This evening, I thought I'd give the first part of the two addresses I gave last week at the School of Theology in London, the subject being Weighing, Rap and Hip-Hop. We read a moment ago from 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and into chapter 7 and verse 1. And that really is our starting point for our considerations tonight and I trust in two weeks' time. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, and we've been lucky, haven't we, with his first letter to the church in Corinth in our studies, he had to challenge them once again about their conduct and attitude and remind them of the need for separation. The indulgence of immorality by some in the church was still a matter of great concern to the apostle. Despite earlier warnings, some still had not taken to heart the dangers of flirting with the world or bringing its conduct and mores into the life of the Church. Part of the difficulty was the superiority that some of them were feeling in regards to the Apostle. With his troubles, afflictions, thorns in the flesh, imprisonments, persecutions, he hardly was a match for the version of Christianity being showcased by the new breed of leaders. Their lifestyles, revelations, and offices put the apostle into the shade. And so to such people, this urgent warning came. This is what was at stake. the way of righteousness or unrighteousness, light or darkness, Christ or the devil, believers or infidels, the temple of God or idols. That was their choice then, such is the choice that lies before us, I believe, in the matter of rap music and hip-hop. So over the course of these two addresses, we'll be doing the weighing with this context of 2 Corinthians chapter six in our minds. So how am I going to proceed? Well, first of all, we will do some defining of the object of our study. There are inevitably some generalizations to make, but hopefully we'll still have arrived at some understanding of what hip hop is. Then we shall move on to look at the origins of this phenomenon. This will take us into some fairly new territory, I suspect, for us all. We shall be learning about people, places, lifestyles that are very remote from our immediate experience, though perhaps not for all who may be listening. So please be patient at this point. I want us to be clear in our understanding. Looking at hip-hop's provenance will help us judge more accurately its suitability for its use in worship, teaching, and evangelism. There will be some unsavory things we'll need briefly to mention as we go along, but there are also some very sad things to allude to. These highlight poignantly what life without Christ can end up like for some. Though I claim to be no expert, I will also chart the development of hip-hop culture into its present form. Of necessity, we'll have to omit much of the detail. Indeed, some of it is too depraved and horrible to relate. I'll then make some comments about the use of secular hip-hop by the Christian. So if any of you listening at any time are taken up with hip-hop culture music, this is very much a time to listen carefully. Next, I'm going to chart the movement of hip-hop culture into the church. I will speak a little about some of the people who have been part of this. We'll be particularly noting some of the people who've been responsible for bringing this music into the Reformed Evangelical Church. This is very much, partly at least, the story of New Calvinism. We'll see the names of the New Calvinists crop up as some of the issues of worldliness that we've looked at in previous addresses emerge again regarding hip-hop. After this, we shall ask some questions about Christians performing hip-hop and Christians consuming reformed hip-hop, either personally or in the context of church-based or church-sponsored meetings or events. we will look at the nature of the music per se and consider what is it communicating? What is the message that it is bearing? And then, this will be in a few weeks time, we'll finish by listing some of the principles that should guide our thinking concerning issues such as public worship, personal sanctification, and spiritual experience. Here, we'll have to do some hard thinking about music and its role in our emotional life. Rap music may not be featuring too large yet in the UK culture and church. There are some exponents within, for example, New Frontiers, but it is big and getting bigger in the United States. So we need to be clear in our understanding and well informed in our response. Dismissing this as the worship wars, a matter of taste, cultural issue or a generational issue indicates a failure to see the importance of the matter at hand. I cannot say all that needs to be said on this question, but I hope to be able to say something at least. But there are a few caveats and disclaimers also to be made. While it's a matter of historical record, hip-hop began in black culture What is expressed is a problem of all cultures, namely sin. The biggest consumers of hip-hop are actually white people. While the operation of sin in any given culture may produce some variety, the underlying issues remain the same. So in this regard, there is no open invitation to look down on any particular culture here. All cultures badly need the salt and light influence of a powerful Christian witness. Neither, I