Being successful in Christian hip-hop is like being the prom king in a small town. Who cares?
I recently posted that statement as a Facebook status update, hoping to provoke a thoughtful discussion within Christian hip-hop. My heart was not to spread negativity. What I got, however, was exactly that, ending in an unhealthy moment for both the provoker and the provoked.
The truth is that I care deeply about this scene. Christian hip-hop has been part of my life professionally since 1997 and even longer as a fan. The status was a legitimate fail on my part.
To be clear, I reject the notion that there is sacred hip-hop and secular hip-hop. It is all just hip-hop. However, there is most assuredly an organized community of content creators, curators and consumers, often separatist, surrounding a subgenre of hip-hop. That is the community I intend to speak of and to.
The status update was welcomed with an array of colorful responses, but they mainly fell into three categories:
- The practical: telling me who does care.
- The typical: qualifying spiritual rhetoric.
- The insult: my personal favorite. There is nothing more Christlike than a well-crafted sting.
I thought it would be obvious that the status was tongue-in-cheek and that the main takeaway would be even more obvious.
My point was simply to remind those of us seeking to become the big fish, see what I did there, that the pond is generally extremely small.
A Glass Ceiling on a One-Story Building
I have bounced among different pockets of our scene and seen a universal desire to be at the top.
Aside from the occasional overtly spiritual lyric or the steeple on top of the venue, there is not much difference between Christian and mainstream hip-hop. With our religious masks on, I think we would all agree that a quest for fame would be the wrong motivation for our involvement in Christian hip-hop.
On top of that, the reality is that fame within this scene is a glass ceiling on a one-story building.
That should be enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. In other words, those who are not serious about using this medium to reach the lost, edify the elect or make art to glorify God and enjoy Him forever should naturally filter out.
But alas, they have not.
The Safety of a Small Pond
Why not?
Because Christian hip-hop continues to experience moderate success and grow incrementally every year. It is attracting more people to the “ministry” than a California gold rush.
I also believe that, as power shifts from Generation X to Generation Y, more people are entering the scene who actually desire to be, or are satisfied with being, the prom king in a small town.
It is safe.
It is easier.
That is attractive to an increasingly entitled, shortcut-seeking and generally lazy society.
Your Involvement Must Be Bigger Than You
The impetus for your involvement in Christian hip-hop has to be bigger than yourself.
Get plugged into a local church. Serve a local congregation with your talents and gifts. Submit yourself to godly elders and sit under gospel-centered teaching.
Develop relationships with real people. Get to know them by talking about deep and amazing subjects over independently roasted coffee.
The internet is not your church.
Get off the computer and go outside to breathe fresh oxygen generated by plants designed by God.
The local church is your greatest tool. It is the most advanced system for giving and receiving the mentorship and discipline necessary to navigate and steward a platform such as Christian hip-hop successfully and safely.
Stop Assuming Motives
The culture wars will not be fought on Facebook, especially not without commercial interruptions.
Quit being so socially awkward. This is as much directed at me as it is at anyone else.
Know this: Unless you are God, you are incapable of knowing someone else’s motive.
The next time you read a comment online, ask the author what he meant before you assume.
People are more accessible than ever. We should take advantage of that accessibility to understand one another rather than using it as another opportunity to assign motives, trade insults and win arguments in front of an audience.