Brehm Center

One of the great challenges the twenty-first-century church will face will be a negotiation between worship style and the pervasive influence of the hip-hop culture the popular music, fashion, and philosophies emerging from rap music, its artists, and its following. Though hip-hop artists are, on the whole, African American, the question of influence is not relegated to African American churches, but to all churches wanting to reach out to the generation influenced by hip-hop.

According to author and expert Bakari Kitwana, the hip-hop generation includes those born between 1965 and 1984.¹ Kitwanaargues, in his book Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America, that it is not only African Americans who are becoming hip-hop but that hip-hop has transcended racial barriers.²In this new American youth culture where hip-hop reigns supreme, the church must wrestle with what God would have us do.

Hip-hop is more than rap music, it is a culture.

KRS-One, born as Kris Parker, leader of Boogie Down Productions and one of the most influential hardcore hip-hop artists of the '80's, defines hip-hop culture in his book Ruminations³as having at least nine elements including music, dance, dress, a way of thinking, and a way of life.⁴Hip-hop was birthed in the inner city, by African Americans, and continues to be rooted in African American cultural expression. Even as others appropriate hip-hop culture, they are linked back to and compared to African American expressions of the culture.⁵Therefore, one of the key tasks for the church that hopes to reach the hip-hop generation is to first seek to understand hip-hop in the context from which it has evolved and how it has shaped this generation.⁶

Churches moving toward an understanding of hip-hop must seek God as to how to deal with this cultural and generational influence on worship style. A good starting place is David Bruce Hegeman�s book Plowing in Hope: Toward a Biblical Theology of Culture.⁷ Hegemanhelps us look at culture in fresh ways. Hegeman's work provides a good basis from which to engage the hip-hop generation in dialogue, while always referencing the historical artifacts that mark hip-hop culture. From hip-hop music, movies, videos, and a plethora of books on the subject there is much information, but we must be willing to truly learn about the culture and not rely on news sources or television shows as they narrowly define and sometimes stereotype�hip-hop. In the end, our quest must lead to answers for how we can effectively disciple those defined by the hip-hop culture.

The music of hip-hop, made up of a combination of samples and break beats, is a continuation of the evolution of black sacred culture. From James Cone's The Spiritual and the Blues⁸ to Teresa Reed�s The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Culture,⁹ the history of music can be traced along with the struggle the church has faced in addressing the seeming divide between the sacred and the secular. The church will have to listen to denizens of the hip-hop culture, to hear their cries and respond in love. This will require patience and a willingness to suspend judgment and critique long enough to actually hear what the hip-hop generation is saying through and behind its sometimes controversial lyrics. 

Worship is going to be central to attracting and keeping hip-hoppers in the church. The hip-hop generation is a visual generation that watches music as much as they listen to it. They dialogue in fragmented sentences, demanding that those who speak with them flow and rhyme. Worship must be

translated into hip-hop if the hip-hop generation is to know that they have been heard. Hip-hop is a loud culture, with music controlled by a bass beat, called the bottom or thump. Worship that is hip-hop has to be in three dimensions, employing all five senses equally.

Hip-hop has much to teach the Church and the Church has much to teach the hip-hop generation. We must listen to each other so that in the end Jesus might be lifted up. If you don't know where to start, let me recommend Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson�s new book, The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting with the Movement Shaping Our Culture.¹⁰

I'll holla!

ENDNOTES

1.  Bakari Kitwana, The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture (New York: Basis Civitas Books, 2002), 3.

2.  Bakari Kitwana, Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (New York: Basis Civitas Books, 2005).

3.  KRS-One and Tavis Smiley, Ruminations (New York: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2003).

4.   Ibid., 179.

5.  Imani Perry, Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip-Hop (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005).

6.  Jeff Chang, Can�t Stop, Won�t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin�s Press, 2005).

7.  David B. Hegeman, Plowing in Hope: Toward a Biblical Theology of Culture (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 1999).

8.  James H. Cone, The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation (New York: Seabury Press, 1972).

9.  Teresa L. Reed, The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003).

10. Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson, The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting with the Movement Shaping our Culture (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2005).

Theology, News & Notes (ISSN 1529-899X) is published for the alumni/ae and friends of Fuller Theological Seminary. It is published three times a year, in winter, spring, and fall.

The editorial content of Theology, News & Notes reflects the opinions of the various authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the views of Fuller Theological Seminary.

copyright 2006 by Fuller Theological Seminary. Produced in limited quantities for alumni/ae and friends.

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