There are many effects that gang related hip-hop has on the Christian rap community.  This starts from the influences that are involved with the culture this genre of music has on the hip-hop community.  Gang related hip-hop includes drug and criminal activities in lyrics that have either been witnessed or have been committed with a group of individuals who are joined together for the same purpose. 

Jay-Z is an artist from Brooklyn and has a big influence on the hip-hop culture and is known to include the reasons of why selling drugs achieves a status of success.  According to Steinmetz and Henderson, Jay-Z states in his song “Kingdom Come” that the only way for people from impoverished communities to escape their terrible circumstances is to sell drugs because the government has failed them and placed them in these terrible situations. 

Dr. Nobles, who works in the department of criminal justice and has a background in criminological theory, says that “hip-hop reflects perceived realities on the street from specific forms of musical expression.”  He continues to say that “based on criminological theories regarding crime and deviance, almost any behavioral outcome would involve learning from peers, different forms of social-psychological strain, reaction to structures of control and the resistance to the application of certain labels.”  Dr. Nobles is explaining where certain behaviors come from when hip-hop artists create rap music that includes gang activities and the selling of drugs. 

Holy hip-hop is made sacred by its lyrics and personal testimonies and statements of faith.  It is important for the Christian hip-hop community to stay faithful to their beliefs even though they can be misled by the hip-hop culture.  The hip-hop culture has created an influence where Christians can either create rap music about Jesus or they can turn to gangster rap from the effects this music has on the hip-hop community.  Lecrae is an artist from Atlanta and has a big influence on the Christian hip-hop community.  In his song “Gangland,” he describes why gangs were created to protect the community from bombings and lynching’s while segregation was still in effect, but he does not idolize the criminal acts that gangs are committing, nor does he spread message about why drugs should be sold in the community to make profit and build a sense of financial freedom. 

Fawn who has a musical education background in the culture of hip-hop, says “people who believe in Jesus and Christianity are placed in situations that involve gang activity and violence.”  He continues to say, “these experiences could disrupt the Christian rap community by igniting major conflicts that are referenced in the violence of gangster rap lyrics.”  The popularity of gangster rap has grown to an all-time high in the year twenty-twenty four according to the number of monthly listeners found on Spotify in relation to the most streamed hip-hop artists nationwide which means that gangster rap has more influence on the community than Christian rap.  This type of music has a major effect on the Christian hip-hop community from the monopolized influences that is governed from the culture of hip-hop.

Source: This information is found from the top gang related hip-hop artists on Spotify and how many monthly listeners they have compared to the top Christian hip-hop artists on Spotify with their monthly listeners.

Created by: Jonah Kennedy

Software tool: Infogram.com