Yes, it's true, there is such a thing as Christian Rap/Hip-Hop. And it has grown wildly since the mid 90's. Just as mainstream hip-hop has grown so has Christian Hip-hop. The beats have become more intense and relative. The Christian market knows that if they don't have sick beats like the mainstream then their message has less of a chance for impact on non-believers. I would argue that one artist in particular, LECRAE, has some of the best beats even when compared to the mainstream. His label, Reach Records, has some of the best hip-hop artists.
Unlike where the mainstream is now, Reach Records, preaches the opposite. It's happiness is found in Christ; not money, women, drugs, parties, or rewards. The videos are in the same way more of a story than a focus of the artist.
This video in particular shows a man reading a letter from an unknown person. There are flashbacks of robberies and you think it may be this guy reading the letter but in the end you realize that it is the artist who is in jail and wrote the letter to the character in the beginning who was concerned about money and status. We learn in the end that the letter convicted him when he meets with Lecrae in prison.
This is primarily where Christian hip-hop is currently at. It's a selfless genre.
ACORN is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. And in case you don't know, ACORN receives money from the federal government. Over 1.5 million this year alone. In recent days, two hidden camera investigations have been released to the public about ACORN and their practices. James O'Keefe is the film maker who poses as the pimp/future congressman and Hannah Giles is the girl who poses as the prostitute. Here are the tapes....
So wait, a federally supported organization is telling people how to cheat the system, avoid paying taxes? She's not a prostitute, she's in the performing arts, because that has a tax code. But it doesn't stop there does it? No, it gets worse. They proceed to tell ACORN that they are going to be bringing in young girls from El Salvador and providing a home for them while selling them for sex. ACORN tells them that because the girls are underage they're better off not claiming them on their taxes, especially if their going to be here illegally. That's just a red flag. The ACORN workers admit they know it's illegal so they try and find holes in the system so that the prostitute and pimp can make money. All of this to avoid the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan.
This is not a left or right, Republican or Democrat, or up or down for all I care. What we are dealing with here is straight up wrong. Another part of this story is the medias involvement, or lack of. These videos were only talked about and aired on one station, Fox News. While MSNBC and CNN were covering the 'big story' of the day, Joe Wilson's "you lie" remark. While CNN did talk about ACORN late Thursday night, well after the release, did they spin the story and accuse James and Hannah for the way they obtained their information on ACORN. It was rude of Senator Joe Wilson to yell out in the middle of the speech, I agree, but when something like this happens I feel media needs to do their job and report.
The workers involved in both videos have since been fired. ACORN saying that these are isolated incidents. Even when this came to, CNN and MSNBC, just played it off. The closest MSNBC came to the story was when the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN saying “Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership.”
MSNBC posted a link to the AP News article on their homepage. That was it. Fox News has had full coverage on this travesty of an organization. They have also covered all of the stories in between including the "You lie!" scandal. It seems as though Fox is doing its job, and the other "journalists" need to start doing theirs.
