Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip hop or holy hip hop) is a cross-genre of contemporary Christian music and hip hop music. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United States during the 1980s.
Christian hip hop music first emerged on record in 1982 with a track entitled "Jesus Christ (The Gospel Beat)" by Queens, New York artist McSweet. The first full-length, Christian hip hop album, Bible Break, by Oklahoma artist Stephen Wiley, was released in 1985 with the title track becoming a hit on Christian radio in 1986. Other early Christian hip recording artists from the mid-1980s included P.I.D. (Preachas in Disguise), who recorded to funky rock rhythms, as well as JC & the Boys and Michael Peace. During the 1990s and 2000s, rapper KJ-52 rose to prominence in the field.
Christian rock band DC Talk blended hip-hop and rock, and were successful in mainstream Christian music. All three band members have had successful independent careers, Michael Tait and Kevin Max Smith in Christian pop, and TobyMac as a Christian rapper and label owner. Along with Lecrae, NF, KB & Emcee N.I.C.E. who have emerged recently on the mainstream rap scene along with American popular music figure Kanye West. Outside of the United States, there are Christian rap scenes in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Canada. Asian, Black, and Latino rappers are becoming a major part of the genre, and this success is expanding the appeal of both Christian hip hop and Christian EDM within general hip hop and broader popular music.
History and notable examples
The first commercially released and distributed gospel hip hop record was MC Pete Harrison of Queens, New York. Under the recording name McSweet, he released The Gospel Beat: Jesus-Christ (1982), written and arranged by Harrison and produced by Mac Sulliver on Lection Records of PolyGram. The first notable full album released was Stephen Wiley's Bible Break (1985), written by Wiley and produced by Mike Barnes on Brentwood Records. In the same year, David Guzman founded JC & The Boyz. Some of America's premiere Christian rappers, such as: Michael Peace (one of Christian rap's first solo artists), SFC, Dynamic Twins, MC Peace and T-Bone came out of this crew. A more commercially successful group known as P.I.D. (Preachers in Disguise) released five recordings.
Jon Gibson (or J.G.) is also considered a pioneer of Christian pop rap, with his first rap solo being "Ain't It Pretty" (1985). CCM's first rap hit by a blue-eyed soul singer and/or duo, "The Wall" was later released on Gibson's successful album Change of Heart (1988), and featured MC Hammer (previously as the Holy Ghost Boys). Other tracks included the hit "Love Come Down" and "In Too Deep" from Jesus Loves Ya (1990). Gibson also collaborated with MC Peace on "Enough Is Enough" (1990), "Happy to Know Jesus" (1992) and "You Are the One" (1992).
Other rap groups emerged in the late 1980s, including dc Talk, E.T.W. (End Time Warriors) and S.F.C. (Soldiers for Christ). ETW was led by producer/artist Mike Hill who went on to pastor one of the largest inner city youth groups in the country out of Tulsa Oklahoma. S.F.C. was led by Chris Cooper who originally rapped as Super C (short for Super Chris / Super Christian) and later became Sup the Chemist and then finally Soup the Chemist. Christian emcee Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez was another well-known early Gospel rap artist, but was murdered in 1990 in Texas. Prior to his death, he helped launch the career of his sister, Genie Rodriguez-Lopez, known as MC GeGee – one of the first female Christian rap artists, by collaborating on her first album I'm for Real. She would go on to release a second album in 1991, titled And Now the Mission Continues.
The trend of rap artists blending faith and rap continued in the 1990s, with D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ) who emerged from Oklahoma as well as the Gospel Gangstaz from Compton and South Central Los Angeles. In 1991, JC Crew emerged featuring Maximillian (West Coast beat box champion) and T-Bone.