Christian artist are painting a new face on rap music. In 1985 Stephen Wiley helped to change hip hop forever by becoming the first artist with a commercially released and distributed “Christian hip hop” rap cassette entitled “Bible Break.” Only during the 1990s did the term “Christian hip hop” become associated with this type of music.

Hip Hop (originally Gospel Rap, also known as Holy Hip Hop or Christ hop) is a form of hip hop music that uses Christian themes to express rappers and songwriter’s faith to an audience that’s typically Christian. Gospel Rap is also used in missions work for the purpose of evangelization. Professed Christian rappers and hip hop artists often use their religious backgrounds and positive issues to spread their religious concepts to others.

Many mainstream hip hop artists constantly make acknowledgements of their faith in songs including: Tupac Shakur, Kanye West, Ma$e, DMX, Bizzy Bone, Young Buck, NAS, Lil Scrappy, Will Smith, and Chamillionaire. Even though these artists make constant religious statements throughout their songs, they are not considered Christian hip hop artists, because of the lyrics and contents found in many of their songs.

Due to the increasing interest in the new wave of Christian music, Christian hip hop videos and DVDs have increased in availability while expanding their popularity in both audio and video markets like Blockbuster. In 2006, Hip Hop pioneer and actor, Christopher “Play” Martin released a DVD on Amen Films entitled Holy Hip Hop. This release helped to bridge the gap between gospel rap and the mainstream market. Holy Hip Hop became a proven success for Mr. Martin. Holy Hip Hop can be found in hundreds of Blockbuster Video stores across the country.

The Holy Hip Hop movement has gained extreme momentum recently outside of the U.S., especially in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and South Africa. Websites that host and promote the Gospel Rap genre of music have benefited and seen a huge amount of success lately, but this success is dwarfed when contrasted with the success seen by secular artists in mainstream mediums. In 2006, HolyHipHop.com became the first website to offer Holy Hip Hop digital downloads worldwide. During that year they exceeded one-hundred forty-thousand (140,000) Digital Downloads.

Recently the mainstream media have made an ongoing effort to put emphasis on the coverage of Gospel Rap, as well as, incorporating the culture into its live annual events such as RapFest, Flavor Fest, Holy Hip Hop Music Awards & Artist Showcase, 2007 Holy Hip Hop Music Awards and the Texas Holy Hip Hop Achievement Awards. These accolades have helped to foster the Gospel Rap genre of music among youth and young adults. During the 2007 Holy Hip Hop Music Awards Atlanta’s mayor endorsed a letter on behalf of himself and the city acknowledging the city’s support and recognizing the 7th year of Holy Hip Hop Music Awards. Visit holyhiphop.com to support the art of Holy Hip Hop…