OutKast

Outkast is possibly done for ever as a rap group but they left us with one of the best religious rap songs simply named “Church”.  It starts with what seems to be church music but it is a sick beat that Big Boi raps to about getting out of bed and going to church.  It’s almost corny but I love it any way and the big reason that I bring Outkast up is that they influenced so many other rappers after them and that is a major reason that religion is a part of hip-hop music, the rappers that influenced a lot of others happen to have a lot of religious songs or Ideas in the songs.  

Eminem

Eminem is one of the harder artists to find religious lyrics.  Up until his 2009 “Relapse” he mocked the Idea of showing his religious beliefs in his songs.  He battled a drug addiction for a long time and in 2009 he started to wear a cross on his necklace and came out with the song beautiful which had minor references to God.  However in 2010 he came out with “Recovery” and he was a different person he started spilling his feelings out on his songs and had a lot more references to God helping him through his struggles.  This album is one of my favorites of all, it is passionate and amazing how much he had gone through but he still fights on and that is one of the main reasons that I respect him as a rapper.     

Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is a relatively new rap artist who uses a lot of religion to fuel his music specifically on his mix tape “A Kid Named Cudi” and second studio album “The Man on the Moon II”.  With a big start in the game Cudi had songs like “Save my soul” and “The Prayer” that were well crafted and had incredible and very religious lyrics.  On his first studio album the songs were great but Cudi didn’t have really any songs that had a lot of religious lyrics but on “The Man on the Moon II” he came back to a more religious state of mind with his last five songs like “These Worries” and “All Along” talking of his trouble and his relationship with God that mostly everyone can relate to.

Kanye West

Kanye West is notorious for being mean to Taylor Swift that one time, but he is very religious and is extremely open about his beliefs.  One of his greatest religious songs is “Jesus walks”.  With a powerful beat and incredible lyrics it’s one of my favorites.  Kanye is very interesting, he is egotistic and openly admits it all the time but he has given hip-hop a religious revitalization.  In the 90’s 2Pac gave Hip-hop some of it’s first religious ideas and it was lost a little in the early 2000’s in my opinion but with Kanye’s work with Jay-z was a really big step for him and with his emergence into rap religion began to become a norm now Kanye still uses a lot of religion in his newer albums Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch the Throne.

2Pac

Tupac Shakur is one of the most influential rappers of all time and he is a perfect example of a very religious rapper.  On one of his most famous albums “All Eyez on Me” the pains and struggles of his life are explained.   However in all of this you see that he knows God is with him through it all he knows that Heaven ain’t hard to find with his concluding song, a far different and much more optimistic song than the previous songs.  One of the best versus from this song is “Heaven ain't hard to find In fact you can have it just have faith Just like a little kid, still believing in magic It takes a lot of sacrifice with all the lonely nights on tour I need somebody I can trust in my life”.  It is a plain and simple idea that people forget and we are reminded by a thug.  2pac is celebrated poet and a great theologian to the world.

God Loves Hip-Hop

Hip-hop music is notorious for it inappropriate themes and explicit language.  Hip- hop is known for its loud intricate beats and fast rapping over them.  Many people frown upon Hip-Hop and a lot of the people who are against Hip-hop are religious.  However within this genre of music there are a lot of religious and uplifting, themes that not a lot of people know about.  Most Hip- Hop artists actually have some song that mentions God or religion.  It may be hard to find these songs and through this blog we will explore the religious aspects of Hip-hop and rap music.