They say you can rap about anything except for
Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get
played, huh?
This is how Kanye West, troubadour of gold
diggers and douchebags and Lamborghinis, raps
about faith. The irony of his 2004 hit "Jesus
Walks" is that it's a direct challenge to radio
stations and record studios—"well let this take
away from my spins," West declares—but it won
a Grammy and made it to the top 20 on the
Billboard 100. The other irony of "Jesus Walks" is
that West also has penned deeply profane lyrics
like "put my fist in her like a civil rights sign." He
may have rapped about Christianity, but few
would call Kanye a Christian rapper.
Not so for Lecrae. At the end of September, the
34-year-old rapper became the first-ever artist to
land an album at the top of both the Billboard
200 and the gospel charts simultaneously.
Anomaly includes shout-outs to Jesus, gratitude
for "the redeemer," and not a single curse word.
It also includes lyrics about slavery, a discussion
of adultery, and a song about driving someone he
had sex with to get an abortion.
Since Anomaly started its meteoric rise, there has
been much discussion of whether Lecrae is a
Christian rapper or just someone who "never
becomes a bad Christian, lyrically," as
Grantland 's Rembert Browne put it. The terms of
this debate stem from the old, enduring
conundrum Christian recording artists often face:
They’re either hemmed in by the genre label of
“Christian music,” or they reach the mainstream
by keeping religion in their private life beyond the
occasional, “Jesus Walks”-type statement.
Lecrae wants to transcend that dynamic. "My
music is not Christian—Lecrae is," he said. "And
you hear evidence of my faith in my music."
Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get
played, huh?
This is how Kanye West, troubadour of gold
diggers and douchebags and Lamborghinis, raps
about faith. The irony of his 2004 hit "Jesus
Walks" is that it's a direct challenge to radio
stations and record studios—"well let this take
away from my spins," West declares—but it won
a Grammy and made it to the top 20 on the
Billboard 100. The other irony of "Jesus Walks" is
that West also has penned deeply profane lyrics
like "put my fist in her like a civil rights sign." He
may have rapped about Christianity, but few
would call Kanye a Christian rapper.
Not so for Lecrae. At the end of September, the
34-year-old rapper became the first-ever artist to
land an album at the top of both the Billboard
200 and the gospel charts simultaneously.
Anomaly includes shout-outs to Jesus, gratitude
for "the redeemer," and not a single curse word.
It also includes lyrics about slavery, a discussion
of adultery, and a song about driving someone he
had sex with to get an abortion.
Since Anomaly started its meteoric rise, there has
been much discussion of whether Lecrae is a
Christian rapper or just someone who "never
becomes a bad Christian, lyrically," as
Grantland 's Rembert Browne put it. The terms of
this debate stem from the old, enduring
conundrum Christian recording artists often face:
They’re either hemmed in by the genre label of
“Christian music,” or they reach the mainstream
by keeping religion in their private life beyond the
occasional, “Jesus Walks”-type statement.
Lecrae wants to transcend that dynamic. "My
music is not Christian—Lecrae is," he said. "And
you hear evidence of my faith in my music."
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