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Overview

The intensity and enthusiasm accompanying a well-executed gospel song have all the trappings of engaging music that arrests the listener's attention. Its global exportation to other parts of the world or even just across state lines attests to this fact. Furthermore, each time someone outside of the African American community learns to perform gospel music, that contributes to the globalization of African American music in general. This lesson will expand on the development and globalization of gospel music.

Be ready to:

Name the essential musicians and describe the three watershed moments that were important to the globalization of gospel music.

Name and write about countries outside of the United States where gospel music has taken a foothold.

Articulate the importance of Kurtis Blow to the dissemination and expansion of rap and hip-hop music into the church's liturgy.

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Kurtis Blow 3

As Blow states in his TEDx talk, "Hip-hop is incredible. If you travel outside of the country, everybody is into hip-hop. We live in a hip-hop generation. Hip-hop is the number one music in the whole world" (Blow 2018). In support of his statement, Statista Research Department states "data on the distribution of streamed music consumption in the United States in 2020 shows that rock music accounted for 15.6 percent of all on-demand audio and video streams. The leading genre by streams was, as is almost always the case, R & B and hip-hop. A total of 31.1 percent of all streams came from the R & B and hip-hop genre, remaining almost as popular as the year before" (Published by Statista Research Department & 20, 2021). Notice that the chart below lists 1.8 percent of all streams coming from gospel music.

Distribution of Streamed Music Consumption in the United State in 2020 by Genre

One cannot deny that the R & B and hip-hop genres have a hold on today's generation. 31.1 percent of all downloaded streams speak loudly to this fact. While specific numbers are hard to come by, some churches are still struggling with the sacred and secular divide that hip-hop brings to the liturgy of the worship service. In contrast, others are intentional in their usage to meet this generation where they are. For example, Kurtis Blow is deliberately reforming the church's liturgy by incorporating a body of hip-hop-infused musical works through his organization at Hip Hop Church Global.

Others, including some Catholic church members, are starting to join the movement. See how Catholic priest, Father Masseo Gonzales, uses this genre of music in the church.

Have YOU heard of Catholic Hip-Hop??? [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Watch Fr. Claude Burns, a priest of the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana, and FoundNation for additional examples of Catholic rap.

Fr. Pontifex featuring Yung PK - Shine [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Foundnation | "So Hood" @Found_Nation #CatholicRap [ 00:00-00:00 ]

The ministry of gospel rappers provide additional listening samples:

D-boy The Boy Dont Play [ 00:00-00:00 ]

T-Bone " Ride wit Me♫"

Trip Lee " One Sixteen♫"

LordSide Gangster "LordSiders"

Christian Rap - LordSide Gangster - LordSiders [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Gospel Gangstaz " Change♫"

Doulos "Unashamed "

Doulos "Unashamed" ft. President Chell & San Joe [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Edwin Hawkins "Oh Happy Day"

The plantation songs known as "Spirituals" are the spontaneous outburst of intense religious fervor. They breathe a child-like faith in a personal Father, and glow with the hope that the children of bondage will ultimately pass out of the wilderness of slavery into the land of freedom.

Thomas A. Dorsey

I was always a person who could not be stepped on easily. When I realized how hard people were fighting the gospel idea, I was determined to carry the banner.