hope, am I excluded from having anything helpful to say, because I happen to be male and pale, to borrow the phrase. It is patently obvious that in the secular world of hip-hop, by and large, women are degraded and treated with total disrespect. While I'm male, and the fairer sex is not permitted in scripture, the platform I'm able to enjoy here I hope I can identify with you and express a degree of outrage at the way your sex is depicted in much of hip-hop. So with these comments made, let us proceed to give a fuller definition of the object of our concern and ask the question, what is hip-hop? Well, hip-hop is essentially a style an approach summed up by the very unscientific term, cool. To elaborate more, it is a demeanor of apparent detachment from the mainstream culture, from its expectations, rules, and conduct. It is a statement of individuality, personal creativity, and self-esteem, and worried by the views of other people. It is an expression of self-confidence, conveying an impression to others that one is worthy of respect. Thus, hip-hop communicates, in its cultural setting, a way of life that is free, self-fulfilling, independent, stylish, and status-enhancing. The name itself is in some dispute as to who first coined the term. But the hip part speaks about being up-to-date. The hop part refers to the kind of energetic dancing associated with it. Now we'll be homing in on the music in due course. But as I have already suggested, we must recognize that hip-hop is more than just the music. Its aspirations and view of the good life is expressed in a variety of ways. It has its own dress code. Certain products are in, certain products are out. Hats, caps, shirts, trousers, trainers and sunglasses conform to the brands that are thought to be cool. The trousers, in the opinion of some, need to be virtually falling down in order to be really cool. There are certain types of car, that are good to be seen in. Various types of alcohol are fashionable. Presently, cognac is showcased by some of the big names. Then there is the bling, or bling-bling. This is the ostentatious jewellery that is worn by some. Medallions, bracelets, or whatever else might be flavour of the month. These all convey status and set the standards for what is to be envied and copied. Then there is the language. Hip-hop has developed its own words and phrases. We may have heard the term diss as a way of speaking down something. It is from the world of hip-hop. So here I am, in effect, dissing hip-hop. Then there is the greeting yo. This is hip-hop. Indeed, former President George W. Bush was heard to greet former Prime Minister Tony Blair with a comradely, Yo Blair! Graffiti is the visual art form linked to hip-hop. The covering of subway trains in New York with various tags, pictures and slogans was part of its culture. It expressed a disregard for rules. a statement of defiance against the mainstream culture, and the expression of one's own tastes, laced with hints of danger and risk. Urban art has evolved from this, so that it has now, as with so much of hip-hop, become mainstream itself. What was once the culture of the outsider, challenging the powers that be, is now the art that is bought by the people who are the powers that be. Coming nearer to the music is the breakdancing that accompanies much of the musical output. Originally known as b-boying, it is an energetic, aggressive and acrobatic form of dancing which gives shape and movement to hip-hop. That it too has gone mainstream is witnessed by the fact that Hollywood has various films about breakdancing. It can now be observed all over the world, including here in the UK. Dance classes in breakdancing are commonplace. Coupled to the music is the video accompanying the release of new records, CDs or internet-based material. With suggestive dancing and an often sleazy feel, the appeal of this to fallen young people is only too apparent. But of course, there is the music, which defined in the early days what hip-hop was. At its heart was the clever, and novel use of an extremely loud and syncopated beat and an equally loud bass line. In the early days, DJs honed their skills in mixing together the works of original artists to produce a continuous set of strong beats and loud bass. The impact on people was to inspire them to dance more energetically and to generally go wild. Pioneering DJs studied how best to produce this kind of dancing in people and to generate for them the most fun. Melody and the use of harmony were out in favor of these loud and aggressive sounds. Superimposed on top of the sound, speaking in time to the syncopated beat, was the rhyming input of what we call the rapper. Beginning sometimes with a simple punctuation of the music with shouts or comment, this became an art form in itself. Derived from a practice in Jamaica called toasting, the rappers were known as MCs and their skills included being able to rhyme what they were saying with a rapid fire delivery. As the need for DJs waned, with the advent of technology which could reproduce the sound of the drums and put together the dance-inspired bass lines, so the MC assumed greater prominence. These are the rap singers, who are famous figureheads of hip-hop culture, and who can command huge incomes and enjoy a great fan following. Very briefly, we