God Did (part 1) a new manifestation
In recent days, the latest anticipated album from DJ Khaled, God Did, was released. Dropping just a year after his previous work, Khaled Khaled, I must admit that I was more curious about this one than the previous, and I most especially wanted to hear the album’s title track.
I am a PK, raised in a home where God was at the center and where attending church, Sunday school, choir rehearsal, and usher board meetings on a regular basis was the norm. Secular music was enjoyed and welcomed at our house, but the lessons
that I picked up along the way included a healthy skepticism about the distinction between church life and club life, and between the lifestyle and focus of the prototypical gospel
artist and that of the stereotypical R&B singer or hip-hop rapper.
My work over the last decade to create a new player in the music industry has given me the opportunity to allow my perspectives on these distinctions to mature and become more nuanced. Many religious musicians have made public errors that would make a gangster rapper blush and it’s quite possible that more than a few jazz, R&B, or blues musicians have spiritual lives that are deeper than your favorite gospel performer. And all of us have “sinned and fallen short of the glory…”
The last several years have also permitted me to pay closer attention to music industry patterns than I did earlier in my career. One trend that has piqued my interest recently is the intersection of hip-hop and gospel. This is causing me to think more deeply about the artists I interact with and the music industry executives with whom I work – people who are serious about their business, and whose passion and dedication I admire, respect, and appreciate.
Often their upbringing, acculturation, and ways of life are different than mine; sometimes in ways that are small and sometimes large. Yet, for me, that simply highlights the diversity of our world and the many roads that one can take towards a solid relationship with God. Your path may be different, but that certainly doesn’t make mine any better.
I’m not talking about the continuing careers of Kirk Franklin and Lecrae, or the growing body of work of Koryn Hawthorn, or even Chance the Rapper, although they are worthy of note. I’m really fascinated by the motivation of artists such as Kanye West and Snoop Dogg, whose vast catalogs largely represent the absolute antithesis of religious themes, and now DJ Khaled, to bring their faith front and center in their music.
Kanye West, in addition to his Jesus Walks anthem, more recently assembled a gospel choir to modify classic R&B melodies with religious lyrics. It’s sincere, impressive, and moving. Snoop Dogg worked with Rance Allen, Tye Tribbett, and Marvin Sapp, among others, on his Bible of Love LP. It was met with critical acclaim.
But DJ Khaled takes a different approach entirely – his collaborators on the God Did track are Lil’ Wayne, John Legend, Fridayy, Rick Ross, and Jay Z. And when you listen to the entire album, including features from Drake, Eminem, the City Girls, Future, Sza, Latto, and Jadakiss among quite a few others, you note that there’s not a gospel artist to be heard anywhere.
That’s OK. It made me listen more closely. What is going on here? What are these guys trying to say? Is this genuine; is it for real? Whether it’s Chance, Kanye, Snoop, DJ Khaled or others, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.
It’s different that’s for sure. Different from how I was raised to understand interacting with the Christian faith or singing to the glory of God.
But different doesn’t necessarily mean that its inauthentic. In fact, when Khaled revealed the cover art for his 13th album, he commented that “the tear represents tears of joy from God’s blessings. God, I love you so much!”
I believe him. Why wouldn’t I? Him and anyone else who claims to have faith in a wise and powerful God. Khaled’s expression, understanding, and relationship with the almighty may be different than mine, but it’s his relationship. And maybe I can learn something from it. More than once I’ve exclaimed aloud to anyone in earshot “This is new. This is a new example of Christianity. I may understand it all, but it’s interesting.” Maybe it’s new entirely; maybe it’s just new to me; or maybe it’s actually a new manifestation for a new generation. I postulate that this is coming to the fore because many of the most successful artists in the nation’s biggest genre aren’t in their twenties or thirties – they’re pushing fifty. More seasoned representatives of the industry have more life experience and more mature concerns. They have families. They’ve had to overcome obstacles. They’ve faced the mortality of their closest friends and their own. And it’s likely they’ve even witnessed a miracle or two. No matter what you do to earn a living, how fly your publicity shots look, how many followers you have on Insta, or what access you have to the latest in luxury watches, those kinds of moments in life can cause even the hardest or wealthiest among us to fall on our knees to pray or to lift our hands and shout “thank you Jesus!”
Or is this “new manifestation” simply blasphemy? (part 2 to follow)
