ABSTRACT
Since Ferguson, rappers in the self-identified Christian Hip Hop community have increasingly spoken out against police brutality and systemic racism and supported resistance campaigns in the fight for ensuring that Black lives matter. Yet this is not the first incarnation of Holy Hip Hoppas who expressed their views on race, as Los Angeles area–based group Gospel Gangstaz on their 1994 debut, Gang Affiliated, similarly voiced concerns over police brutality and systemic racism. And as with the twenty-first-century stream of Christian rappers who are broaching topics of race, controversy surrounded Gospel Gangstaz’s lyrics, particularly for the songs “One Time” and “Tears of a Black Man.” This chapter will 1) explore how Gospel Gangstaz’s Christian faith, gangbanging pasts, and Los Angeles–area Hip Hop informed their understanding of and approach to confront White supremacy; 2) contrast Gospel Gangstaz’s definition and application of violence to other Los Angeles area–based Hip Hop groups and artists such as N.W.A., Ice Cube, Ice-T, and Tupac; and 3) historically ground the contemporary self-identified Christian Hip Hop community’s involvement in discussions of systemic racism and their advocation for the Imago Dei of Black bodies.
