So I’m making a comeback in the world of blogging. I simply
could not help myself. I visited my twitter app and saw a video clip of a panel of reformed men on reformed hip-hop (biblically correct/sound
hip-hop). My heart was broken.
The Worship of God Q&A: Holy Hip-Hop from NCFIC on Vimeo.
Some very easy emotions after this video are anger,
frustration and bitterness. Having had my life’s experiences however, I chose
to focus on my feeling of compassion for those of my brethren in Christ who
(based on their responses in this video) have no compass for discourse outside
of their own cultural context.
I’m going to discuss this video in light of 3 different
perspectives: 1) My professional perspective; 2) What I have learned of Hip-Hop Culture;
and 3) What I have learned of the dominant culture (to which I believe the
panelists belong).
#1
I was born in the city of St Louis, MO,
raised in Germany (from age 3) speaking German, and returned to the U.S. where
my income is earned by teaching another foreign language, Spanish.
As a foreign language teacher one of my
biggest complaints from students is “I just can’t understand it. They talk too
fast.” I tell my students that “no, they [foreign language speakers] are in
general speaking at the same rate that you do. It just sounds completely
foreign to you, so you cannot even comprehend that they are indeed saying one
word after another. I then recommend that my students watch the 6pm news on a
Hispanic TV station, everyday for a couple of weeks, so that the sounds become
more and more differentiated and relevant in the students ear/mind. I tell them
that I DO NOT expect that they understand much of what they hear; and that they
should be able to understand the context of the show as I assume they have
watched the news and weather in English. This activity gives my students a
foundation and a fighting chance to begin their journey of learning and
understanding another language.
I share this because (1) this is how I
believe these panelists hear Hip-Hop Music; and (2) . The music is so foreign
to them that they cannot get past the fact that biblically sound Hip-Hop is yet
another “net” and lens by which some of us “fishers of men” answer the call to
the Great Commission.
As I heard these panelists speak of the music
or the beat of hip-hop songs being distracting or taking away from the sound
lyrics, Foreign Language acquisition is all I could think about! This is the
Merriam-Webster definition of ignorance. Now, the confidence in which they
dismissed the reformed version of this art form can be attributed to plain old
sin. L
#2
There is a significantly large group of
people who see the world through the lens of Hip-Hop culture. So if this is how
they see the world, if this is the language in which they speak, why not
translate? Why not become Hip-Hop to reach those who are Hip-Hop? Better yet,
if you were born into the Hip-Hop culture and have had a life-changing
encounter with the God of this universe through the saving hope of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, why not preach that saving hope in your native tongue?... HIP-HOP!
This is essentially where I believe some of these reformed artists are coming
from. So to the panelist shouting “conforming cowards,” I reject that! How is
one conforming to “the world” by being an ambassador for Christ in his/her own
cultural context? Speaking his or her own cultural language? To the tunes and rhythms
of his/her own cultural music?
I believe that out of the abundance of this
panelist’s heart he speaks: “You have converted to Christianity and have
decided not to look, act, think, and speak like me!! You have not converted to
my culture! You coward!” The gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is not bound by
the Anglo-colonial culture, the Hip-Hop culture, or by any of the thousands of
cultures that exist in God’s creation. We are called to make disciples of all
nations/ethnicities.
#3
After I shared this video with my husband, in his disappointment he said, something that had me all nerdy and excited (what happens when 2 teachers get married…)… He said “This is the handicap of the dominant culture.” What is the dominant culture? The dominant culture of a society can be defined as the demographic majority. In the U.S.A. (though this is rapidly changing), we can consider “white” as the dominant ethnicity/culture (I can write a whole blog on the concept of race as a social construct and not a scientific reality,… but I digress for the sake of making this point).The handicap of a dominant culture is that they see themselves as the standard. Think about it. If you have always lived in a world where “good” things are associated with your kind and “less than good things” are associated with others who are not your kind, how else is there to think? I am not excusing this lack of consideration for others and their unique looks, abilities, cultures, languages, customs and traditions. I am simply trying to crack open a can of worms in hopes to shed light on the disposition of some individuals belonging to the dominant culture. Hear me when I say: “It is not right.” For the panelist who said something to the effect that rap always points to the glory of the individual rapper, that is an unjustified opinion. I think it was just a slip of the tongue to make his point seem relevant. If this is true, than this is true for all types of music. He is, from his position as a member of the dominant culture, making this statement to be a “negative,” only applying to the music of the minority culture. There are plenty of skilled song-writers in a variety of genres (dominant and non-dominant) who are known for their amazing lyrical and artistic abilities. Why does this panelist only make it out to be a negative attribute when credit is given to a skilled hip-hop artist? … He suffers from the handicap of the dominant culture.
#3
After I shared this video with my husband, in his disappointment he said, something that had me all nerdy and excited (what happens when 2 teachers get married…)… He said “This is the handicap of the dominant culture.” What is the dominant culture? The dominant culture of a society can be defined as the demographic majority. In the U.S.A. (though this is rapidly changing), we can consider “white” as the dominant ethnicity/culture (I can write a whole blog on the concept of race as a social construct and not a scientific reality,… but I digress for the sake of making this point).The handicap of a dominant culture is that they see themselves as the standard. Think about it. If you have always lived in a world where “good” things are associated with your kind and “less than good things” are associated with others who are not your kind, how else is there to think? I am not excusing this lack of consideration for others and their unique looks, abilities, cultures, languages, customs and traditions. I am simply trying to crack open a can of worms in hopes to shed light on the disposition of some individuals belonging to the dominant culture. Hear me when I say: “It is not right.” For the panelist who said something to the effect that rap always points to the glory of the individual rapper, that is an unjustified opinion. I think it was just a slip of the tongue to make his point seem relevant. If this is true, than this is true for all types of music. He is, from his position as a member of the dominant culture, making this statement to be a “negative,” only applying to the music of the minority culture. There are plenty of skilled song-writers in a variety of genres (dominant and non-dominant) who are known for their amazing lyrical and artistic abilities. Why does this panelist only make it out to be a negative attribute when credit is given to a skilled hip-hop artist? … He suffers from the handicap of the dominant culture.
In conclusion, I
responded with the following tweet:
“Soul Conversion
vs. Cultural Conversion: The latter is a counterfeit and a haughty ambition.”
(You can follow my
tweets @ECollierMusic)
