In recent months, the twittersphere has been abuzz with different artists who repeatedly claim that #chh (christian hip hop) has “no market.” This argument is brought up by either young artists, or artists who really just wanted to do secular hip hop and needed a reason to leave the Christian sphere. However, in a strange turn of events that refutes this claim, an African artist named “Shama Rema” posted a VeggieTales hip hop remix video that went viral, leading to over 3.6 Million views on Facebook (not to mention the unofficial versions), as well as over 100,000 views on YouTube as of the publication of this article, and their version of the song is currently #32 on the Christian/Gospel songs on iTunes.
This viral event proves two things: 1) that there are a lot of Christian kids, even in the urban setting, who grew up watching Christian-related media 2) there is Christian interest in hip hop. When you combine these two facts, you get millions of views. If there was “no market for Christian hip hop” how is this possible?
The hard truth is that despite there being a lot of hip hop artists, and even Christian hip hop artists, getting your stuff seen comes down to creative marketing. Too often, we see artists who simply say, “Buy/Stream My Album!” with a link to Spotify or iTunes. But what’s the bigger picture? Why should anyone pay attention? This certainly resonated with people and reminded them it’s OK to be a Christian, to be a little geeky, and to also love hip hop at the same time.
