My boys are really into rap music and my second son Kolby has a legitimate passion to become a rapper. He's 11. Kolby is writing, composing, and performing his own material now and wants to get better. We've began studying other successful artists in the Christian rap genre to learn what they did to reach the pinnacles they've reached. These rappers include Lecrae, NF, Andy Mineo, KB, TobyMac, and others! Personally, I'm a big fan of Lecrae. \xa0
Recently, my oldest son was playing a Lecrae song while we were working in the basement together. It's called "Take Me As I Am". As soon as Lecrae starts rapping in that song, I immediately heard 2Pac. It was like 2Pac really came back, converted to Christianity, and dropped this SICK song! And yes, I like rap too. I have gone through so many seasons of music including infatuations with the Beatles, heavy metal, and rap. I've listened to everything. I was a big fan of 2Pac in college and used to play in my frat room. Yup, you just learned that I was also in a college fraternity. It was all before I personally accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I have no regrets and made so many friends during this time in my life. Let's go back to the basement. I stared at the bluetooth speaker totally mesmerized as a podcast idea and teachable moment was forming in my brain. If you ever wondered, this is how it usually happens. I told Kenny. "This is Lecrae. You've probably never heard of Tupac Shakur (and he had not). This Lecrae song sounds exactly like 2Pac. I knew it within moments of the song. 2Pac's rap music was so unique in his style and delivery that I'd know it anywhere, any time because I was a fan of his music. I know 2Pac's unique signature. The best rappers and musicians ALL have a unique signature that separates them from the mainstream and makes them memorable." Kenny thought about that and got it. He rattled off 4 other musicians including some rappers that he would know within moments too because of their unique style and sound. Another Christian rapper that has blown up recently is NF. At first, you would think it was Eminem. Their sound is so similar, yet NF has gone beyond the similarities to create his own sound and signature. Lecrae has as well. I was already doing\xa0 research on rappers for Kolby, so I found some articles on NF and Lecrae. It was no surprise to me that NF was heavily influenced artisticly by Eminem and Lecrae by 2Pac. In fact, listen to this excerpt in a May 6, 2016 interview with Revolt.TV.\xa0
"For an artist who often gets pigeon-held in a box as a \u201cChristian\u201d rapper, Lecrae lays it all out in his new memoir discussing everything from domestic abuse, feeing lost in life, an abortion and Tupac\u2019s influence serving as sort of a surrogate father figure in his life. Lecrae states in \u201cUnashamed\u201d that \u201cwithout any constant male role models, hip-hop artists became my heroes\u201d and \u201cTupac became my second parent.\u201d
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