A Life Worth Nothing: Why I Hate Music and Love Christian Rap

In just this past six or seven months, I have been listening to and loving Christian rap. I get quite a few sideways glances from people when they get in my car and Lacrae starts blaring through the speakers. I also have had quite a few conversations at Harding about why I don't like music. I figured this would be a good place to clear up why I feel the way I do about both of those things, and it might give you something to think about.

First I will tell you why I "don't like music." In my junior and senior year in high school, I had a Bible teacher named Steve Webster. Mr. Webster taught me a lot of things that will stick with me until the day that I die. One of those things was to pay attention to lyrics. Like most sixteen-year-old kids I didn't really listen to what I listened to. If that makes sense. I just put music on the radio and half listened to the words, half just didn't pay attention. He taught me how important lyrics were. We would start almost every day off with a song- sometimes by a Christian band, sometimes not. I'm sure Mr. Webster's intention was to give us a love for music. I assume this because he is a huge fan of music, secular and Christian. It did not work out that way for me. Sometime, I think during my freshman year in college, I just started to get weary and even disgusted by the lyrics of songs. The things that these people sing about just don't matter. It seems like if you had an amazing ability to make beautiful music, you would sing about the things that matter most to you. Therefore, I'm confused when I hear a song about how this guy might have cheated on his girlfriend, but when he makes it big, he'll have a lot of money and be able to do anything for her, so it's all okay (Watcha Say).

Even the "deep" songs like Coldplay and U2, I just don't get the fascination. I don't want a girl to think that I can fix her. I can't. Jesus is the only one that can do that. Worship music is not exempt. I hear a "worship" song and it's talking about me and what I do. That's not what I want to do in worship. The greatest being in the universe is the object of my praise. Why would I waste my time talking about myself. I could sing for all of eternity and couldn't find enough adjectives to describe how awesome He is. So when I hear some shallow song in church that has awful theology, I just wonder how it got in there. I also think that it is probably just some bad artist who couldn't make it in regular music so they tried to write Christian music, because honestly, there is not much competition. This has led to somewhat of a disdain for music. Not all music, but most mainline music that I hear just kind of sickens me.

This is also the reason that I love Christian rap. I have never heard music that has lyrics that are so true. I listen to a Lecrae song and he preaches the gospel in every line. I have to listen to them over and over again, just so I can catch it all. Because it is rap, they can also fit way more into one song than most can. In Shai Linne's song "The Greatest Story Ever Told," he preaches the entire story of the Bible. It's great. I love it. I can't get enough of hearing them preach Jesus Christ and His supremacy. You might not agree with me. In fact, if your name is not Dayton Merrell or Jon Yoder, I'm pretty sure you don't agree with me. But I love it. I told Dayton one time that at this point, I hear so little truth that I will take it in any form. That's it. Those are my reasons for not liking popular music and liking Christian rap. I will say this though. Recently I have been listening to more worship songs by guys like David Crowder Band, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Hillsong and I really love what they say. It's truth about the supremacy and glory of Christ. So that is on the rise in my book. Also, I just can't really find the hymns I like on itunes.

Here is an example of my favorite Christian rap. This is Shai Linne. The man loves Jesus and he's also very talented. The link to his blog is on the right-hand side of my page. It's called "Lyrical Theology." Check it out. It's good stuff. One of his latest posts addresses kind of what I am addressing here. I really enjoyed it. It's called "Truth and Culture." Read it. It's good. I'll also post a few links at the bottom of this to some of my favorite songs.