Peace to all,
We spend all of our time idolizin’ false prophets
Comparison’s the enemy, stop watchin’ others’ pockets
The social system’s broken, we divide on every topic
They fabricate the truth, then we all monetize the gossip
Uh, he tried to get our soul, but we’ll never settle (I’ll never settle)
I’ll walk this lonely road from the 'burbs to ghettos ('burbs to ghettos)
I’ll take the gift bestowed and return a vessel (I will return)
I am the one they chose, yeah, yeah, yeah;
The Chosen,
Peace always,
Stephen
I grew up listening to rap. I used to run a blog about Christian Hip-Hop from a Catholic perspective. I still have the Holy Roadies social media accounts where I will sometimes post.
Here were some of the Catholic Christian Rappers that were around back then.
I know Val Mural and some of the other guys from Foundnation are still producing music.
Dy-Verse changed his name to Nico Santana and is more on the business side of the industry now.
manChild was pretty big in the CCM industry when he was in the group Mars Ill (oddly enough, I’m wearing one of their T-shirts today : ). When he became Catholic, he went solo and independent. What commonly happens in the Catholic Christian Music world is that they get Married, start Families, and their priorities shift.
Mike Bostone was just coming up when I blog-faded. He had some good songs too.
Joe Pots was putting out some great stuff and then fell off the face of the planet! He and his Wife would put out fun little YouTube videos and then crickets! His social media accounts vanished.
Christian Hip-Hop is how I discovered podcasting back in 2005, when there were only like a dozen podcasts in existence. And when I would mention podcasts, I would have to spend ten minutes explaining to people what a podcast was. My Cousin had told me about a Catholic Rapper named “Righteous B” and he had done an interview with Jayson Franklin of The Catholic Cast. This was around the time I felt God calling me back to the Catholic Faith after falling away in College. In addition to discovering “Catholic Answers Live” on Talk Radio, I began listening to Rosary Army, The Catholic Insider, Catholics Next Door, The Catholic Mormon Podcast, among others. My Wife and I started our own Podcast until our toddler pulled our pre-amp off the desk and broke it. Our second episode featured some of these Catholic Christian Rappers. If anyone is interested in listening to this Episode, I still have it on my Computer. Private message me your e-mail or mailing address and I will send it to you.
And go check out some of these old artists. You can still find their music on iTunes (sorry, I mean Apple Music) and on the YouTubes. Definitely check out Dy-Verse (Nico Santana), manChild (of MarsIll), Val Mural, and Joe Pots. These are some of my favorites!
If you are looking for Christian, but not exclusively Catholic Christian Rappers, check out TobyMac, Grits, KJ-52, Playdough (now knows as KRUM), NF, John Reuben, Pigeon John, Lecrae, Trip Lee, Andy Mineo, Canton Jones, and Japhia Life, to name a few.
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I used to hear claims that certain styles of music, especially rock, are demonic. One writer claimed that rock (unlike his idea of wholesome music) is syncopated and that syncopation is unnatural and opens your mind to the devil (or something). I can’t hear “The Syncopated Clock” by Leroy Anderson without thinking of that writer’s ridiculous claim. Rock, rap, hip-hop—they’re just styles. Bad content doesn’t make the music bad, and religious content doesn’t make the music good. Rap and hip-hop aren’t my cup of tea, but a long time ago I heard a song (I don’t know whether it was rap or hip-hop) that I could really relate to:
“Waiting for the bus in the rain, in the rain
“Waiting for the bus in the rain”