General Characteristics
Today, because gospel music typically draws its characteristics from secular styles of the day, many link contemporary gospel to soul, funk, disco, urban contemporary, and hip-hop. 
SIDE NOTEHip-hop is a style of music that developed in the 1970s that initially included rapping over previously recorded excerpts from songs as well as new songs. (Refer to Lesson 24 fora more detailed discussion of hip-hop). However, this perception means the term "contemporary gospel" can encompass many diverse music characteristics, performance practices, and venues. For instance, how would you categorize the following live performance of "Love Theory" at Tiny Desk on February 25, 2021 of Kirk Franklin and his group?
Kirk Franklin: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Charles Albert Tindley
While it is true that contemporary gospel can contain a number of music characteristics, as we examine today's gospel music, there is one constant where congregational or group singing is concerned, namely lining out. "This practice was a common occurrence in early gospel music (the 1920s to 1945), as evidenced by the worship style of Charles A. Tindley (1851-1933)-in fact, this was already evident among slaves during sacred and secular singing occasions. 'Lining out' originated when the worship tradition included the church congregation in singing with the choir as a way to prepare the heart for the Word of God. Often in early gospel music, the pastor or even deacon may 'line out'-or sing phrases of a hymn, followed by the congregation's responsorial singing. However, beginning in the 1970s and still today, people use 'praise and worship' or 'praise-singing' instead. A small group of singers (three to seven), also known as the 'praise and worship team,' accompanied by a band, perform songs as congregants enter the place of worship. In this way, they contribute to the mood of becoming prepared to receive the Word of God. In many cases, the leader, commonly noted as the Worship Pastor or Music Minister, often plays the piano, composes, teaches, and directs the small praise and worship team and congregation" (Breckenridge 2016, 417).
To return to recorded contemporary gospel, the idiom features characteristics that are also present in the soul, funk, and disco music styles, as heard in the Kirk Franklin Tiny Desk Concert video. The following table shows some of them using the Tiny Desk Concert as an example:
| Style | Similar Features to “Love Theory” in the Kirk Franklin Tiny Desk Concert [00:00-03:46] |
|---|---|
| Soul | Starting at 00:49  vocalists, particularly women, use their full-throated, natural, and head voice; use of melismas; vocal dynamics such as crescendo, diminuendo, accents, and bending |
| Funk | Starting at 00:20 the bassist plays in a similar manner such as active syncopated passages, slides, lower octave notes, tremolo during sixteenth-note passages; use of instrumental riffs; instrumental breaks to emphasize the vocalists |
| Disco | At 00:20 , sixteenth notes on the on the high-hat; at 00:53 subtle use of synthesized string sounds; at 02:05 a combination of syncopated rhythms on the kick drum and four-on-the-floor pattern |