Fresh Fire

There's a trove of artistic treasure waiting to be discovered. Over the past few months, I have ventured out, seeking to acquire these gems. I have returned...

What I speak of is Hip Hop. A cadre of MC's are reforming this musical genre one bar at a time, creating worshipful songs that thrill the mind and warm the heart.

Enjoying Hip Hop requires a bit of a trained ear. The non-listener remains ignorant of the staggering craftsmanship that goes into a couple of lines of a song that passes in seconds. But, thankfully, the man I consider right now to be at the head of the game, shai linne, has published a webpage that breaks down the architecture of the tracks from his debut LP: "The Solus Christus Project".

Don't skim over that. I repeat, the dude's album is called "The Solus Christus Project". You must cop the cd. If I had to categorize it, I'd called it "Reformed Theological East Coast Rap".

His listener's guide analyzes each song under three categories: Musical, Lyrical, and Theological. You are not ready for this.

I'll just hit you with some quotations from this Christ-loving MC and hope you support what the Spirit is doing:

"Satan threw every obstacle at Him,
but couldn't fathom the strategems
of the eschatological Adam"

Are you kidding me?

"Perfect humanity, yet bubbling with divinity,
fulfilling the eternal covenant within the Trinity"

Straight reformed, covenantal rap right to your dome!

These bars are from just one song. If I got into the others, especially "Justified", which is a lyrical exegesis of the doctrine of justification from Romans, I'd probably explode all over the keyboard.

The beats are on point as well, so you nod your head while redeeming your mind. That commercial rap you hear on the radio got nothing on shai linne. Taste and see.