can trace the beginnings of hip hop back to the Jamaica of the 1960s and 1970s. In the wake of independence and with growing confidence to articulate a new way forward, the music of reggae came to be the cultural expression of the excitement and aspirations of the young. Though Bob Marley was the most well-known figure, he was not alone in putting together music that could excite the young and make them dance. The music came to define the political and religious hopes and aims of the nation. That was in the cultural DNA of a young boy called Clive Campbell, who at the age of 12 came to New York to join his parents and his elder sister. He lived in the badlands of the South Bronx, where gangs jealously guarded their turf, and where violence, including murder, were commonplace. But moves were afoot to end the violence, to one particularly shocking killing, and gangs were more in the mood to make truces. Young Clive Campbell had watched the parties that his sister was hosting. He tinkered around with sound systems and came up with a way of producing more sound. So this was added the result of an observation he had made. It was he who noticed that people danced more frantically when the singing on any given record gave way to a section called a break, when it was just music and the instrumentalists let rip. With drums thumping away and bass to shake the place down, the partygoers would now dance wildly and without inhibition. Clyde Campbell, now renamed DJ Cool Herp, a contraction of Hercules, staged his own parties The gangs would come, and instead of fighting, would party. So, in 1979, in a tough part of the Bronx in New York, what came to be known as hip-hop was born. Other key figures in the early days included former gang leader, Afrika Bambaataa, who developed a group called Zulu Nation. Another early pioneer was Grandmaster Flash, who led a group called the Furious Five. These developments were confined to an area of seven miles in circumference in the Bronx area of New York. But it was not long before the sound of hip-hop was discovered by the clubs of Manhattan. The potential for this new sound to reach a global market was quickly appreciated. A small little-known record label released a record called Rapper's Delight in 1979. It was not recorded by one of the bigger names, but by a group called Sugar Hill Gang. But its success astonished all. Hip-hop, having been the speciality of a confined area of the Bronx, was now reaching the world. Big business soon saw the commercial value of this new phenomenon, and record followed record. In recognition of the global reach of hip-hop, Zulu Nation put together a recording and labelled it Planet Rock. The uptake through the 1980s was rapid, and the sounds and cultural accoutrements of hip-hop were now being experienced worldwide. Public Enemy, another rap group, toured widely, reaching Europe and South Africa. Hip-hop also began to take off on the west coast of the United States, but this had a decidedly different feel. Shaped by the Los Angeles riots of 1992, the themes were more of violence, anger against the police, the carrying of weapons and the use of drugs. What came to be known as gangster rap emerged, and went on to become the dominant form of hip-hop music. This change, of course, was encouraged by the big record labels, who felt this edgier theme had greater commercial appeal. Some of these more violent characters ended up themselves being shot or knifed in gang-type murders, revenge killings and the like. Ironically then, having begun as something that was intended to persuade violent gangs into laying down their weapons, hip-hop is now part of something that encourages people to take up their weapons again. So hip-hop is more than the music. It is a culture, a way of doing things, of speaking, of looking, which can be summed up as cool. It is a dispassionate, street-wise, real-life, non-conforming, in-control image with music, clothes, language, and lifestyle to match. Well, now I move on to look at secular hip-hop and the Christian. Secular hip-hop and the Christian. Seeing danger in hip-hop is not the sole preserve of the church. In 2006, David Cameron, when leader of the opposition, made a statement about the danger hip-hop posed to young people. He deplored the encouragement it gave them to carry and use knives. So this is where we need to pause and take stock for a moment. Today, much, though not all, secular hip-hop idealizes a crassly materialistic outlook to life. setting before its followers the kind of clothes, jewelry, houses, cars and lifestyle that they are to aspire to. It is totally ungodly, let alone whether, as a lifestyle, it could be realistically achieved by the majority of its foot soldiers. The taking of drugs and the use of alcohol are routine matters and feature in its content. This is where we must make our comments very pointed. Friends, is this the music we listen to? Do we have heroes among the ranks of the hip-hop stars? Are we fans of any of these artists? What does the Bible say to us? Love, not the world. neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world, verse John chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. What else does scripture say? It says this, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and enter