{"id":313318,"date":"2016-10-26T22:42:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T03:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/?p=313318"},"modified":"2016-10-26T22:42:07","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T03:42:07","slug":"rap-music-and-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/rap-music-and-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"Rap Music and Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-313940\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lecrae-550x328.jpg?resize=550%2C328\" alt=\"lecrae\" width=\"550\" height=\"328\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One of the most amazing ways to connect to God is through music and to praise his name and to worship him with lyrics. Some of the most popular Christian artists that a lot of people know are <a href=\"http:\/\/hillsong.com\/united\/\">Hillsong United<\/a> with wonderful songs such as Oceans, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mattmahermusic.com\/\">Matt Maher<\/a> who does a lot of blues and rock and roll music for God. Everyone has their different taste of music when it comes to connecting with Christ, but my personal favorite is perhaps one of the most underrated forms to connect with God, Christian Rap.<\/p>\n<p>Christian Rap is somewhat\u00a0new when it comes to connecting with God, but the lyrics are just as powerful for people who cannot only relate to what the artist is saying but also connect with God. In Lecrae\u2019s popular song, <em>Prayin\u2019 For You<\/em>, Lecrae raps, \u201cFather God, I\u2019m prayin\u2019 to you for somebody right now who knows you lord but just hasn&#8217;t been seeing you in the right view lately [&#8230;] and matter fact there\u2019s somethin\u2019 he\u2019s concealin\u2019 see, the person that I\u2019ve been prayin\u2019 for is really me.\u201d Lecrae is arguably the most popular Christian rapper currently; however, like any other genre, he is not the only one who is gifted at his craft and charism of music.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"630\" height=\"355\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XZNEaTWxG_o?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another more less popular Christian rapper who also has the crafts of Christian rap like Lecrae is Phanatik in his song \u201cLove Does\u201d which is my personal all-time favorite Christian rap song. In the song Phanatik raps, \u201cWe hear a lot about what love is, you don\u2019t hear too much about what it does though, love gives and looks out for the next person and gives out your best, even when they deserve your worst and, some have a little, some have a lot, it\u2019s not about how much you got, the point of the plot, is that if you have any love at all you need to share that with the \u00a0have-nots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reason why this song is my all time favorite is because it truly describes not what love is but what it does for the people in the relationship, which a lot of people do look over or take for granted a lot of times and how we need to share our love with everybody even if \u201cthey deserve your worst\u201d because this song states how it\u2019s not about worrying it\u2019s all about sharing the love equally no matter what.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"630\" height=\"355\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UG9NLCXXA-E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For a quite long time, I could easily connect with most of the music at church but there wasn\u2019t really anything I could personally connect with until I started to hear Christian rap because I primarily listened to rap music and most of the artists weren\u2019t really interesting me, talking about their own self pride and how they were the best, and then when I started to listen to Christian rap that was when I found a newfound respect for the music that I already loved in a new way.<\/p>\n<p>Listening to Christian rap really opened up my personal way to connect with God with stories told and how these people also grew up in a tough area but how they also had a positive outlook like I did. In no way shape or form am I trying to disrespect any kind of music, I think all music can be connected to personally and it is the most beautiful way to connect to each aspect of a person because a lot of my inspirations came from hip hop like Nas and his song, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PTqjThZei7U\">I Can<\/a>,\u201d and also Tupac\u2019s song, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hARz7Ymilqo\">Dear Mama<\/a>\u201d. I found it personally amazing and wonderful that people like Lecrae and Phanatik would take hip hop and use it for it\u2019s original meaning, to uplift people in hard times and to also help people connect to God using hip hop.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"630\" height=\"355\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1MlH1mL15i8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most amazing ways to connect to God is through music and to praise his name and to worship him with lyrics. Some of the most popular Christian artists that a lot of people know are Hillsong United with wonderful songs such as Oceans, and Matt Maher who does a lot of blues&#8230;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/rap-music-and-christianity\/\">[Read&nbsp;More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[154],"tags":[3245,514,3244],"class_list":{"0":"post-313318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-youth","7":"tag-hip-hop","8":"tag-music","9":"tag-rap","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13674,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/a-musical-reflection-on-lent-by-the-brilliance-ep-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":313318,"position":0},"title":"A Musical Reflection on Lent by The Brilliance [EP Review]","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"March 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A few weeks ago I went to the most unique Christian music concert I have ever attended. As an artist, I always enjoy supporting the arts that help to promote the faith in visual art and performance art, but I don\u2019t think I saw this coming. On March 1st, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/TheBrilliance-LentCD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4897,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/09\/broke-open-review-matt-mahers-the-love-in-between\/","url_meta":{"origin":313318,"position":1},"title":"Broke open (Review: Matt Maher&#8217;s &#8220;The Love in Between&#8221;)","author":"Laura Gonzalez","date":"September 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been dancing since Sunday. Not physical, hip-swinging, arm flailing kind of dancing. The heart-fluttering, non-stop humming, whistling-in-the-halls dancing. All because of a contemporary Christian music album. Five years ago, I would not have believed it. \u00a0I guess my heart had to be a certain place before it was open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/photo-300x289.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25449,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/a-creation-liturgy-cd-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":313318,"position":2},"title":"A Creation Liturgy [CD Review]","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"October 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This month, the Denver-based Christian-collective, Gungor released a new album entitled A Creation Liturgy. 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The band Soundwave, mainly known as the house band for DCYC for the past 3 years, has just released a new album. This small town band from Lockhart, TX shows the extent of their God-given musical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/TheStart-Soundwave1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9285,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/01\/hope-in-death-a-review-of-give-us-rest\/","url_meta":{"origin":313318,"position":4},"title":"Hope in Death [A Review of Give Us Rest]","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"January 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Great music can be some of the most beautiful art, and Christianity is in great need of more of it today. 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While it\u2019s not the same penitential season as lent, Advent provides a great opportunity for prayer, fasting, and preparation. 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