Here’s Shai Linne, a Christian rapper, rapping the “greatest story every told” — no, not your favorite story — the one in the Bible about God killing himself so he can save some of humanity:
I have no rap sensibilities, so I have no idea if this would be considered good or bad in style, but the lyrics seem pretentious. I mean seriously:
Where He laid down the law for God-ruled government. Commonly referred to as the Mosaic covenant. Sin was imputed. So for man to know he’s unrighteous, God instituted animal sacrifices. This was to show our constant need for atonement.
Would anyone appreciate that except a room full of theology-obsessed evangelicals?
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25 Comments
As a fan of music (not just Hip Hop, but a lot of other genres), I think his rapping is well done. The lyrics, however, I have to agree that they do seem pretentious and overall it’s not the kind of song that makes me want to go find it on iTunes.
May I recommend some Kero One instead?
I take back my suggestion. I just explored further into Kero One’s music — Good music but not exactly “atheist-friendly”. I would just recommend “Check the Blueprints” by him.
Given their genealogical history it’s really very sad that Africans haven’t reproached their faith, given that it was forced upon them while their ancestors where slaves. It’s kind of sick if you think about it.
All religions have a little bit of Stockholm syndrome to them.
A poster once summed up Christian theology with this statement: God sacrificed himself to appease himself.
I thought that was brilliant. It cuts to the matter so clearly that it amazes me more people don’t see the ridiculousness of the premise.
I’m no rapper either, but I do have opinions. He seems technically competent, but formulaic. He’s not breaking any new ground, he’s applying a rap formula that originated long ago and refined in the ’90s.
guy got skills. it is /very/ well done. this is his expression. leave him be.
He’s actually really decent at rapping. But True Blood has forever tainted Christian music, it now just makes me laugh. If you haven’t seen the episode with “Jesus is My Boyfriend”, I highly recommend it.
Of course, for a different take on the bible, try The Life Of The World To Come by The Mountain Goats. There’s a sample on that page.
I liked the beats, and his rapping, but like Hans said he isn’t breaking any new grounds. His voice actually kinda sounds like a slightly deeper Pharaoh Monch. But I had to burst out laughing when the camera turned to the Church crowd. A majority of white middle aged people, a couple young white kids too – but they all looked equally uncomfortable. I guess this new sound confused them? This event DID take place in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A 49% white area. And a 15% black area. Perhaps that explains why these white folk appear taken aback.
All the cool kids are doing it!
15 years ago.
Ha!
Is the rest of the song as bad as that excerpt?
As an aside, I’ve never understood why rap is a genre Christian music even bothers with.
I’ve never understood why rap is a “genre” ANYONE bothers with.
Just because you don’t like hip hop doesn’t mean its a meaningless genre. I don’t like country music, but I wouldn’t say “why would anyone bother with that.” Hip hop rose from the concept of oppressed youth being able to express themselves through music. It has always been geared towards a younger generation, so it makes sense that Christians would try to use it to spread their influence.
Sturgeon’s Second Law is something I believe in. I have yet to find an art-form to which it didn’t apply.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law
“Ninety percent of everything is crud.”
And the implicit consequence,is that there is 10% which is good. The trick is filtering out the junk and finding the good stuff. I’ve heard good hip-hop, but of course it is drowned out by the much larger quantities of bad hip-hop; a person who only causally encounters a song from a genre to which they are not already predisposed can certainly be forgiven for thinking that everything in it is crap. It is the same in every genre, style, and art form.
Christian rap artists are actually more popular than many people think. I recently went to a concert with the artists, Lecrae and Tedashii. It was AMAZING! And, unlike this video, there were many races of people and they were really into the music and giving the glory to God. Lecrae espesially stressed that the concert was not to show everyone how good he is but how great He is. And, yes, it is geared towards those who grow up with rap, mostly inner city youth, but not limited to them.
In general Christian music does really well. For example Skillet’s new album, Awake, was top on iTunes for a while and one of their songs, “Hero”, was featured in a commercial. Christian music is not a genre itself, but there are many genres of it… rap, hiphop, R&B, “oldies”, praise and worship, rock, country, comedy… the list goes on.
Here are a list of some of my favorite Christian artists. Check them out…
Lecrae
Tedashii
Skillet
Switchfoot
Point of Grace
Casting Crowns
Stellar Kart
Jars of Clay
Leeland
KJ52
Natalie Grant
Chris Tomlin
SuperChick
Flame
Trip Lee…
Hope you like them! :)
At least there is a athiest rapper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greydon_Square
Thanks allot MarkD, I’m a fan now. I love it, worked out to it today. Extra intense workout :)
He does a nice job. I’ve heard much worse.
Greydon Square is awesome. I don’t know how many of you have heard his stuff, but he can really rap & and he hits all the major points. If you like hip hop, you should like his stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5c1Dx5btRU
he did pretty good but like most xians, false advertising.. he only covered about 1/100 of the stories in the bible…
for that he sux
As a huge rap fan (freestyler myself!) and Agnostic/Atheist, I have to say this…The guy is actually ill. I might not agree with him, but his flow is pretty sick. And the beat is tight.
And yes, I did just use hip hop lingo.