Urban. Young Men. Students. Bonding. Incarnational. Relevant.

Based on a conglomeration of these things, I’ve been ushered into a on-the-fly introduction to hip-hop over the last month or two. In my own opinion, I’m about a decade slow (if not more) in this whole arena, but hey, the turtle beat the hare, so I’ve got a chance.

And since I’m serious about learning, I’ve attached myself to one of my students (thanks Danny) to have a personal mentor to assist me on the journey. He is big on Nas, so I’ve been immersed in the tracks on It is Written and more recently from Stillmatic. Venturing out on my own a bit, I’ve also taken to 2pac’s Still I Rise, The Don Killuminati: 7 Day theory, and the All Eyes on Me and Eminem’s The Eminem Show albums. And just to be fair, I’m also taking in tracks from a college friend (aka Bookworm Brown) who has an album out.

In my still introductory affair with hip-hop, 2pac’s Black Jesus and Nas’ 2nd Childhood have risen to the top on my play lists. Below are excerpts from each song:

“So we searching for Black Jesus…
Somebody that understand our pain
You know, maybe not to perfect, you know
Somebody that hurt like we hurt
Somebody that smoke like we smoke
Drink like we drink
That understand where we coming from
That’s who we pray to…”

And from Nas:

So he moves with his peers, different blocks, different years
Sittin on, different benches like it’s musical chairs
All his peoples moved on in life, he’s on the corners at night
with young dudes it’s them he wanna be like
It’s sad but it’s fun to him right? He never grew up
31 and can’t give his youth, he’s in his second childhood

Now some will question my dedication to holiness or maybe even to Jesus himself. While a sad misinterpretation of the way things are, so be it. Engage me if you want to have an honest dialogue about why I’m walking down this path. Keep to yourself blanket condemnations of the music, or those who listen to it, including myself.

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