Check out this dope essay citing one of my articles on Rapzilla.com!

Abstract
"Father, Son, and Holy Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop and the Body of Christ: A Completion Report"
Prepared by: Stephen Kwiecinski, Student

In March of 2008, Lori Allen, teacher of Technical Communication, commissioned a study on the integration of the hip-hop culture and the Christian community in hopes of further promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, the hip-hop/rap that has found a more mainstream acceptance is full of sexually explicit images, glorification of drug use, and the portrayal of the "thug" mentality. Hip-hop was once used as a means of self-expression, and creativity was once a requirement in order for a hip-hop MC to gain any respect from his peers. Sadly, it seems that many of those involved with hip-hop today are less interested in creative expression and more interested in money-making ventures. First I studied the division between the Church and the hip-hop culture, and found that it was during the early 1990s that a movement known as Holy Hip-Hop got it roots. This allowed me to see the developing relationship between those involved in hip-hop and those in the Christian community. I then looked into a more recent problem that has risen within the Holy Hip-Hop movement, dubbed by Christian artist Wut Metaphysical as "Holy Hip-Hop's Civil War," which deals with the issue of an extremely political discussion involving "Christian bands" ("the more Christian side") and "Christians in a band" ("the less Christian side"). In order for those who haven't heard the message of Christ and His gospel to hear it, I recommend putting the differences aside. Arguing about which side is "more Christian" and which side is "less Christian" brings no one closer to God. By putting differences aside, those on both sides of the fence can reach-out to people who are spiritually hungry. After all, that is the meaning behind Holy Hip-Hop.
Keywords: church, music, hip-hop, Christian, MC, artist, holy, Jesus, God, gospel

Contents
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………1
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..2
Research/Results……………………………………………………….….............3
1. Investigate the divide between the Church and hip-hop……..………………………3
2. Investigate the divide within the Holy Hip Hop movement……………………………3
3. Identify and evaluate the options for bringing the church and hip hop closer together……4
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….5
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………….6
References…………………………………………………………………………….7

Executive Summary
Within the past several years, hip-hop music and culture has impacted and influenced a good majority of the world's population. With the wide mainstream attention hip-hop seems to be getting nowadays, no one is alien to this fact: hip-hop is not only a culture, it is a power, a force, that doesn't seem to be slowing down or going away any time soon without impacting everyone in some way.
Unfortunately, most of what hip-hop presents today revolves around materialism. A culture that was once built from self-expression and creativity is now built around hip-hop's "target market," supplying us with sexually explicit, drug-induced, materialistic content, straying far from where it once came.
It was in the 1990s, after the rise of the hip-hop culture, that a movement known as Holy Hip-Hop emerged. This movement, started by Christian artist Kurtis Blow, was a voice meant to be heard by those people whom some Christians would often render as "unworthy;" those in the streets, the "unchurched." Those who began this movement wanted to fulfill the mandate found in Matthew 28:19 which states, "make disciples of all [races]." After all, it was Jesus who could be found most of the time ministering to those whom the religious leaders would often deem as "unworthy."
More recently, those involved in the Holy Hip-Hop movement have found themselves battling each other in an unnecessary argument over how the "unchurched" should be reached. One side vies for more sermon-styled lyrics, claiming "if there is no gospel in your lyrics, you're in the wrong genre;" while the other side says "you're not reaching anyone either with lyrics like that." It's a shame that Christian artists are wasting time writing songs like this instead of focusing on writing lyrics that will reach the lost.
After analyzing the data I collected, I recommend shedding light on spiritual truths those who haven't heard the gospel yet are already aware of in order to bring them into a relationship with God. And as for the argument within Holy Hip-Hop, Jesus needs to be lifted up, and less time needs to be wasted on arguing about how to lift him up. The bottom line is this: show the world who Christ is.

