BET’s “The Celebration of Gospel”: But Where’s The Holy Hip-Hop?

KinDeezil2012 — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:44:51 +0000

Let me begin with this; I will likely offend some people for this blog. And while offense can be unavoidable at times, my earnest prayer is that you hear the heart behind the words first. If you are willing to do this, going forward there can be healthy debate on difference of opinions and perspective on this topic. The goal here is not to indict any artist whose name or performance is referenced in this blog, but simply bring into focus the sentiments of many who may have concerns about how BET’s Celebration of Gospel special impacts the overall witness of the church. Please know that this is simply a bearing of my heart, which is still undergoing construction and renovation daily. In the end, our call is to stimulate one another to “love & good deeds” (Heb. 10:24). So let’s get this post crackin……. I’m going in!

On April 1^st 2012, a Palm Sunday evening BET aired the Annual 2012 Celebration of Gospel Show. This star studded event showcases a host of musicians, choirs and inspirational singers who have shaped the genre of gospel music throughout the years. Once again, the host of this year’s 2012 awards was comedian Steve Harvey; in addition guest performances by both gospel and secular artist such as Johnny Gill, Ledisi, Faith Evans and others. Now for the record, I have no issue with a secular artist singing gospel music, nor gospel artists paring up with secular artist to create “God-glorifying” music. Psalm 151 says clearly, “Let everything that has breath praise The Lord.” Inviting secular artist to “celebrate gospel music” lends itself a lot of potential benefits that can open further opportunities for the light of Jesus Christ to penetrate areas and people that are turned off to spirituality altogether. (But more on that later….) There was certainly an array of gospel music styles and generations of its expression represented that night, from Shirley Caeser to Bobby Jones and Kirk Franklin. They all performed and in some cases, in spectacular, sequenced s-curl, Beijing dye and grandiose fashion. It was great to see how far the impact, expressions and sound of gospel music have come. Yet for some reason I couldn’t shake this feeling of being jaded with the show, ironically the very thought of its airing brings these feelings back a little bit. Personally, I felt excluded, kind of like watching a pick-up game of ballers that wouldn’t give you a run when you really wanted to play. As the show continued to progress, I leaned over to my wife and said these words; “See Robin, this is exactly why the church seems irrelevant to this generation of youths.” As I grabbed my tablet to rant on my facebook page about the show, I came across a thread from a youth at my fellowship that said this; (and I quote)

“Predominate Christian media does not appeal to and seemingly does not care for the youth.” - Anonymous

I didn’t even need to post my thoughts after I read this, my spirit however certainly agreed! Unintentionally (or at least I hope it was…) The BET Celebration of Gospel did little to extend an welcoming arm to a generation that utilizes unique and creative methodologies to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through music, namely Christ Centered Hiphop. Perhaps it’s the ambiguity of the very term hip-hop, which makes expectations of how the art manifests itself too broad for this venue. The term has become scary to the church, and to some “x-ministries”, even demonic. Some carry the perspective of… “ if we cater to this “hip-hop” generation, we’ll have people on stage with sagging pants, hats on backwards, slick talkin, jeans & sneakers wearing kids with dancers twerking up in the background!. That ole hiphop music is of the DEVIL!”(in waterboy’s moms voice) . But what I did see however is a failed attempt to reach the youth with, to be frank, a sub-par dance routine full of pomp & circumstance which featured Isaac Caree and Fonzwerth Bentley and Kirk Franklin. Now at this point, you will either dismiss me as a hater or feel I’m simply being too harsh on Kirk, Isaac and good ole Fonzy. But none of these artists are the issue or cause for this blog. The bigger picture is my amazement on how out of touch the event’s organizers appear to be when it comes to gospel music as a whole. Isaac is not Hip-hop, and Fonzwerth is certainly not hip-hop either. Yet hip-hop, since the inception of it way back in 1973, has been the most influential music of youth for one simple reason, relevance of expression. Hip-hop has always invited the listener to partake in its style of expression without bias or judgment. Hip-hop as an art sent this message to urban city youth, “ we see you, we hear you, now share your story with world.” Its appeal has always been the freedom of expression more than anything else. The phrase “Hip-Hop is dead,” was coined by connoisseurs of the culture as a diss to what we see in mainstream media today. What we hear on the radio is no longer the unfiltered expressions of youths and young adults declaring a relevant message. More and more, new secular hip-hop artists lack the creativity and individualism to allow their music to distinguish them within the overly saturated music market. So what you hear on the radio is infomercials for a bunch of “brands.” Jay-z is a brand, Young Money is a brand, Lil Wayne is a brand. As a result, these artists have become Pinocchio puppets for these Gepetto labels. Allow me to come full circle and get back on topic.

Christian Hip-hop has yet to find its place even in mainstream “Christian” media. And if you do see the expression of CHH, it’s done in a cheesy, quality lacking way. Rarely do you see a CHH artist on television that reflects the realities and testimonies in an authentic creative fashion lived out by Christians who still are part of the culture. Isaac Caree’s and Fonzy’s routine is a good example of what I mean. Now I am a proponent of not taking our queues from the world in order to reach it. Relevance doesn’t have to equate to being a Christian Drake knock-off. Even still, it’s important to be discerning about what’s relevant to the person or audience you are targeting. Of course the bible says this better as Paul writes that to all people he has learned to become all things for Christ (1Cor. 9:20-22). Taking this into consideration, I echo that youth I mentioned earlier on facebook who feels disconnected with mainstream gospel music. This also leads me to question BET’s motives behind excluding an expression of gospel music that God is using to reach this generation. In that youth’s one sentence, I heard these questions being asked;

1) Who on this show conveys the expression of gospel music on behalf of my generation?

2) What segment of this show speaks to me and affirms how I see/hear Christ expressed in music?

3) Have you forgotten about us, or did you simply not care to include us in this “celebration”?

Now as you’re reading this some may be thinking “well what about Kirk Franklin? He did his whole set with youth, stanky leg and all Deezil. Wasn’t he ministering to the youth?” The little dribs and drabs of youthful artistry I did see appeared to be a forced method to relate to the youth of today and at the same time convey a message of church typical traditionalism…. “You’re expression is too gaudy, your voices are too loud, and we don’t trust you to convey your own messages without us on stage to guide you.” With a church traditionalist mindset, we get grown-ups acting youthful without actually empowering the Joshua generations behind them to authentically “celebrate gospel music” in a manner and tongue that’s native to them. And as a Youth minister by calling and DJ by vocation, I am concerned when a generation feels alienated and their music is muted in the church and gospel radio stations.

I’ll close with these final thoughts. By the time Kirk took the stage, BET was about an hour into the show in which if any youth did decide to tune in…. tuned out by that time. And wearing sneakers and jeans don’t make you Hip-Hop any more than owning a pair of Jordan’s makes you play like him. Let’s hope that BET and its organizers bring forth the full council of how gospel music can be celebrated in 2013 with the NOW generation in mind.

One hunned

-Dj Deezil

Feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to rap & dialogue with you around this topic.