Panel Discussion

This is from the panel discussion at the Salem Coffee House on "Hip Hop and the Church." I've made some small changes to what I said that day and have added a few things in light of recent events / articles / meetings. I hope you're blessed:

I’ve been on 9 albums, but I don’t have my own. That has never been the focus of what I do, or my measure of success in ministry. My work has solely been about influencing the souls. And…I don’t worry about numbers because what I plant, another waters and maybe another reaps the harvest, but the souls are definitely the measure of success for this ministry.

Now, in regards to hip hop and the church, the church has an obligation, a calling to reach those that don’t know Christ. I think that’s very plain and every single church or every single minister would agree with that statement. AMEN?

That being the universally accepted scenario, that we must reach those that don’t know Christ, there are those among us, in our own city, in our own neighborhood, who we, as a church, have ignored. I’m speaking in very very general terms so please don’t be like, “Oh I haven’t ignored them, I’m out there every week, blah blah blah.” I’m speaking about the church as a whole! Matter of fact I can look around this room and see some churches represented here that ARE DOWN with reaching the Hip Hop culture. Salem of course is a leader in the Bronx in that area, Salem has answered the call for a long time and I praise God for that! However, generally speaking, we as a church, are ignoring those of the Hip Hop Culture.

Now, there are those that will say that Hip Hop is not a culture. Dictionary.com defines culture as: “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. …the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Japanese culture; the culture of poverty; religious culture; musical culture; oral culture.” Taking that into consideration, we can obviously see that Hip Hop has all of these things…the problem is that most people think that Hip Hop is JUST music, and, they think Hip Hop is just the things they see in videos or read about in newspapers and magazines. BUT THAT’S NOT HIP HOP. THAT’S THE MEDIA AND THE MONEY-MACHING MACHINE THAT is MTV, BET and record labels, HAS INFLUENCED YOU. SEX AND VIOLENCE SELLS.

BUT CHECK IT, CHECK IT OUT!!! The Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History “is readying "Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life," it’s first ever perpetual hip hop culture exhibit.” The Smithsonian Institute believes Hip Hop is a culture yall!!! There own press release said, “A multi-year initiative to gather broad collection on Hip Hop culture… Some 30 years after it emerged from the neighborhoods of the South Bronx, N.Y., hip-hop has evolved into a pervasive and global cultural phenomenon.”

I want to tell you what I believe is my calling, and our calling is in relation to the urban context, in relation to urban communities, in relation to rap music, and in relation to hip hop in general. I believe that I am an Urban Missionary and I believe that YOU are an Urban Missionary. That, I believe, is my calling. Over the years that call has taken on many forms, many methods of ministry. In no particular order, I’ve been a retreat coordinator / a youth director more than once / a Sunday school teacher / a speaker / on staff at Rap Fest / an MC. I say all that because I believe that in my role as an Urban Missionary, I have an obligation to reach people exactly where they are at. If we look at John chapter 4, and the woman at the well story, this well was where the woman was at. He met her there even though, culturally he wasn’t supposed to be there, alone with a Samaritan, let alone a woman. But Christ met her where she was at...how about this, Jesus GOT THERE FIRST, so do you think He KNEW she’d be coming through? He got there first and WAITED FOR HER!!! See for me, He met her exactly where she was going to be! Our young people are going to be IN hip hop, let’s me them there.

I want implore you, I want to challenge you, to go against the grain and NOT ignore our young people and their culture. Their culture IS hip hop. Listen, my Mom’s culture was the hills of Puerto Rico, but I grew up here. I rejected that jibaro culture until I came to adulthood, now I can appreciate it. But for folks like me, the 2nd and 3rd generation, our culture was NOT that of our parents. I mean I grew up in NYC baby, Spanish Harlem not no hills in Rancheras! The same goes here for our young people. Their culture is not like yours. To ignore this fact would be to ignore them. To say that hip hop is NOT a culture is to say that those who “are” hip hop don’t matter. We would marginalize them, to make them less than what is the “norm”.

“Real men are real friends, showing their real commitment.” - KRS-One, Take Your Time. “Instead of picking up our women, ready to mistreat them, you better get yourself a wife and kid and never leave them.” - KRS-One, Know Thy Self. “Don't you think it's time we thought about the future? Whether our children are gonna be winners or losers?” - KRS-One, The Mind. “Trust in God, that's where the crown is at. It's not in what you get, it's what happens after that.” - KRS-One, Trust. “Vote for God, don't vote for the devil. Let me take you to a higher level.” - KRS-One, Higher Level. I read these quote, without revelaing the author, to a class I teach on "Reaching the Hip Hop Generation." I asked, "Who said these things?" One very influential leader said, "I don't know who said it but he must be Christian." LOL NOW, KRS is not a conventional Christian, I believe he has some belief in Christ, but he’s obviously not like you and I are in our beliefs. Let me say it again so you don't get it twisted, KRS is NOT a convential Christian like you and I. I pray for him regularly because I believe he’s on a journey. But his words ring so very true. We need to make changes in our world and to do that we need to make bridges or in-roads to the culture. I quote KRS to illustrate the following.

Let’s look at Paul in Athens in Acts 17. He met them right where they were at and, like we just looked at a “poet” of hip hop in the words of KRS-One, Paul used the words of one of their own poets to reach them. He said, “28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'“ Paul built a bridge into their culture by using their own poet.

NOW WE HAVE TWO BIBLICAL EXAMPLES of reaching people where they were at, even using the “secular” of their time to build bridges.

Now FINALLY, we have one incredible opportunity that both Paul and Jesus had. We know they both preached in synagogues right? We don’t have to find Scripture for that right? Good. What is the reason they were able to preach in the synagogue? They were Jewish. They were indigenous. Just like you and me!

by Brother E

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If you'd like to LISTEN to this panel discussion, along with Rev. Mike Carrion's statements AND the question and answer period that followed, go to http://www.rapfest2000.com/ and click on PODCAST! You'll be blessed!

Next up? Is culture evil?