Introduction
On March 11, 2008, I received approval on my proposal to study the subject of the hip-hop culture and its association with the Christian community, focusing on the attempt to integrate the two communities for further spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This report presents the findings of my research conducted over the past 4 weeks. The first step I took was to look at the current relationship between the Church and the movement known as Holy Hip-hop. I then dug deeper and found that there was a divide within the Holy Hip-hop movement itself, so I investigated the separation between the two distinct groups within Holy Hip-Hops "civil war" (as stated in my progress report, much of this report will focus on this struggle within Holy Hip-Hop, since the information on this topic was more readily available). It was then that I was able to conclude on a sensible solution to bring the church and hip-hop closer together to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When I began my research, I already had knowledge of how the Christian church and the hip-hop culture have come together by the efforts of previous pioneers. Back in the early 1990s, the hip-hop culture was in full swing, fully loaded with an arsenal of creative art, introspective perception, and fresh music. It seems that the music of the hip-hop culture was the most dominant, as evident by the growing number of hip-hop artists currently in rotation on almost all "hit-music" radio stations today. This thriving culture seemed to survive well, thanks to the many men and women dedicated to the preservation of the culture's creativity and originality.
What seems to have happened during the time period between the birth of this culture and how it is (mis)represented today is the mainstream attention this underground art form inadvertently received. During this art forms childhood, the hip-hop culture was simply about self-expression, allowing those without a medium to voice their opinion an opportunity to do just that. Mainstream hip-hop today, on the other hand, seems to have shifted its gaze from focusing on self-expression to focusing on how to make the most money by producing what the majority of people are interested in. This problem has caused a divide between the Christian community and those in the hip-hop culture at large.
What I found that is even more interesting is that there is also a divide within the already Christian hip-hop movement. Holy Hip-Hop has experienced much scrutiny within the past several years as well as conflict between those within the movement. One side focuses on lyrics that are heavily rooted with Scripture, and the other side argues for more creativity and artistic expression, stating that the Bible is filled with stories of Many of the discrepancies causing the divide between these two groups are unnecessary and appear to be easily resolvable.
I have concluded that the integration of the Christian community and the hip-hop culture is possible, evident with the Holy Hip-Hop movement, and that the conflict within Holy Hip-Hop can be resolved by realizing that sides bring a something significant to the table. In order to reach those within the hip-hop culture, solid Biblical teaching and an appreciation for the arts and self-expression are essential for equipping people to spread the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the following sections, I provide additional details about my research methods, the results I obtained, the conclusion I drew from the results, and my personal recommendation.
Research/Results
To better understand both the issue at hand and the conclusions, I performed the following research:
1. Investigate the divide between the Church and hip-hop.
Through the integration of various forms of African American traditions, the culture of hip-hop was born. It seemed as though this art form would be used as the voice of the voiceless, a way for those who had no way to communicate or express themselves to finally be able to share what was within their hearts. One of the most significant aspects birthed from the appearance of this culture is the music. It was in the 1980s, during the maturity of this culture, that one of the earliest attempts to integrate it with the Christian community began its development. Kurtis Blow, one of the founders and creators of recorded rap (also known for his single "The Breaks"), is a well known name when it comes to both Holy Hip-Hop and hip-hop in general. It was through the Hip-Hop Church that Blow hoped to evangelize the hip-hop culture and present them with the gospel (The Hip-Hop Church, screen 2). The foundation for the hip-hop church is based on two scripture passages, which can be found in primarily focused on fulfilling the mandate found in Matthew 28:19, "preach the gospel to all [races]" and Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Gideons 110). However, it was no surprise that this movement caught scrutiny from many of those within the Church. This scrutiny seems to make sense today, seeing as how hip-hop/rap music is often filled with sexually explicit images, drug use, and glorification of material possessions, such as money and alcohol. With the mainstream attention hip-hop received it should be no wonder how hip-hop's influence came to the point where you can't turn your head without seeing a part of this culture being used to attract our attention. The roots of authentic hip-hop seem to have gotten buried well below ground level in today's hip-hop scene. Back when hip-hop came to be, it's main message was about creativity and self-expression. Today, the images associated with hip-hop revolve around sex, drugs, and money. Self-expression and creativity seem to have been thrown away only to be replaced by how to make the quickest dollar. With the start of the Holy Hip-Hop movement, it would seem to make sense that this and all problems would become obsolete. Sadly, that isn't the case, so any image associated with hip-hop is often frowned upon by those inside and outside the Church.

