Recently, a famous couple has decided to conceive, but
infamous was once their name. The first parent, a hard, rhythmic sensation made
by melanated souls and the second, a spiritual tune, deep rooted in your soul.
They met briefly in 2004 when Kayne West gave us “Jesus Walks” from College
Dropout. Tried and true, the two genres sealed the deal after a twelve year
relationship of hard acceptance. Mr. West and his native partner Chance the
Rapper gave us hues from heaven full throttle this year and everyone is down
for the ride.
January 27th is when Kanye proclaimed his recent
work “The Life Of Pablo” as a gospel album on Twitter. Eighteen days before its
actual release, we received a prompt of the musical genius sharing his faith
with us once again, but little did we know what was peeking around the corner.
Chance made summer just a little sweeter on May 12th with the
release of his third mixtape “Coloring Book”. Of course with no warning, the
combination of these two birthed a beautiful baby: a child that’s not
necessarily new to the world, a product that the world didn’t know how to meet
and greet initially, but we’ve taken a different approach this time.
As long as the contradictions have existed, gospel and rap
coming together were always considered taboo. How could you ever mix gospel,
the good news, with “worldly” music? There was no such thing at one point. With
gospel meaning “good news”, it was meant solely for the purpose of worship and
praise of the Lord. Christianity kept gospel and its hymns sacred and that’s
where it stayed. At least that’s what your textbook Christian can attest to.
"It's like there's no rules anymore," BJ the Chicago Kid told the
Chicago Tribune. R&B singer BJ isn’t afraid to stick his faith where his
music is. His song “Church” sings that he has church in the morning while his
“girl” wants to do nothing but drugs and have sex. Whether you believe it or
not, the sound of gospel and the word of faith joining hands with rap music is
the one of the biggest fish in the sea of music right now. Your ears have
already received it with open arms and you haven’t even noticed. It’s still
that same sound that we love to bump our heads too; nothing has drastically
changed with the way that we listen.
We both know that Kanye has tweaked his sound since “Jesus
Walks”, but we know that he hasn’t lost his faith. Some may say that after his
mother passed away, his music took a left turn for The Worst Ln., but others
look at it as his creative genius pocket deepening. “Yeezus” gave us a techno-celestial
chill that didn’t sit quite too well with his fans, but he didn’t let us forget
that. “Yeezus is a Christian, huh?”, a verse in the track “Highlights” Ye lets
us know that no matter how ludicrous his narcissistic banter may get, that his
faith is still very much intact. But we knew that, right? Mr. West gave us
strong choir vocals and we even get a hint of the famous gospel mogul Kirk
Franklin. He explains that “Ultralight Beam”, “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1”,
and “Pt. 2” illustrates a self-comparison to the Apostle Paul. Stuck between
fames glory and torture, his album addresses his hard work, glutton to the
industry, faithfulness to his family, and coming to terms with his weaknesses.
Transparency seems to be the theme, but he does remain true to himself. If
that’s not a God-fearing man, I don’t know what is.
Chance the Rapper, formally known as Chancelor Bennett, isn’t
afraid of transparency either. Since “10 Day”, his first mixtape in 2012, he
wore his heart on his sleeve and was never afraid. Lyrics like “Kids of the
Kingdom singing about freedom”, and “Smiles come through, though my eyes might
cry when they reminisce over you, my God” gave new fans a taste of his faith
and what it means to him. In “Acid Rap”, we got a glimpse of Chance questioning
his relationship with Him with the line “And whys God's phone die every time
that I call on Him? If his son had a Twitter wonder if I would follow him”.
Coming full circle to “Coloring Book,” we can see that he finally let go. Why
are we now noticing how strong Chance feels about faith? The quick bounce in
his lyrics seems to cast a louder and prouder religious voice this time around.
Just like Kanye, we get those same choir voices and religious references. With
a rendition of the popular “How Great Is Our God”, Chance’s “How Great” is
featured on the mixtape with the intro sung by Jay Electronica and “My cousin
Nicole”. I mean, the religious references in this mixtape are endless and
they’re evident. Christian-rap? Nah, he’s still the young Chicago boy who’s
dabbled in drugs and the care-free side of life. Chance has remained authentic
to his religion and true to himself throughout his career, but “Coloring Book”
lays out his truth. As usual, hip-hop, jazz, funk, spoken word- the “Chance
sound” is still there; we also see Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Justin Bieber,
T-pain, and Kirk Franklin again. Not bound to a label, contract, or taboo media
perception, Chance is the true definition of a devout hip-hop artist.
“When they reminisce over you, my God”,
they said- Kanye in “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” and Chance in “Nostalgia”; the
Chicago born rappers aren’t cut from two completely different cloths. They both
paid homage to Pete Rock & CL Smooth in two different songs at different
times. Featuring and having a hand in producing in each other’s album’s this
year, they have the same faith in Him with two different sounds. The two are
sixteen years a part in age and have changed the means of hip-hop and rap by
just being honest. "I'm only doing 1 percent, 2 percent of the work and
God is doing the rest of the work”, Kayne says. “I speak to God in public”,
Chance says. Coming together to create this blessed baby is probably the best
thing for the industry right now, but will we nurture it? Will we shy from its
face and shame is for what it actually is? Are we ready for our blessing?
Text: Sade' Louis
Visual: Jarel McRae
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