Hip Hop's Hostile Gospel: a Post-Soul Theological Exploration

Hip Hop’s Hostile Gospel <UN> Studies in Critical Research on Religion Series Editor Warren S. Goldstein Center for Critical Research on Religion and Harvard University (u.s.a.) Editorial Board Roland Boer, University of Newcastle (Australia) Christopher Craig Brittain, University of Aberdeen (u.k.) Darlene Juschka, University of Regina (Canada) Lauren Langman, Loyola University Chicago (u.s.a.) George Lundskow, Grand Valley State University (u.s.a.) Kenneth G. MacKendrick, University of Manitoba (Canada) Andrew M. McKinnon, University of Aberdeen (u.k.) Michael R. Ott, Grand Valley State University (u.s.a.) Sara Pike, California State University, Chico (u.s.a.) Dana Sawchuk, Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) Advisory Board William Arnal, University of Regina (Canada) Jonathan Boyarin, Cornell University (u.s.a.) Jay Geller, Vanderbilt University (u.s.a.) Marsha Hewitt, University of Toronto (Canada) Michael Löwy, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) Eduardo Mendieta, Stony Brook University (u.s.a.) Rudolf J. Siebert, Western Michigan University (u.s.a.) Rhys H. Williams, Loyola University Chicago (u.s.a.) VOLUME 6 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/scrr <UN> Hip Hop’s Hostile Gospel A Post-Soul Theological Exploration By Daniel White Hodge LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> Cover illustration: “The character is a fallen Angel spray-can. I was going for idolatry and the character is supposed to be an idol that people worship, a hip-hop idol. The eye inside the pyramid represents the illuminati and how many rappers fall for that false teaching. The right hand is doing a typical Jesus gesture while the left is holding a rod with a microphone at the end. The left hand has 3 dots tattooed that represent a rebellious side “Mi Vida Loca” but it also represents the Holy Trinity, a dichotomy between the theology of streets and the theology of spirituality. The lamb at the bottom is grey because it has been tainted by the world but it stills seeks righteousness so is not fully black. On the opposite side, a dove standing on the boom box represents the Holy Spirit and how it’s everywhere. The spray-can is wearing 3 gold chains and one has a lion with a crown of thorns symbolic for Christ. The pocket has leopard stripes that shows the obsession for clothing with animal attires. The rose coming out of the pocket represents life in how there are thorns in our journey but once we reach maturity we bloom with beauty.” - Alberto Aguilera (artist) The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032820 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1877-2129 isbn 978-90-04-21059-2 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-21060-8 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> Contents Series Editor Preface vii Preface viii Acknowledgements xiii Introduction: Hip Hop’s Complexity & Theological Intricacy 1 The Quest for God in Hip Hop 4 The Study of Hip Hop Culture 9 Hip Hop’s Theology: An Oxymoron? 13 The Hostility of A Gospel 22 The Research & Background 26 Chapters 28 1 Context, Societal Change, & the Construct of Hip Hop Culture 30 The Social Conditions of the ’Hood 32 The Post-soul Emergence 40 Soul & Post-soul Variations 41 Hip Hop & Postmodernism 47 4 Key Elements of Hip Hop & Postmodernism 50 Chapter Summary 52 2 God in the Cypher: Theological Narratives in Hip Hop 53 Theological Inferences 57 A Tribe Called Quest 57 Digable Planets 62 Nas 68 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 73 Kanye West 77 Ice Cube 82 Kendrick Lamar 86 Lauryn Hill 90 Chapter Summary 94 3 Hip Hop’s Totemic Prophet: Tupac Amaru Shakur 95 Tupac & the Post-soul Context 99 Locating Tupac’s Gospel 108 Toward a Theology of Tupac the Post-soul Prophet 113 Chapter Summary 114 <UN> vi Contents 4 Violence, Death, & Suffering in Hip Hop Context 116 Violence in Context 122 Processing Pain & Violence 128 Contemplating Violence in Context 131 Transmediated Violence & A “Just God” 142 Chapter Summary 147 5 No Jesus in the Wild: Race, & The Jesuz Figure 149 The Hip Hop Community & The Jesus Figure 160 The Outlawz & Black Jesuz 166 Toward Sensationalized Images of the Hip Hop Jesus 172 Chapter Summary 174 6 Conclusions: What is Theology & Spirituality in Hip Hop? 175 Five Central Typologies of Hip Hop’s Theological Sensibilities 186 Hip Hop’s Post-Soul Centrality 193 The