{"id":1876,"date":"2012-09-07T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity.html"},"modified":"2012-09-07T08:26:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T08:26:00","slug":"heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity.html","title":{"rendered":"Heaven And Hell: Hip Hop&#8217;s Difficulty With Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Just a little over eight years ago, after leaving the game to pursue a higher calling, Mase released his third studio album, Welcome Back. Since then, the Harlem emcee, noticeably unable to decide between pulpits and popping collars, has resurfaced a few times on your favorite urban radio station. First alongside 50 Cent and his G-Unit constituents, then on a few remixes by Drake and Wale to name a few. And now, after a performance at Hot 97\u2019s Summer Jam concert this spring, it appears the former Bad Boy may be down with M-M-Maybach Music (in my sexiest voice). While I don\u2019t doubt Mason Betha\u2019s love for Jesus Christ or even his road to Damascus conversion, he does appear to struggle with balancing Hip Hop and holiness.<\/p>\n<p>Whether \u201cM.A. dollar sign. E\u201d continues to keep one Gucci loafer in the game and one out, the bigger question remains: Why are Hip Hop and Christianity mutually exclusive? What is so inherently bad about the genre that once rappers find God they must make their way to the nearest fluorescent exit sign? Fellow reformed Bad Boys Loon and Shyne also ran for the hills (literally) once they found salvation. It seems rappers aren\u2019t able or given permission to continue making dope music with a different message. Admittedly, that might be a tall order given the climate of the culture. Hip Hop often, but not always, promotes living in the \u201cY.O.L.O.\u201d moment with quick money, arrogance, promiscuity and dishonesty. While Christianity represents principles like self-control, love, patience, joy, honesty, humility and self-denial. It\u2019s tough to reconcile the two.<br>Read the rest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hiphopdx.com\/index\/editorials\/id.1946\/title.heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just a little over eight years ago, after leaving the game to pursue a higher calling, Mase released his third studio album, Welcome Back. Since then, the Harlem emcee, noticeably unable to decide between pulpits and popping collars, has resurfaced a few times on your favorite urban radio station. First alongside 50 Cent and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Heaven And Hell: Hip Hop&#039;s Difficulty With Christianity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just a little over eight years ago, after leaving the game to pursue a higher calling, Mase released his third studio album, Welcome Back. Since then, the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heaven And Hell: Hip Hop&#039;s Difficulty With Christianity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just a little over eight years ago, after leaving the game to pursue a higher calling, Mase released his third studio album, Welcome Back. Since then, the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/heaven-and-hell-hip-hops-difficulty-with-christianity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-07T08:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. 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