A video of an elderly white pastor and his wife rapping a song that includes the phrase “Jesus is my N—a” has gone viral. At the time of this post, it has over 360,000 views.
Thankfully it’s most likely a fake intended for comedic and satirical purposes.
The clip, posted by someone calling himself Brian Spinney, includes the following description.
I helped my pastor make this music video when I was in high school. Thought you guys might get a kick out of it! May the Lord bless and keep you. : )
However, tech-savy sleuths are pointing out a few timing inconsistencies including:
- The use of the word “swag” – a fairly recent hip hop trend
- The dated and possibly inaccurate “video tape” look and feel
- The website in the video says the church closed in 2004, but the URL was only registered on 01/15/13
The fact that “Brian Spinney” only has one video posted to his YouTube account is also suspicious.
“Rappin’ for Jesus” was/is an authentic Christian rap song by one of the movement’s founding members – Pastor Stephen Wiley. In fact, it was one of the first cassette singles I owned. But the message and tone is much different.
And there is a legitimate discussion to be had about the use of the “n-word” in Christian hip hop – something we saw sparked by last month’s “Jim Crow (aka N—a Island)” song by Sho Baraka.
But this? This is a parody intended to make the Internet go nuts.
Mission accomplished.*
*Did we learn nothing from Manti Te’o’s “Catfish” story?
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