Holy Hip-Hop and Gospel Bargains

REAL DEAL: Rapper Tedashii is back with fresh beats and a sweet deal for fans.

Beginning today, GroupTune.com is offering an exclusive $11.99 download bundle of  hip-hop artist Tedashii‘s May 31 release Blacklight, plus his 2009 album Identity Crisis, three videos about the making of Blacklight, and six exclusive music videos from both albums.

Blacklight “is an attempt to uncover what we all often conceal, as Tedashii deeply exposes himself as an artist, Christian and human being, while infusing the common themes of hope and living with the end in mind,” wrote a reviewer at Rapzilla. “The singular message of a future hope to be realized in eternity is woven into the array of sounds, outputting songs that offer a social commentary on today’s culture and address the day-to-day struggles many face,” wrote the reviewer.

“After a brief hiatus and 2 teasingly-epic singles, Tedashii is following up his sophomore Identity Crisis with an even more diverse and mature album called Blacklight. While I worried that the Tron-like cover would make the album seem like a rip-off or even corny, rest assured the hype for this album is highly deserved,” wrote another at ChristianMusicZine.com.

Like all GroupTune offers, this one is available for one week only, said GroupTune founder Matt Shamus.

GroupTune works like GroupOn in that subscribers receive exclusive offers through email, Facebook, and Twitter, but GroupTune specializes in downloads of Christian music, books, and sermons, he said.

Some artists are not comfortable promoting themselves and their work through social media platforms, so Shamus created GroupTune (after 10 years at DiscRevolt) to help them connect with fans on their own terms and market directly to them, he said.

Summer deals will include music by Israel Houghton and Tadashii’s fellow Reach Records artists including Lecrae, said Shamus.

If you try this new service, let us know what you think.