Straight Outta Compton grossed $60.2 million at the box office for its opening weekend and is now being seen as a possible Oscar contender. Deep inside I’m happy because I’m originally from Compton and the city is finally getting its due. At the same time one thought keeps flooding my mind: “How has the church handled the generation that has been shaped and influenced by this album?
When NWA first came out with their hit album, it defined the city and defined a generation. Straight Outta Compton changed the game. It talked of the street life in a way that was unheard of. The KRS-One sample from Gangsta Gangsta — “it’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality” — was the war cry of kids who were tired of not being heard. Black youth heard their frustrations as well as their joys voiced in the lyrics of Eazy-E and his cohorts.
Straight Outta Compton broadcast street culture not only to the rest of the nation but also to the world. It put hip-hop on the map but it also put the hood on the map. It made being gangsta and being a thug normal. What used to be seen as the underbelly of society was now being celebrated on the stage at award shows and even getting invited to the White House.
[styled_box title=”Ice Cube and Son on ‘Straight Outta Compton'” color=”black”]
[/styled_box]
With this newfound prominence, a whole generation began to see its own plight as something not to escape but to embrace. The hood was still a bad place, but it was something that was glamorized. It was something that could put food on the table. Thug culture and being gangster became part of the mainstream. At the same time, while all of this was going on, the church for the most part buried its head in the sand.
Now the children of gangster rappers are adults. This generation was not raised going to church. Even if they did go to church like me, they were also connected to the media and culture outside the church as well. The one thing that I have not seen is the church embracing this new generation and communicating the Gospel to them in a contextually relevant way.
This is a new generation. They don’t know all the hymns. They don’t know when to sit and when to stand. They don’t care about any titles a bishop or reverend may have. These kids were born during the crack era. Violence and drugs and explicit sexuality are normal for them.
The question is: Will they have a place in our houses of worship? Will we be able to speak their language? I’m not talking about faking an accent or using ridiculous slang as a forty-year-old. I’m talking about dealing with the issues that they have to deal with. In order to connect with this generation, we need to speak to the issues of sex, racism, drugs, and violence.
[styled_box title=”Ice Cube Talks About the Straight Outta Compton Movie in Detroit” color=”black”]
[/styled_box]
Whereas before the hip-hop era and especially before NWA, there was a bit of shame and guilt over the things that were said and done by the younger generation caught up in the street life, now these things have become a badge of honor and a rite of passage. It’s not just those who live in the actual geographical place called Compton. There are those who have embraced a “Straight Outta Compton” mentality in just about every urban center in America.
Now that the movie is out, it would be good for the leaders of the church to reflect on its widespread popularity and what the implications are for the church. Part of it is sin, but there are other aspects of the music and the film that appeal to something unique in us as humans. Maybe then the generation shaped and influenced by Straight Outta Compton will be shaped and influenced by the Kingdom of God.
[styled_box title=”Related Links” color=”black”]
- Why we shouldn’t link ‘Straight Outta Compton’ to Black Lives Matter
- ‘Straight Outta Compton’: how the city is shedding its bad rap
- A Calling to Redeem Rap Music
- Lecrae: ‘Christians Have Prostituted Art to Give Answers’
- Religion in Hip-Hop: Reconciling Rap and Religion
A Messed-Up Ride or a Dressed-Up Walk
The Autobiography of Jerald January, Sr. (with Steve Wamberg)
Born in inner-city Detroit in 1956 at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, Jerald January was a firsthand witness to the complicated process of social change. From his boyhood in a violent urban neighborhood to his calling to be a minister, January recounts his experiences with issues such as gang violence, school integration, discrimination, class distinction, and racial prejudice.
Rev. January discusses his own journey of faith and finding his calling to serve God in the midst of these struggles. His inspirational life story will touch your heart and encourage you to reflect on your own ways of dealing with life’s difficult circumstances. A Messed-Up Ride or a Dressed-up Walk will help you think deeper about getting where you need to be at the time God has appointed for you.
More Books from UMI:
Biblical Strategies For A Community In Crisis
God’s Power to Help a Hurting People
Ordinary People Can Do The Extraodinary
[/styled_box]
Timely article. I’m not sure that NWA made being a thug or a “Gangsta” mainstream any more than the movies “Scarface”, “Goodfellas”, and ” The Godfather” or any other media depictions of gangland culture that could shape youth culture, not to mention the social , economic , and political conditions that shape their lived realities. I think the appeal that NWA has is more to do with the prophetic way they called out the brutal and unjust treatment of young black men in the urban centers by police (which you fail to mention at all), not just a so-called “glorification” of a “”gangsta” lifestyle and/or culture.
Any honest exploration of what the Church could do to appeal to this audience must explore the conditions under which minority youth live in urban centers all across this country. What does the Gospel say about crushing poverty, poor educational opportunities, unjust treatment by law enforcement officers, poor health and access to medical care, environmental racism and unsafe housing, etc.? If the church does not see its place in addressing, alleviating, and correcting these realities, then it will remain irrelevant to the lived reality of these young people and continue to see them “shaped” by groups like NWA, for good or bad.
