Thoughts Corrected

Have been continuing to think on my post regarding only listening to Christian Hip Hop. I realised that maybe my answer to the question asked of me wasn't 100% correct - more accurately, at the moment, the only new Hip Hop I'm buying, downloading and listening to is Christian - or at least Hip Hop created by Christian artists (i.e. Mr. J. Medeiros). I am still listening to some older secular Hip Hop from my collection (but have begun to pare it down to stuff which is more wholesome).

Part of my re-think was inspired by some of Mr. J. Medeiros' writings on twitter. He was saying that artists in gospel Hip Hop (and other sub-genres of Hip Hop) need to know and respect the history of the genre; including its originators and innovators. I totally agree. I could never write off secular Hip Hop as a whole as without it we wouldn't have the genre with which artists express their faith. I do think, as an artist there is a lot to be said for studying the last 30 years of Hip Hop in order to find out where they fit in.

Even in CHH I like to hear that the artist is schooled in the knowledge of the mother genre, as well as music as a whole. Recently I reviewed Theory Hazit's 'The Rock is Steady' E.P. which is a great example of how a Christian artist can come across as knowing what has gone before them (the review is for Sphere of Hip Hop but it has not yet been posted). Braille's amazing new (and free) album 'Native Lungs' is also a good example of an MC who has more than paid his dues on the underground scene, who knows Hip Hop's history (i.e. the word play on Native Tongues for the album title tips a hat to innovators within the genre), who has a lot of secular fans and who makes unashamed gospel music.

So, I won't be giving up all secular Hip Hop, certainly not that which has been instrumental in shaping the genre I know and love today.