The Red Revolution

I hate to label anything without a soul Christian, music included, so for the sake of conversation Christ-centered will be our tag for the time being.

Recently signed Collision Records artist known as Swoope is creating a buzz in the underground scene of Hip hop. Known for his musical insights and cognitive flow this Christ-centered  M.C. has a high ceiling. With the release of his new EP, Applause vol. 1 under the new label, he is bringing a fresh sound to the Christ-centered hip hop subculture. A subculture which has been saturated with the southern style and is heavily influenced by Reach Records (LeCrae, Tedashii, Sho and Trip Lee). With the influences of Drake, Kanye, Lupe and Mosdef he is developing a much needed voice of his own while bringing a new direction to this genre.

This self produced single and EP does not disappoint. Applause takes you into the closet of Swoope showing you his wrestle with wanting God’s praise to be enough. This candid single and EP is definitely worth the download and should spread fast especially since it’s free. He is definitely an artist to be on the look-out for in the Christ-centered hip hop scene as well as hip hop period. Granted he stays humble and continues to cherish the applause of one, Swoope’s possibilities are limitless.

I don’t know if it’s a masterpiece but it does its role very well. Inception was the LSAT on big screen. With its many layers of thought and reason, you find yourself in a visual and cognitive labyrinth. I would recommend it, from a cognitive journey, it’s a masterpiece while lacking some key elements. The characters should have been developed more, the reason behind to whole process of mind access should have been developed more, how does this man obtain his wealth, how did he become who he is, when did mind access develop, etc? With no dates, time and explanation one wonders if it’s inconsistent writing or if it’s purposefully done to make you realize the whole… The movie itself never takes place in reality. I would totally recommend it but come prepared, or you’ll get lost in the idea of what you came for and end up in, limbo.

I have the privilege of working at The Village Church in Dallas, Tx. From time to time they allow a brother to express some of his thoughts from the stage. Today we call that preaching.

Recently I was able to preach on David from Psalm 57 7-11. David, while fleeing from Saul found himself in a cave, opposite of what he thought when Samuel found him shepherding, anointing him as king.  With anticipation of reading this Psalm one would expect David to cry out with some type of justification of Lord I didn’t ask for this, you pursued me, yet I’m in a cave… What I love about this Psalm is in the midst of this situation he doesn’t venture nor wallow in that pool of emotions, instead we see the opposite  v7 I am determined, O God! I am determined! I will sing and praise you! v8 Awake, my soul! Awake, O stringed instrument and harp! I will wake up at dawn!. In the midst of arguably one of the worst undeserved situations (use italics for a reason) of his life he says I will sing.
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So I came to the reality that I am an American (I know that has many connotations but that’s another post for another day). So no matter how much I want to rail against the system, cry about corruption, capitol hill, Westernized Christianity and the distractions that our country brings, I am a born and raised American. Not only that but whatever I don’t like I still reap the comforts and rewards of the very nation I may have a problem with.

Why this post? It’s to shed light on a reality and call people, including myself to either move to another country or stop crying and leverage what you have for the kingdom. Some realities that many of us miss are, being born in America alone puts you in the top 13-20 percent of the world. Another reality, if you make more than 40,000 dollars a year you are in top 10 percent of the world. If you own a vehicle you are in the top 10 percent of the world. If you make more than 70 dollars a day you are in the top 10 percent of the world. If you can eat dinner on a table and not the floor you are in the top 30 percent of the world. The fact that you are born in America and can even complain publicly about things you don’t like puts you in the minority as well. My point? The very fact that I or any other person was born and raised here gives us a “10 talent existence”.
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What a welcome it was. I had the privilege to go crusade/tour the message of Red Revolution in South Africa with Sho Baraka, Dawntoya, Kevin Rudd and little one Zipporah. There was so much love, so much beauty, in culture and creation, the fields are ready to be harvested there, very tough to come back.  The people that impacted our experienced the most where Johnny C, Noeline, Clive, Peter C, Marlon, Jeremy K, the kids at the Poolsmoor Prison, Gerald P, Olivia, Grace, Benoit, Dj Easy. These list of names may be insignificant to some but they were revolutionary to our soul as we fleshed out the gospel.

