CHH artist Jaylafé recently wrote an article on his perspective of the progression of CHH. Check it out:

There’s no doubt about it: one of the biggest barriers for Christian hip hop’s development is being denied airplay on major Christian radio outlets like KLOVE and others.  Really, Christian hip hop’s expansion in spite of not being featured on bigger radio outlets is extraordinary and is a testament to the power of social media and word of mouth, the number-one form of advertising.  The fact that artists with larger platforms like Lecrae, Trip Lee, Flame and Da’ TRUTH have the platforms they do without the aid of major radio outlets is nothing short of incredible.  And radio outlets like Z180 that are still growing and developing have done great work in helping Christian hip hop spread.  But there’s literally no telling what could happen for Christian hip hop if it received regular airplay on major Christian radio outlets. 

Here are a couple of theories I have about why this hasn’t happened.

1. Christian hip hop sounds like the hip hop that’s already on the radio

This is probably the most obvious barrier between Christian hip hop and the gold mine of major national radio play.  If you listen to Contemporary Christian or worship music (CCM), you’ll realize it has a very distinct sound.   It’s not quite rock, but has rock elements.  It’s not pop, but borrows elements from it as well.  The verses are usually short, the choruses strong and anthemic.  Classics like Chris Tomlin’s How Great is our God epitomize the feel of CCM, a distinct sound emblematic of a genre.  When you surf the radio stations in your car, the CCM stations are easy to identify.  Within a few seconds you can tell the difference between them and the rock stations.  CCM has a niche.

This isn’t the case for Christian hip hop.  Whereas CCM sounds noticeably different from its very close relative, rock, Christian hip hop hasn’t figured out a way to achieve this contrast from secular hip hop.  While many elevate Christian hip hop over CCM because of Christian hip hop’s lyrical depth, one way CCM has an advantage over Christian hip hop is CCM has crafted a unique sound, and Christian hip hop simply has not.  Whereas CCM has led its own trend and found a niche musically, CHH has consistently followed musical trends in secular hip hop, almost to a fault.  We as Christian hip hop artists have a terrible habit of imitating secular hip hop’s musical trends instead of working on our own (obviously, there are some exceptions, but they’re rare). 

Instead of attracting listeners through creating more unique music, Christian hip hop has chased listeners by creating music that sounds like the secular music they’re already listening to.  This methodology works for hip-hop-loving teenagers, but it won’t work for middle-class, suburban-church-attending, VBS-teaching soccer moms who’ve been conditioned to believe that if it sounds like Lil Wayne’s music, it will probably harm her children.  And this demographic represents the average CCM listener.  What Christian hip hop needs to realize is this: to get acceptance from the CCM world, it will need to create music that sounds different from secular rap, not the same.   Songs like KB and Suzy Rock’s Hello show a great step in that direction: fusing a CCM sound with rap elements to create a new soundscape.  In my opinion, music like that might be one strong blueprint for closing the CHH/CCM divide.  If Christian hip hop wants national radio play, it will have to compromise musically with what the average national Christian radio listener is looking to hear.

If the average CCM listener flips through the radio stations and hears the local secular rap station, disgusted by what they hear because they’ve grown up with very negative associations about rap, they’ll be flipping to their safe haven: the CCM station.  But if they flip to their familiar station for relief and hear music that sounds exactly the same as the rap station they were just listening to, they probably won’t be listening to that CCM station for much longer.   Ratings will drop, advertisers will retract their business, and that station will go down the toilet.  “But they should listen to the words and they’ll see how deep and meaningful CHH lyrics are!” you say.  Well, sorry to break it to you, but we’re in an age where people listen to music first, words second. 

That’s just how it is.  The average listener who’s unfamiliar with CHH will not typically consider Christian hip hop music past the sound they hear; they’ll hear a beat that sounds like a Lil Wayne song (although with an excellent, Gospel-centered message) and not give that song a chance because of the deep negative associations they have with rap.  And they’re probably turning to that CCM station because they want to hear an uplifting message in the midst of their hectic, stressful day, not so they can analyze the Godly redemption of rap music.  CHH has lyrical depth aplenty, and it needs to figure out a way to create new sounds to showcase its powerful lyrics instead of stamping its lyrics onto musical styles that are almost irreversibly weighed down with negative associations. 

2. The Christian hip hop market isn’t large enough… yet

 Another barrier between Christian hip hop and national radio play is as simple as business: Christian hip hop doesn’t generate nearly the revenue CCM does, which directly influences the viability of radio placement.  CCM has more listeners.  CCM artists outsell Christian hip hop artists by astronomical amounts.  And, one of the reasons people aren’t buying Christian hip hop the way the buy CCM is outlined in the previous point: most Christians in America can’t understand the idea of buying music that sounds exactly like Lil Wayne’s music but with Christian lyrics.  The market isn’t there to warrant a Christian hip hop artist taking a precious 3.5-minute radio slot from a CCM artist who is going to outsell that Christian hip hop artist ten times over (and I’m not exaggerating with that figure).  You don’t get that sort of radio play without a legitimate amount of fans who are going to be listening during that 3.5-minute slot and purchasing the radio’s advertiser’s products. 

And then there’s Lecrae.  He’s Christian hip hop’s most marketable figure by leaps and bounds, and he’s done a great amount of work toward bridging the CCM/CHH gap.  He sells, and national radio outlets are quite aware of this.  Many devout CCM listeners are familiar with Lecrae given his several collaborations with artists like Chris Tomlin and Britt Nicole both on stage and in the studio.  If anyone’s getting on CCM radio outlets on a regular basis, it’s going to be Lecrae, simply because of his numerical influence and marketability.  But for Christian hip hop as a whole to have national radio airplay and become commercially parallel to CCM, we’re going to have to produce more like 5-10 Lecrae-type artists. 

And that may take a long time, if it ever happens.  If it were to happen (I pray that it will, and I’m pretty sure Lecrae wants that to happen too), the listening/consumer market for Christian hip hop will grow large enough for national radio play to become a viable reality.  With all due respect to Reach Records, Christian hip hop is never going to become a national ministry force parallel to CCM if Christian hip hop is composed of Reach Records and a bunch of small-time labels.  We need several Reach Records in Christian hip hop.  And as I survey Christian hip hop, it seems like the seeds of that possibility might be taking root.  Good things are happening, and I personally see national radio play in Christian hip hop’s future as its listening audience expands. 

Obviously, there are several other factors involved in the barrier between Christian hip hop and national radio play, but these are a few major issues to consider.  Let me hear your thoughts!

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