Neo-Secular Sacred within Hip Hop 196 Further Research in Hip Hop & Spirituality 199 Appendix 1: The Source Magazine’s Top 100 Rap Albums 203 Appendix 2: Top 25 List Generated from Interviewees of Hip Hop Theologically Influenced Artists 206 Bibliography 207 Index 220 <UN> Series Editor Preface There has been a long-standing tension between theology and the social sci- entific study of religion. Daniel White Hodge in his book on The Hostile Gospel successfully bridges this gap. He provides us with a post-soul critical theology that is more palatable to those on the secular side. His work is based on interviews with both Hip Hop artists and Hip Hop community members, including an analysis of the theological and social content of the artists’ lyrics. The Gos- pel of Hip Hop is rightfully hostile; it expresses the anger, rage and frustration of those living in the deteriorated social conditions of the Ghetto. In its place, it provides us with an image of a bad-ass dope smokin’, drinkin’ and cussin’ Black Jesuz who is counter-hegemonic and has the potential to resonate with all of us. Warren S. Goldstein, Ph.D. Center for Critical Research on Religion www.criticaltheoryofreligion.org <UN> Preface Exploratory in nature, this study takes into account the Christological, theological, and ecclesiological ruminations of a selected group of Hip Hop and rap song lyrics, interviews, and interviews from those defined as Hip Hoppers. The aim of this examination is to ascertain what a Hip Hop theology of community might entail, how it may look, and what it could feel like. The central prem- ise are questions: does a Hip Hop ‘theology’ even fit? Is there an actual motif which Hip Hoppers are espousing within the supernatural realm? The reader should keep these questions in mind while reading this work, as the result of the exploration of the material is revealed. This study concerns itself with just over 8,500 songs. Its timespan is between 1987–2011, and it contains interviews from those in the Hip Hop community. It uses Spencer’s theomusicological methodology as a framework of analysis. This book attempts to explore the socio-theological messages of Hip Hop culture within an urban post-industrial framework. It examines how new theological models and paradigms, formed from Black Theological perspectives (James Cone, J. Cameron Carter, and Anthony Pinn), emerge within Hip Hop culture and society in the wake of political, racial, and socioeconomic inequality. It uses a critical approach to examine how Hip Hop developed its theology in the womb of suffering, inequality, and social injustice, to provide some type of cohesion. In addition, this work seeks to investigate the various theological features and facets of Hip Hop culture. These features and facets exist in Hip Hop’s lyrics, videos, cultural norms, historical foundations, and the context in which the song, the album, and the artist reside and create works, in response to political, racial, and socioeconomic inequality. This is done as a means to study Hip Hop and to enhance the growing body of scholarship in Hip Hop Studies. Further, this study serves as an initial discussion of the Christological and eschatological ruminations within Hip Hop, as I will explore in later chapters. It also delves into a discussion of how Hip Hoppers view the nature of the divine, the nature of humanity and how the two interact, and thus how a Hip Hop theology is formulated within the culture. A mixed methods approach was adopted in this study. First, the follow- ing data sources are used to determine the context in which the albums were created: demographic and cultural data from the u.s. Bureau of the Census, and select interviews from members within the Hip Hop community (30 were conducted). The second of the mixed methods approach is that this study is a theomusicological study using the methodological approaches established by Jon <UN> Preface ix Michael Spencer (1991b, 1992b, 1995, 1997).1 Theomusicology is defined as “…a musicological method for theologizing about the sacred, the secular, and the profane, principally incorporating thought and method borrowed from an- thropology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy” (Spencer 1991b, 3). It is, as Cheryl Kirk-Duggan and Marlon Hall state, “Music as spiritual practice…[to] hear the challenges and evils in the church and the world as the music reveals” (2011, 77).

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