many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows, first Timothy chapter 6, verses 9 and 10. Referring back to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, what have believers to do with this world of covetousness and materialism? What fellowship is like with darkness? Should we be exposing ourselves to these messages or supporting these people? Have we made idols out of these singers and these groups? Materialism on display and encouragement to reach up for this kind of life is in direct contrast to what the Lord teaches us. That's Timothy chapter 6 verse 8, And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. Or Philippians 4 verse 11, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Rubbing shoulders with hip-hop culture, Are we not in danger of sharing their outlook, wanting the items that they regard as cool? These are not good role models. They introduce us to a way of living which is against the word of God. But there is more that needs to be said. I mentioned earlier that we would be touching upon the poor treatment of women. This is one of the recurring criticisms made about hip-hop culture by those that still wish to be known as its friends. In many of the lyrics and promotional videos, men are presented as powerful people, holding women in humiliating subjection. Women are simply sexual objects and are required to dress and behave accordingly. It is utterly ungodly and depraved. And it is endemic in secular hip-hop. This is an open invitation to sexual misconduct and to the cultivation of ungodly thoughts. Surely none of us are indulging in this music and its accompanying videos. Surely none of us are absorbed in these kinds of thoughts or looking at the fairer sex in this lascivious and evil way. We should be putting immense distance between ourselves and this type of output. What does the Bible say? 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18, flee fornication. 2 Timothy 2, verse 22, flee also youthful lusts. Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. The Bible does not invite us to flirt with this material or parley with it, but to flee from it. is not doing any good to those who are part of that world, it will not do anything good for our thought life and will bring toxic material into our hearts, leaving us spiritually and morally weakened. Young men are to be exemplary in their conduct towards women folk. Women are not the objects for men's crude fascination, much less for their control and cruel subjection. And young women are to have the courage to dignify their sex with chaste conduct and to assume dress codes that are not off the street. Any man that wants a woman to behave like the poor women we see in these videos is no Christian and therefore no suitable partner for them. Dare to be different. What do we read again? Romans 12 verses 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore brethren that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are looking to find the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. The Lord will not reveal it to those who present their bodies as instruments of unrighteousness, Sadly, this element of sexual license was there in hip-hop from the early days in New York. It may in its early incarnation have avoided some of the excesses of violence and drug abuse, but it was never clear of the sensual world of sexual immorality. Its idea of fun was never a Christian notion. While we would not attach all the blame to hip-hop, with a presently desperately low standard in personal conduct, it has nevertheless faithfully mirrored the culture around it and re-exported it back into wider culture with its own original twist. In keeping with the decline of standards across different cultures, hip-hop has served the enemy of souls to enslave a whole new generation of young people. What vanity! What emptiness! And so we move on now to look at Christian hip-hop. Christian hip-hop. So with these warnings ringing in our ears, we turn now to the phenomenon which will engage our attention for the remainder of today and our address in two weeks' time. Just as hip-hop outgrew its original home in the southern Bronx of New York, likewise, it has migrated into the church. The first commercially released Christian rap album was Stephen Wiley's Bible Break, came out in 1985. One of the early commercial successes was a group called P.I.D., Preachers in Disguise. The Roman Catholic Church has its own brand of rap musicians. But we are particularly going to home in on some of the artists who are making waves among the new Calvinists. They have their own website called Reformed Rappers, where some of their output can be sampled. One well-known rapper is Shy Lin, who is based in Philadelphia. Converted through the witness of a woman he met in 2002, he began to release recordings under the Lamp Mode record label. He performs in various churches and has been acclaimed for his material on the atonement, among other things. Curtis Allen is a pastor at the Solid Rock Church in Prince George's County, Maryland. This belongs to the charismatic Sovereign Grace Ministries stream of churches, which until recently at least, was headed up by C.J. Mahaney. Converted out of a very troubled background in Washington, D.C., he studied on their pastor's training program. It was he who, in 2007, made a