Louder Than The Music

Over the last few months I have seen Rap artists and Hip Hop artists making a massive impact in the Christian music world, with the likes of Triple O, LZ7 and Guvna B from the British Isles putting out material that is of the highest quality, then from America acts like Level 3:16 and Lecrae doing the same thing. Amazing albums and EPs have been written and produced in the last year by these artists, ones that have really impacted my way of thinking on music and style.

I'm a guitarist and love guitar music (I might have said that before), growing up my dad enjoyed good rock music, but not 70s heavy guitar bands. I grew up in a house where one moment Slade would be playing then the next moment some Motown, then throw into the mix some late 70s disco and you can see why I like lots of different styles of music, which hopefully comes across in my reviews. When I was younger, my brother and I would always fight about which album my dad would put on next, I would always champion Queen's greatest hits 1 and my brother would scream and shout until The Beatles 'Help' album was played, can I add as the eldest and more humble brother I let The Beatles get played more, what a nice guy!

Right, back on track, now I would never say I was into rap music, Coolio's Gangsta Paradise from 1996 is the closest I really got to rap as a teenager. Being a teenager in the mid 90s in Britain meant one of two things, you were either a Blur or an Oasis fan. I know that's very general sounding but on the whole it was true. I was the latter, and that meant disliking the other band. What I missed because of that over the years was an induction into good solid Rap and Hip Hop.

Moving on to present day, I can now see what I missed, and that's why maybe I'm enjoying Rap music so much more now. Guvna B's scrapbook is truly amazing and as a free download well worth checking out. Triple O's new EP is very good quality as well, and also a free download. And before you think I'm going to harp on again about how amazing the LZ7 album is, well you will be right, it's amazing!

Before you worry I'm not going to get into a debate about is Rap music of the Devil, which I have heard banded around before, didn't they say that about guitar music once? God's people using any style of music to worship Him is I'm sure fine by God, as long as it's words that express His beauty and what God is for, that's true worship, not any style or genre.

I have always thought rappers are great songwriters as they always seem to fit an interesting story into their lyrics and music. Yes non-Christian rap artists seem to get their influences from their own lives, talking about sex, violence and everything in between, but what you can hear in Christian artists are positive messages, lyrics about God, hope, positive words on relationships, temptation, hurt, anger and self belonging.

That's what I would love to see more, these positive messages being sung out there in the mainstream, replacing the negative lyrics of some Rap artists. The guys at the moment who are pushing Christian rap music forward are as good as anything else that is out there. I'm sure there are more artists in the Rap genre that I need and should explore more, I can't wait to hear more high quality songs from such artists, and would ask you if you know someone who loves listening to the genre of Rap and Hip Hop, please check out artists like Guvna B and Triple O. They might really like what they hear, I know for one I enjoyed their new EPs immensely.

Jono