Hip Hop – An Invitation Into the Gap

Posted on Nov 4, 2011 in Urban Ministry | 0 comments

As a 40+ year old, suburban, middle class, white,  female, many would find my new fascination with Hip Hop a bit puzzling.  Honestly, if you had told me a month ago I would be writing a post affirming Hip Hop music, I would have thought you were nuts.  Prior to last week, the only things I associated with this form of music were gang violence, sexually explicit lyrics and degrading images of women.

However, my new friends from Verbal Kwest, showed me a different side of Hip Hop.  They showed me raw emotion, deep pain, and a sincere questioning of God’s presence given the insanity that rules the streets.  They are the psalmist of our day singing a lament for those living in the crazy streets of our cities.

 

My new friend Tronn Moller is doing Christian community development work in Louisiana.  Tron told me a little about the history behind the rise of Hip Hop and opened my eyes to how the medium gave voice to those who had no voice in a time of growing economic disparity and injustice in our country.

For those of us who don’t live in the inner city, I think this song invites us into the gap – the gap between God’s perfect creation and our present reality.  If we never step into that gap, we will never be moved to a place of compassion and without compassion we will never seek a more just society for all of our nation’s citizens.

Did this song take you into the gap?

What songs have helped you feel the pain of the gap?

This past month during our treasure hunt/asset mapping exercise with perspective new volunteers in the community, we discovered many of our residents are musically gifted and that we have a number of poets and writers.  Over the coming months we are going to gather this group we are calling “the creatives” and invite them to share their gifts.  Please pray for this newest “dream team.” If this is something you would like to be a part of, please email me at wendy@embracerichmnond.org. We are basically just going to be listening to and praying with our friends and allowing God to show us how these gifts can be a blessing to the neighborhood.

For those of you engaged in various forms of ministry, what role does music, art and writing play in your ministry?