). So to take a slot away from a secular MC to give it to a Christian MC is either commendable or a move because the coveted secular MC backed out. I'll give BET the benefit of doubt on this one. I digress...
Unless you're in the Christian hip-hop circle (as opposed to the gansta, jerk, underground, international, and other hip-hop circles), you probably heard of Lecrae in passing, if that. But the young man is successful; with 5 solid albums, a record company, first in most Christian hip-hop categories, respectable positions on Billboard 200 and Billboard Rap charts, and is recently being featured on forthcoming mixtapes of well known DJs in what can be considered as secular hip-hop--still holding firm to the Gospel. Usually, this type of industry track record would garner mass attention from the music world, but not so much in his case. Unfortunately, Christian hip-hop still has a stigmatism that makes many record label owners anxious; and strangely, while most Christians have no problem listening to R&B pr jazz influenced Christian music, they have somewhat of a problem listening to hip-hop driven Christian music. Maybe it's the whole 'pay attention to the words thing.' The "world" presents some of the same ignorance also. Listening to the Statik Selektah Show on Shade45, he made a comment about Lecrae after working with him; saying "and he can actually rap his [explicative] off." So the thought still persists that while signing, public speaking, writing, and athletic ability don't diminish when one comes to Christ; rapping most certainly does. Lecrae, however, can change that perception. Yet he is not alone.
There are several Christian MCs, Mouthpi3ce and Kambino for example, who are unbelievably talented; and given the landscape of hip-hop today, any type of talent is welcome. What I see though is a classic problem in Richmond hip-hop artists: a lack of continuity and cooperation between artists who share the common theme--in this case, that theme would be Jesus. Therefore, I feel that the exposure that Lecrae is getting must be capitalized on at this moment to really make a legitimate push for the sub-genre to be heard. That can only be done by more guest appearances, more videos, more releases, and more of the Christianity speech that is radical to this world's ears. There is a dedicated following to the sound, but it seems to be similar to the 'backpacker' movement where the music is only exposed in small clubs and open mic joints in L.A., Austin, the Bay Area, and some northeast cities. But this work of the Holy Spirit through these young cats needs to transcend into becoming a movement, and that can't happen if it lives and dies from one guy.
To that end, if you dig hip-hop, look into Lecrae and other artists. We all know what age we are in so you know how to find the music. But please support it and move with it. Besides--hip-hop, whether we like it or not, educates many, many young people.
Peace.
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