BlackWatch. I agree that those other movies shaped and influenced youth culture but I also wanted to stay focused on the national/international media sensation that NWA became during their heyday and how their gangsta lifestyle became something to emulate regardless of people’s socio economic location.
I do believe that the conditions that brought about their style of music were oppressive and that many of their lyrics were prophetic in calling out police brutality and injustice. At the same time I wanted to focus on the ways in which the church has not addressed the psyche of those who don’t have the same moral stance and theological understanding due to being raised either during or after NWA’s rise to prominence.
Your call for the church to address the injustice in urban centers is on point and I think without it we won’t be embracing a fully fleshed out gospel but I think at a fundamental level we also just need to contextualize in terms of our language and culture and our basic philosophy of ministry. A simple change of assuming people raised in this culture even want to “come” to a church building vs us having a stance of “going” to meet them where they are.
I respect the insight of this article, but don’t totally agree. I was raised during this era depicted in “Straight Outta Compton”, I was also raised in the church. I personally didn’t see this era when these evenys occurred as a glorification of the hood. Saying that, I believe it’s a matter of personal perception.
To Blackwatch, in regard to the movies you listed, there is a vast difference. “Scarface”, “Goodfellas”, and “The Godfather” depicted people of a race other than black America. We as a people are already sterotyped and looked at as an unruly people. So, “Straight Outta Compton”, I did find it earily disturbing. While I feel the movie was put out to tell the story for and pay homeage to the rap artist of that time, I somehow feel the movie also gives our Caucasian counterparts even more reason to view us in a negative light.
I feel that the parents of teens that view the movie need to take time remind our teens that there is a consequence to pay for the decisions we make in life as we are our childrens’ first teacher. We also need to deglamorize the events of the movie by talking about the scenes depicted and discussing the negative outcomes that occurred in the scenes. Simply to give young minds a real life view rather than leaving them to possibly think that because the people depicted were famous, they made good decisions.
Not to paint a negative light on the film, we just need to help our teens keep the events in the movie in perspective.
Good points.
As far as “glorification of the hood” goes it’s not hard to see that after NWA’s rise to prominence gangsta rap became popular even among caucasian youth. Also the limits on what could be said on tv, radio, and movies became wider and wider. I have been to other parts of the world and approached by people in Africa who have picked up the lingo and mannerisms of gangsta rap culture. The hood was something that was glorified. Not by those in the church but by those who were on the outside of the church. The hood became something that could be commodified and sold. It was something that you could pay for (clothes, jewelry, music) and something you could get paid for (rap, dj, acting)
I think what you are saying about young minds needing guidance needs to be said about all movies that have explicit sex, violence, or materialism. At a certain age the mind can’t handle what it sees and children and teenagers need guidance and a framework to perceive things.
I also think that if Caucasian people look at us in a negative light because of this movie then they probably already looked at us in a negative light. Nothing we say or do is going to change that. It is a movie depicting something recent in American history.
Ramon,
It is correct to note the need to shift a focus of ministry, in a way that speaks to the lived reality of the audience of NWA that relates to and maybe influenced by the violence, nihilism, and misogyny of the music. But, I would hesitate to say that the audience have been inaccessible by the church due to them not having the “same moral stance and theological understanding due to being raised either during or after NWA’s rise to prominence.” If they don’t have the theological stance or moral understanding of the churched people in their communities, it is not because of NWA or the time in which they were popular. It is because the church failed in its mission to make disciples. The church’s struggle with relevancy is due mainly to our lack of engagement with the people and the culture in which they are shaped. For too long and in too many churches, the only acceptable people looked like, talked like, thought like, believed like and even smelled like us. So, when the church’s message of hope, love, righteousness and justice is missed on a whole generation of young people, we cannot blame the young people and the culture which all too often shapes their social and moral development.
We need church leaders who are adept and courageous enough to be prophetic and speak truth to power. They also need to be smart enough to connect the dots of oppression, depression, poverty and hopelessness that yield violent self hatred in the disaffected and can create “believers” who are pacified by church culture and tradition rather than liberated by the unadulterated, true and living gospel. I just get weary of us as believers who dismiss youth culture as total a product of Satan or demonic forces rather than see the pain and cries of our young people growing up in a world they didn’t create, without the guidance, teaching, and protection of us adults.
Well I think we are on the same page. I just think that gangsta rap blew the lid off of what was acceptable and what was not. NWA led the charge in this area and changed our moral and theological compass. I think there was always a generation gap but the prominence of NWA and gangsta rap in general caused a gap not just in visible culture but gave the younger generation a different conscience.
As far as engaging and making disciples I think that is a missing element in why things are the way they are now. So I agree with you but this is a blog post and not a book. Can’t write about everything in 500 words or less.That being said I agree the church has failed to engage.