The reason we went initially was to spread the message of Red Rev in Cape Town. One year ago I had the privilege of going to preach at a Lifeway international conference in Colorado. After I gave the message of Red Rev the Lord allowed Noeline, who is from South Africa, to be burden by the truth of the message and the need for it to go forth in South Africa. In light of the splintering affects of the apartheid within the church Noeline felt the Lord speaking to her to bring the redrev team over. Long story short, by God’s grace we were able to take a team over to South Africa to minister and be ministered to, courtesy of Lifeway. We ministered in seminaries, churches, a prison, colleges, did radio interviews etc.
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I had the pleasure of meeting Hazakim while in Philadelphia. A conversation that was centered on the Lord and a deep appreciation for Hip hop was so refreshing. As we exchanged life stories I considered it a blessing to have met messianic believers who do hip hop. Refreshing because nothing about their speech and reason for music was for the fad and gimmick of being known. They had a true sense of hip hop history from sound to craft as well as a greater understanding for Christ in the scriptures old and new testament. I love how they openly admitted that their latest album Theophanies was very “niche-y”. They said we purposely wanted to make an album that was an outreach to the non believing Jewish community through lyrics and sound while maintaining our love for true hip hop.
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A payment//
To be Paid while his blood colored the pavement//

A passion that atoned to ransom many men//
Giving us a new name our souls eternally engraven//

This is more than mere statements//
It supersedes, traditions, culture and made trends//
He’s eternal graphite
As even in the garden to himself he did not bend//

Betrayed with a kiss//
Punches to the face “prophesy that last hit”//
Give us Barabbas as the crowd jeered with a hiss//

False accusations, to The cat with nines tails dug into his flesh//
Each whip created gasps of breaths from lung to his chest//

Pilate claimed he’s just a man that’s a mess//
Said to Jesus I have the power to release you from this stress.
Jesus responded you are a pawn, used from he that sits on high, at best//
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After seeing this movie, I’m glad God does not deal with our salvation the way the tag line of this movie reads. Repo Men I admit has an intriguing and realistic premise for a movie but the execution was a let down. The development of the characters were less than and the playing out of the story line could have been stronger. You leave thinking, “great thought, total let down”. I would not recommend the movie unless it was Saturday afternoon and you are half sleep and it comes on TNT.” I would give this a generous 2.5 out of 5 stars and stripes. In redeeming the movie’s premise I am so grateful that the Lord does not repo his grace based off our actions because the reality is we are all overdue.

I have been a hip hop head since I can remember,1988 is the date that comes to mind, although I’m sure it dates back further.

Remembering guys like Slick Rick, N.W.A., LL COOL J before he went to prison, Ganstar, Kool Mo D, Big Daddy Cane, Ton Loc, Black Moon, Artifacts, Hieroglyphics, Das efex, common when he was common sense, Public Enemy, Wu tang clan, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, EPMD, Digable Planets, K-Solo, Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School, Naughty by Nature, Mystical, Master P, Snoop when he was “snoop eastwood”, Redman, Tupac before he was Tupac, Chi Ali, Big L, Eminem when he was a positive rapper, AZ, Nas, Outkast when Andre dressed in fitteds and jerseys and the list goes on and on into the current guys of Mos Def, Jay-z, Drake, Kanye etc.

The list above, for the most part, other than nostalgia makes me think of guys and women who took the craft seriously, their mission, to come hard on every track through lyrical composition, representation of their plight and story. One of the things that is highly offensive to an artist and orator such as myself is when you can tell guys are winging their 16 bars or speeches. This communicates, “this guy thinks he’s too good to give us his best and on his worst day he thinks he’s good enough for listener”. So what does this have to do with Amisho Lewis aka “Sho Baraka”?

EVERYTHING!!! After reviewing “LionsandLiars”, on MC-ing alone I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5 red rev stars and stripes, sorry Sho every artist has room to grow. I would put Sho on a short list of Christ centered MCs that take the craft as serious as they takes the message of Christ. The knock on Christ centered MCs is that they sacrifice the method for the message. They feel since they have the message of Christ and the “Spirit” then their art doesn’t have to be as good. But shouldn’t the Holy Spirit actually make you better?
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Put another year of rising up for the Lord in the books. If I can sum it up in one word it would be…worship. Although our lives should be worship the time during the talks and music beckoned of our hearts to worship the king at this year’s Rising conference 2010 in Memphis, TN. The charge was to get students to live loud for Jesus in the arena that the Lord has placed you in. This time was truly a snapshot of what heaven will look like. I Love it when you can look out in the crowd and there are different types of faces crying out to the Lord. My prayer continues to be that times like this become our lifestyle and not a moment that passes in time.