2. Investigate the divide within the Holy Hip Hop movement.
Within the Holy Hip-Hop movement, there is a divide between two groups. The problem at hand is this; one side can be heard with more quotations of scripture in their music, and the other side presents more experience-based music, allowing each artist to explain how he/she came to Christ and what they are currently experiencing in their faith walk. The division that has been created between these two sides doesn't seem to have been caused by those within the groups in question, but rather by the opinions and arguments of fans and critics of the genre of Christian Hip-Hop only to creep into the ears of the Christian artists. What then manifests is an argument between these Christian artists.
An example of such an argument can be found in the lyrics of those with stances on both sides of the debate. One Christian hip-hop group, the Cross Movement, clearly has a stance on the side of more sermon-styled lyrics, claiming in one of their songs "no good news on your album/ then you're in the wrong genre" (Metaphysical, par. 11). In response to lyrics such as these, Christian hip-hop artist Sintax has voiced lyrics in his defense, stating "I make calamity yours / because you just keep dissin' how we minister the gospel… paying petty homage and speaking His Name clear / even Christ mailed his words in a mystery that you can hear" (Metaphysical, par. 12). The argument continues today.
There was an article I found online with some great insight on this issue written by Christian hip-hop artist Wut Metaphysical. The article, entitled "Holy Hip Hop's Civil War," lays out the issues presented by both sides of Holy Hip-Hop and concludes with a paragraph promoting unity between those involved in the civil war.
3. Identify and evaluate the options for bringing the church and hip hop closer together.
It's obvious that the Church has made and is making an attempt to inject a Christian message into hip-hop. Unfortunately, problems arose within this fusion of two distinct cultures. With regards to reaching those in the hip-hop culture, I (as a representative of the Church) considered the following:
• How can the church relate to those within the culture?
• Is the gospel being presented in a way that people will be able to understand and relate with?
• What can be improved inside the Holy Hip-Hop movement?
The following graphic better depicts where the areas of hip-hop I am addressing compare to each other:

4. Finally, I used the information I found to build upon conclusion already in progress and formulated a recommendation.

Conclusion
Authors Alex Gee and John Teter, both pastors, offer their conclusion on how to present the gospel to the hip-hop culture in their book "Jesus and the Hip-Hop Prophets: Spiritual Insights from Lauren Hill and 2Pac." In a way that is easy to understand and relevant, Gee and Teter shed light on the fact that many hip-hop music listeners aren't foreign to spiritual topics by citing lyrics from hip-hop artists Lauryn Hill and Tupac Shakur that carry some spiritual significance. For example, one verse in the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Lauryn Hill goes "You're just too good to be true/Can't take my eyes off of you/You be like heaven to touch/I want to hold you so much/At long last love has arrived/And I thank God I'm alive/You're just too good to be true/Can't take my eyes off of you." They use these lyrics and compare it to the explanation of God's love for His children found in 1 John 3:1, which states "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God" (Gee and Teter 30, 40). Many artists involved in hip-hop speak-out about truths already, and Gee and Teter use this as an opportunity to present the message of Christ and His Truth.
As I was reading the article "Holy Hip-Hop's Civil War," (and after listening to Wut Metaphysical's music), his stance appeared to be on the side of Christian artists who promote the gospel artistically. His well-worded conclusion and thorough representation of the facts made it clear that he wrote the article in a spirit of unity, and that his stance stood not on either side, but more in the middle. This astounded me (not only do I agree with what Wut Metaphysical said, but I also amazed at the example laid-out by this Christian artist).
After reading the article, I decided to write to Wut Metaphysical to ask him why he creates the music he creates, and what the purpose behind his music is. This was his response:
"I write for the same reason everyone else does, I can't NOT write. We as humans are given this urge to create because we are made in the image of the creator Himself. So, I write poetry and songs just because that's what I do to express and release that part of me. It happens to be focused centrally on God because I always spit about what's on my heart, and God is on my heart." – Wut Metaphysical
Another nugget of truth I found in Wut Metaphysical's article was that both the doctrine-packed side and the artistic/creative side of Christian hip-hop bring those who have never heard the gospel before to a place where they are presented with the message of Christ (Metaphysical, par. 13, 14). Jesus is being lifted up in both musical expressions, so there is no need to debate which style is the "correct" one. Both have their place in evangelization, in edification, and in cultivating Christian maturity.

Recommendation
As Christians, we can follow the example set by Gee and Teter by shedding light on spiritual truths those we minister to may already be aware of. From there, we simply wait for the opportunity to share the gospel.
The Holy Hip-Hop struggle is redundant and uncalled-for. I recommend putting the differences aside and just put Christ on display. With so many hungry listeners, who has time to waste in foolish arguments.

References
Gee, Alex, and John Teter. Jesus & the Hip-Hop Prophets. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
Holy Hip-Hop's Civil War. Wut Metaphysical. 2008. Rapzilla.com.
04 March 2008. < http://www.rapzilla.com/rz/content/view/727/107/ >
Metaphysical, Wut. "Help a brother out!" Email to the author. 08 March 2008.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1980.
The Hip-Hop Church. 2005. Hip-Hop Church. 2005.
10 March 2008.