‘Believe me, this pimp game is very religious’: Toward a religious history of hip hop

Abstract

In this essay I argue that by paying attention to the shifting religious references of various rap artists one can map a preliminary history of the religious dimensions of hip hop as it has evolved from the 1980s to the present. Specifically, in KRS-ONE's biography one is able to discern the same developments that have defined hip hop's religious history, more generally. While he has consistently attempted to critically situate himself in opposition to mainstream rap music, KRS-ONE's own religious biography pairs well with the shifting religious sensibilities articulated by several hip hop artists who have been most popular during the span of these same years. In mapping this history, I suggest, first, that religious diversity has more often than not been the rule of rap music, and second, that what appeared to bind these artists together was not a particular religious orthodoxy, be it Christian, Islamic or otherwise. Rather than specific confessional claims, it is the cultural repertoires of the African Diaspora and the experience of white supremacy in the United States, that offers some coherence to these otherwise heterodox spiritual musings.