I was recently asked to do album reviewson two hip hop albums and I am yet to do them. Hopefully, i'll be done by the end of the month. However, before I do them, I would like to do a preface of sorts.
As believers, even for those secular artists, our attitude and approach towards music is majorly shaped by our perspective towards God, or gods in whichever appropriate context. How we look at God shapes how we look at life generally, and music is supposed to b a testimony of our lives and so it trickles to that too. So our changing perspectives are continuously being reflected in our approach towards music.
The approach towards music in this case not being a case of preference for a certain genre of music but a preference for the message being conveyed in the music we listen to or compose. That is why the bible even commands that we sing a new song unto the Lord continuously because there are changing perspectives towards God on a seasonal basis.
Change in perspective towards God is not a matter of a radical shift in how we look at God always but a growth in depth in the knowledge of God. There are rare moments that our perspective towards God may change radically but not everyday or every now and then. Just as the bible is progressive from the book of Genesis to Revelation, so is the gradual change in our perspective towards God in most instances. So there is a case of progressive change and a case of radical change. The problem however arises when there is a case of ever changing radical perspective about God for in such moments, there the danger of cultism and wrong perspective is birthed.
Currently in the hiphop community, there seems to be a change of sorts, somewhere between a radical and progressive change and as usual, change must come with a bit of shaking. Some artists seem to have caught the wave, others not so much but at this point we can't put a bar on that. But at the centre of this has emerged two outstanding pillars that I have been asked about:
1. Beautiful Eulogy from Humble Beast
2. Lecrae from 116.
Next time I'll start from there......
Adios Amigos
