The Twenty-First Century 2

Like many of their predecessors, such as Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, and many others, contemporary gospel artists of the twenty-first century face recurrent criticism for their innovative work from a core religious audience that can be culturally conservative and perceives a drift toward secularization. Kirk Franklin indicates gospel music artists typically see their work as more than musicianship, for historically, gospel music and its musicians have been inextricably linked to the mission of the Christian Church-saving souls.

Yet still, different approaches to gospel that incorporate secular music styles continue to be a point of contention among religious folks and institutions. Without a doubt, hip-hop and rap fall squarely in the middle of this conversation. Many conservative-leaning congregants are still debating about the negative stigma of hip-hop and lyrics that they feel center on immoral behavior. Hip-hop ministry leaders have implemented changes in the name to avoid this conflict. Youth Revival Blast replaced The Hip-Hop Church LA, and the Hip-Hop Sunday at Crenshaw Christian Center in LA changed to The Blueprint. However, the critical events that helped disseminate hip-hop gospel, rap gospel, and other stylistic labels are not the first occurrences of this type of music. Back in 1985, Stephen Wiley recorded the first Christian Rap song titled "Bible Break." In this song, Wiley raps about faith and Jesus's love for all and makes historical references from the Bible beginning with the first book-Genesis. The video included here is only 3:30 minutes; however, the original is 5:30 minutes (you can find this video on YouTube, but the vocals, instrumental accompaniment, and body movement are out of sync).