groundbreaking and controversial visit to Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, a church pastored by John Piper. Perhaps the best-known Reformed rapper in the States is Lecrae Moore, better known simply as Lecrae. He, too, grew up on the streets and pursued the same dream as many young men of his age did, but listened to a Christian speaker and was converted. He also has worked alongside John Piper and brought out a song, Don't Waste Your Life, to go alongside the book of that name, which John Piper authored. He has appeared at some of the larger gatherings, such as Passion, headed up by Louis Gillio. For instance, he was there at the large Atlanta meeting earlier this year. Clips viewable on the internet show it as being indistinguishable from a pop concert. Sympathetic treatments of rap have also been aired on Al Mohler's radio program. Likewise, the Regeneration Camp for Young People, sponsored by John MacArthur's church, have had Lecrae to perform, as have events at the Master's College. Much of the efforts of these rap musicians is by way of doctrine to instruct the church, but others, such as Lecrae, have a more evangelistic aim for their work. If I could start by saying something positive, were we simply dealing with the lyrics, we'd have to say there is much to admire. There is some very sound doctrine, as well as pointed warnings against false teachers. One is also compelled to say that there is a remarkable skill in being able to sustain the rhyming at such speed. Some of the rhyming is highly imaginative. So we do not doubt the skill, nor do we doubt the theology of some of these practitioners. But I would suggest we can draw a little comfort from this. I'm going to argue the case more fully in a couple of weeks, but the soundists of lyrics lose their power to influence or impress compared to the music. Whatever message the type of music is conveying will drown out the best of teaching and the most cleverly constructed poetry. The medium is the message. The music is not neutral or amoral. Different types of music have a moral value, either good or bad. We'll be developing that thought more in a couple of weeks to come. But now I want, in concluding what I have to say today, to look at the subject of hip-hop as performance and entertainment. Hip-hop as performance and entertainment. I want to consider, in a sense, what is the inappropriateness of wedding proclamation of the truth with something which, when all is said and done, is a performance using degraded worldly props. I've not seen every performance or recording that these artists have produced, but I've sampled a fair few. While I am no expert on the art of making a pop video, I think I see resemblances between what the world does here, as described earlier, and what the Christian hip-hop artists are about. The artist is being presented as a package. He or she has a style, has a personality, has an art that needs to be presented in much the same way that the world would go about promoting a performer. The clothing worn may not be as outrageous or downright immoral as the non-Christian variety we were looking at a moment ago, but it does still communicate cool. I've yet to find a Christian hip-hop performer who is dressed as I am today. Now we are still culturally close to our cousins in the United States. While T-shirts and open-neck shirts may abound on the conference platforms and pulpits of some of the new Calvinists, ties and suits have not quite become extinct. I notice that President Obama, when addressing the nation, is in a suit. He has something important to say and needs to convey gravitas. That is how he dresses. Interestingly, Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, who has forged connections with the world of hip-hop, dresses immaculately, even when speaking to gatherings of hip-hop movers and shakers. He wants his message to be heard seriously, however unhelpful a message to our mind it may be. Interestingly too, Many in his audience of hip-hop stars dress quite formally at these functions, such is their respect for the man who is speaking to them. Interesting too, Louis Farrakhan spoke to some of those gatherings for three hours and they listened. But that is not how Shailene or Curtis Allen or Lecrae dress, even though they, as lyrical preachers, are teaching us about weighty subjects like the Trinity, serious matters like the death of Christ, or taking us through the Bible in four minutes, which some of them do. Whether in the promotional videos or in performance, the dress code is urban or street, what we have defined earlier as cool. So let's put them in a suit and tie and get them performing the same things. No problem, is there, with that? It would work the same, wouldn't it? Well, no, it wouldn't. There's a mismatch. The image is all wrong. For these people are not wanting to look like preachers, or presidents, or heads of global corporations. Despite the fact they're conveying vital spiritual truths, they instinctively feel the need to dress as befits hip-hop. Not the bling, not the flash cars, but definitely the street look. They need to have credibility as men in touch with that culture and able to cut it at that level. They need to look like performers who fit in the world of rap artists. Watching Shaolin at a meeting, it was interesting