One of the problems I see is the same lifestyle choices, imaging, and dreams are shared by both the secular and Christian hip-hop artists. Ask yourself this: In style of dress, how different does a Christian and secular artist really look in their videos or marketing material? (Note I give exception to female artists because there is a sex element on sale more so on the secular side.) The thing about nice gear is that if you keep your shoe and hat game tight, you lose money that could be invested. Clothing does not ever increase in value unless it was owned by someone famous. If we need more humble rappers, maybe we can start by talking about what artists wear and how that impacts perceptions of what they must have. In the end, our marketing material is reinforcing some of the elements that keep many of the listener and viewership in weaker economic positions. I’m not promoting sackcloth fashion, but maybe we need to question our view on gear just like how we questioned the concept of swag.
And let’s talk about investing. I’m not going to tell you stock picks and such. Investments are an important thing for gaining wealth and growing businesses. Christian hip-hop is a business that also does ministry. Many people have it the other way around. If you handle your money poorly, your ministry is crippled or ended. That is one of our big problems. Even when we look at the parable of the talents, we see money used to leverage economic gain because the master gets on the last caretaker because he at the least didn’t even employ usury. So why does money get the evil eye in our culture? Part of that comes from Lecrae’s Rebel album. Lecrae’s stand out line from Rebel comes from the intro. Lecrae says “I’d rather have a dollar in my pocket than a million.” Yet, Reach Records’ current success and expansion is due to investing dividends from albums back into the label. While Lecrae’s “take home” taxable income maybe lower than some might expect, his overall “wealth” is a lot higher because he is a business owner. He has money generated for him while he is working and while he is resting. Yet no one talks about this element or even tells artists they have to think in an entrepreneurial fashion. This is very different from the two economical extremes promoted within Christian hip-hop. You got those who are still stuck in the Rebel intro mindset that the accumulation of money is evil. On the other side, you have those who think money used to have a lavish good time is a great idea. I’m here to tell you that both viewpoints will keep you economically poor and are destructive views on money. Because we can’t have a real talk about money in the community, we will continue to see the artists, media providers, and listeners envy the public gains of others in the community. The bigger thought I would like to put in our collective head is “What more can we do (both seen and unseen) to promote the kingdom of God if we wisely cultivate our wealth?”
