Rap Music is not for Christians...and other stories

It was a Sunday morning just like any other Sunday morning. I arrived at Muson centre for the Sunday morning service at House on the Rock Lagos. I felt the lucid messages from Pastor Paul were always something to look foward to and I guess my sentiment was shared by thousands of others who would struggle to get through the doors to get a good seat. A good seat those days was like a great bargain on   the American Black Friday, highly sought after and quickly snapped up. I was one of the lucky ones that day, I got a good seat in the main hall.

After some small talk with familiar faces from Unilag and Ife I settled into the service. Everything was going great till Pastor Paul dropped a bomb..'Rap music is not for Christians'.Pastor Paul's point was that like drugs after listening to Christian rap , people would desire something stronger, the real stuff and would get into secular rap. Based on this premonition it was not worth the risk.

 I was shocked because as a member of a Gospel Hiphop Group in Ife (New Wine). I had seen the effect of Rap on people. I had seen people break down in tears and give their lives to Jesus to songs like 'All honour'.

The style of today's 'church worship' songs would have been called secular decades ago. Way back there were spiritual debates on a whether the pianos or drumsets could be used in church! As a Gospel Rapper there is almost no way I can be objective on this issue however my opinion based on my relationship with God is this: If God can use a stick, a donkey or a stammerer He can use rap. God asked Moses 'whats that you hae in your hand?' He is asking us today the same question, all some of us have is one microphone with the ability to string words together. God created the world by words. No other genre of music uses as many words in a song as rap. God can use rappers and the gift of rap.

My problem with Gospel rappers is when no one can tell the difference between us and secular rappers. I watched a Gospel video recently and one of the Artistes had shirt with  'Trukfit' boldly printed on. Trukfit is Lil Wayne's designer label. Not only is it ignorant to wear logos in videos of labels who have not paid you to endorse their product, you are promoting the label of someone with a contradictory lifestyle. There has to be a difference. Personally I'm not a great fan of excessive jewellry and I believe although we should look hip, there has to be some modesty so earings, excessive rings (thats for guys) are not things I'm down with.

There is a place for Christian rap. Gospel Rappers have to work extremely hard because we have a serious message that has to be expressed with artistic vocal dexterity.  For instance I dont know how many Christianswill be listening to Don Moen on  the treadmill or how many Christian teens will be playing Ron Kenolly at their birtday parties. If Christian rap is not an option it is understandable why at most Preachers birthdays or kids birthdays Psquare et al are on replay.

Dekunle Fuji now a Nurse, what in God's name?

My name's DMSquared. I'm Nigerian. I am a Gospel Hip hop Artist. This is my first blog.

Yesterday while I was on the set of my 'Caterpillar Remix' video shoot, someone happened to mention Dekunle Fuji was now a registered nurse in the US.  Apparently I happened to be in Maryland, US myself last month and someone mentioned that he was into IT.  Naturally the conflicting info left me quite confused so  I decided to click on a couple of links. Dekunle Fuji is a Nurse. Nursing is a dignified profession, but why would a Nigerian Gospel Star swich careers so surreptitiously?  taken aback, my thoughts meandered down a hazy maze and eventually I came to a conclusion. It was probably the lesser of two evils.

Let me explain. The Nigerian Gospel music industry is a weird place. Your supporters expect great music, top class videos and advancement in your career yet they do not want to pay for the music, shows or anything whatsoever. Most Gospel Artistes are dependent on invitations by Pastors to minister (sing a couple of your songs on their stage/platform as part of the service) where they get honorariums ( usually cash gifts; the amount  is at the discretion of the Pastor) to survive. Needless to say this kind of lifestyle is not sustainable. The Churches have projects they are working on which need funding so the chances they give the Artiste a generous honorarium are few and far between.

Some Churches are an exception and huge events like 'The Experience' et al are the precipice of alot of Nigerian Gospel Artistes dreams.In reality, there is a limit to the number of  Artistes they can accommodate. Most of these events are yearly anyway.

The Gospel Artist has his song screened on radio and usually have to contend with  3hrs of airplay on Sunday morning. The Churches also throw a monkey wrench into the situation when they castigate any traces of 'wordliness' in Gospel Acts but invite secular Acts as headliners at Gospel events and the congregations go wild! To butress my point here's Dbanj at Faith Terbanacle giving a testimony   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX8qmcZprHU maybe I should go release a video like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJ8GjtJYa8 and come give a testimony about my awards.

The average Nigerian Gospel Act's life is not sustainable. Why should Artistes who write the Gospel songs Christian billionaires worship to not be able to own a car?! At so many Gospel events I attend, I see how alot of popular Gospel artistes take okadas or have to take the bus home. I'm talking about known names in the industry. Who is to blame? the churches? the supporters who  have corporate or private events and choose to patronize secular artistes?
 who pay 30k for VIP tickets for a secular show and expect Gospel events to be free?

A couple of years ago, Dekunle had a disastrous outing at 'The Experience', this might have affected demand from the already notoriously difficult Gospel industry. He probably saw his trip to the US as an olive leaf and was advised that Nursing is a highly sought after skill in the US and jumped at the oppurtunity. What was the oppurtunity cost of Dekunle's decision? A Gospel Minstry in Nigeria where he probably would have to lobby to get into major events and played 'I wonder how much my honorarium will be?' a kind of Holy Russian Roluette Gospel Artistes go through. Hopefully once he's a bit settled we'll hear new material from him. DM d Boss.