that though he's performing to a predominantly white audience, the dress code was the same. The congregation, if that is what it was, were dressed in identical fashion. This is the style, this is the image. To address any differently would have taken them out of that image of cool and created a discord. Their affinity to the world of hip-hop and the need to dress like that to belong shouts out to us. So as a performer, much of their credibility in the eyes of their public comes from using the props of the hip-hop world. Besides that, there is the atmosphere, albeit sometimes toned down of the hip-hop event. Not all of the events are the same. Some are in a church, some in another kind of auditorium or venue. But when they are recognizably in concert, the sound is loud. The band is pumped up. There are swaying figures on the stage as accompanists. The audience is likewise swaying and moving to the music. The lights are down. There are background images floating around. Sometimes there are large-sized images, and the rappers and musicians beam to the audience. It is hip-hop light, but hip-hop nonetheless. Without these additional features, without the style, without the sense of event, there'd be no sense of performance and entertainment. So they might have some serious things to say, but it is still a performance. And as befits a performance, people feel compelled to applaud at the end. After one of these performances, Shy Lin is heard saying some very good things about the gospel. But he has to say it against the background of having just been a performer with an admiring public. He nobly and humbly tries to deflect attention away from himself to Christ. Now, we doubt not the sincerity of this, nor Lecrae when he's heard saying that Christ must increase and that he must decrease. But it is a lost cause. The man as a performer remains in view. He is first and foremost a hip-hop artist, trading on the dress code of the hip-hop world, and putting on a hip-hop performance. The applause proves that this is how people respond to him as such. The gospel, however, does not belong in the world of performers, artists, and entertainers. It is not something that has to borrow from the credibility of someone who is an entertainer and performer. It does not have to be buoyed along by the applause of people or gather momentum from being spoken by someone who is obviously cool and does cool things. The inappropriateness of this is only underscored by the fact that the elements of cool giving cover to the gospel are borrowed from an ungodly and God-hating culture. We have looked at where hip-hop has come from. Christian hip-hop is borrowing from its secular worldly counterpart for credibility. The dress code, the symbols and the music are part of a system that is deceiving people and spiritually killing them. Now, suits and ties do not automatically communicate a worldview and lifestyle. Hip-hop does. The clothing of hip-hop is making a statement about lifestyle and attitude, and that statement is not God-honoring. The hip-hop artists may try to speak against materialism and its emptiness, but they've already too closely identified themselves with it. As performers, to want to form any association with that unclean world seems extraordinary. Why touch its music? Why dress as it does? Why not move a hundred miles away from it? Why not rather hate the garment spotted? To make that polluted thing a platform for giving credibility to a holy god seems offensive. This works both for those who are the performers, as well as those we can call the consumers of Christian hip hop. I mentioned how the audiences dress as one would perhaps expect people who belong to hip hop culture to dress. They may applaud the mentions of the cross or the blood of Christ. They may enjoy the references to election or particular redemption. You may watch it on the internet or download it on an MP3. But as consumers, we too are sharing in the world of hip hop. We too are permitting the gospel, Christ, precious truths, to come to us courtesy of a medium that is saturated in a lifestyle of immorality, power, aggression, and materialism. We're basically differing from scripture and thinking that something associated with darkness can be the vehicle for bringing us light. We're reckoning what belongs to the world of unrighteousness will build us up in practical righteousness and godliness. We are importing the world's idols of aggression and materialism and the tastes of the infidel to train us in the ways of holiness. But doesn't the Word of God tell us to cleanse ourselves more filthiness of the flesh and spirit? Are we not to fear God and stop behaving in such a way as may bring dishonor to His glory? Our actions assert that the Lord will confer His blessing, including personal holiness, while having His truth dressed in the garb of immorality, materialism, and the pursuit of personal status. To have Christ relying on the art of a performer whom we admire and applaud is bad enough. To then have his glory brought to us by a performance saturated in the style of a culture of licentiousness, aggressive self-assertion and covetousness is a total betrayal. So we'll finish there tonight. God willing, in two weeks' time, we'll go on more to look at the music itself and see what that communicates to us.