On the Other Side of Hip Hop
by Qimmah Gillund (iamsanctuary1@aol.com)

In response to a number of emails I received in defense of Hip Hop and more specifically the element of Rap, I’d like to elaborate further on my position in an attempt to clarify the inappropriateness of promoting this particular style of music in the church.

I don’t profess to be the expert concerning Rap, although I do know it’s origin, nor do I profess to be the expert with regard to Hip Hop (There are experts contributing articles concerning this topic on this website.), but I do recognize Hip-Hop to be a culture and not just a music style alone. Personally, I was never caught up in the Hip-Hop culture, so conversion from it wasn’t an issue for me. I was on the other side of Hip-Hop; I wasn’t on its side at all!

Several of my readers (and I appreciate every one of you) have written me and requested that I reframe from using Rap in the same context as Hip-Hop, and to stop insinuating that Rap is synonymous with it. I must confess that it was my intent to do so in an effort to stir up your pure mind concerning the subject. The way rap is being presented and promoted in the church is no different than how it is promoted and presented in the world. Sure, the saved “gospel rap” artist may intend to represent rap in a different way, but another step needs to be taken to ensure that it is shown differently to the world.

Yes, it is true that the musical style of “Rap” was around much longer than was the Hip-Hop culture. Regardless, “Rap” got a bad Rep when Hip Hop adopted it as an element of its culture. It was then that lyrics became slanderous and degrading and adopted as part of the Hip Hop lifestyle as much as certain hand gestures, baggy pants, tattoos, graffiti, body piercing, gangsterism, self-promotion, and materialism, and promiscuity. When you stamp Hip Hop on a gospel performance, you take something intended to be holy and identify it with something unclean, thus taking on the spirit of the Hip Hop culture. This is idolatry in its purest sense.

Here are some excerpts taken from an email reply to one of my readers:

“Unfortunately, the body of Christ today is not bold enough, nor daring enough to be different. Yet this is what Christ suffered and died for, that we could be free not comfortable. But freedom does come with a price that unfortunately some are not willing to pay. We are to come out from among them and be separate, but what we are doing is duplicating what we were to come out from. If you were ever incarcerated then released, you wouldn't build a house with the doors and windows barred so that you couldn't get out.”

“I know that God looks at the heart but man looks at the outside or the vessel.  It's not enough that only God knows your intent, we have a responsibility to represent Christ so that all men can see him. But what we are doing is trying to put Christ into what we are already representing. Christ said if any man comes after me, he must first deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Christ didn't introduce the culture of Hip Hop, so who are we really following?”

“Once you understand that Hip Hop is a culture which is represented by gangsters, thugs, and other undesirables, you may no longer want to be associated with it. It's emphasis focuses on the state of a person before salvation and redemption. This is where I disagree, in that it glorifies the old man. For the church to continue to perpetuate it, annuls the purpose of redemption. The purpose was for us to be redeemed back to the father in a state of holiness. In order for that to occur we had to repent. Repentance is a "turning away" and not a continuance. We have not been redeemed if we are still representing our old man.”

“Jesus taught that you can't put new wine in an old wine skin. What Christ meant is that the power of God in us is much too powerful to be contained in an old wine skin (or in our old state). We should be bursting in the newness of Christ. I'm saying that you can take a Scotch bottle and put in holy oil, but when you look upon the bottle your frame of reference will be Scotch.”

So, my position remains in agreement with Leviticus 10:10, “And that ye may put a difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean.” My question to you is where are we putting a difference? Most of the so called “Holy Hip Hop” artists are sporting some of the same clothing, making the same moves; quite frankly there is no discernable difference in the way they are being promoted from the way Hip Hop is promoted in the secular world. When I look at some of the promotional flyers, I see materialism on display. Take a look at some of the websites, or CD covers of the so-called “Holy Hip Hop” artists, and you’ll see the same lifestyle of the old man being portrayed in all of its glory! That is in direct conflict with 2 Corinthians 5:17 which states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

The culture of Hip Hop being adopted in the church is a form of compromise. It’s yet another way that the enemy has infiltrated the church, knowing that if there is just a small breach in the floodgate eventually the gate will burst. Song of Solomon puts it like this: “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” While Galatians warns that, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” The enemy is planting seeds in our sanctuary, and we are fertilizing them, eating, and enjoying the fruit. My point, “Hip Hop in the church is idolatry since we prefer its influence on our youth over the influence of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The church is focused on drawing in numbers and Hip Hop is used to seduce the young people. It’s a mistake to believe that numbers represent “fruit”.  Matthew 7:18 states, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Since Hip Hop has its roots in the evil and corruption of the world, it cannot produce good fruit!

Rap in itself is not the issue; the issue is in the way it is being presented. Its not that I’m against embracing rap, but I can’t embrace it as it is presented in its present form. If all you want to do is create godly lyrics to music, then why are you styling like a Hip Hop artist? Since God is the ultimate creator and the creator lives in us, we should present gospel rap in a way that glorifies God in a newness of life. We have to put a difference between a style of music and representing a culture that is identical to the world. Remember that “in the beginning God created.”

Many have said and I agree that God can make any thing holy. The fact is that yes he can, but this is not what He does. Even when God required a burnt offering, it had to be an animal unspotted and without a blemish. And, he is coming back for a church with the same characteristics. ( Ephesians 5:27)

Others are saying that a holy people can make any act they perform holy. With this I disagree since we are not the vessel through which things are made holy, only God can make a thing holy! When God commanded Saul to destroy all of the Amalekites, Saul and the people thought there were some things worth saving. But what man deems salvageable, God deems for destruction.

I Samuel 15:9 “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.”

Although God watched the disobedience, it displeased him sorely . . .

 I Samuel 15:10-11 “Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.”

. . . and the penalty was severe. . .

I Samuel 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

Because we have not put a difference between a so called “Holy Hip Hop” artist, and the way some of them are portrayed, we are in jeopardy of putting a stumbling block in our brother’s way by sending out a false message. God is not accepting anything and everything without repentance and transformation. And, if we are perpetuating a come as you are, stay as you are teaching then we are in error.

In my conclusion, anything that is associated with the old man should be put to death in a Christian’s life, and children of God shouldn’t play with dead things. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, and swims like a duck; it’s more than likely certainly a duck!  Amen? Amen.

Please direct all comments and questions to the author @ iamsanctuary1@aol.com

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