Christian Hip-Hop and Me

There was a time in my life when my playlist made absolutely no sense.

One minute I’m listening to Nas or Tech N9ne. Next minute? Tool. Then Hank Williams or Waylon Jennings. All over the place. But hip-hop was my go-to and I would generally drive around giving a concert to anyone within a mile radius of my car.

I still tend to blast hip-hop while I'm driving (40-something white guy seriously jamming out to rap tunes, classic milennial), but as I mature I am finding myself more and more turned off by the secular stuff I grew up on. I’ve done my share of sinning to a beat more than once and I'm far from the guy who should be judging anyone...but I guess once you see the truth it's hard to ignore it. There's a few Bible verses about that, come to think of it.

Bottom line, I used to listen to gangster rap...coincidentally I hung out with gangsters and went down an extremely dark path.

Now, I listen to Biblical rap. I go to church and try to help people through health and business.

I'm of the belief that music reflects lifestyle more than it shapes it. But I'm also not naive enough to think that rap stars have no influence on us. Especially when they glorify violence and self-destruction.

I'm really glad Kanye wrote Jesus Walks because in retrospect, it paved the way for the slew of Christian rappers filling my playlists today.

And did I mention that I am a published rapper as well? Yes, you can find my music under the alias Con-Q. It's a work in progress that never became what my friends and I imagined. But what's cool is you can hear my progression from extremely secular to more Biblical if you listen chronologically. Peep.

-Ben