Is listening to Rap music sinful?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil_M
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Phil_M

Guest
Is it a sin to listen to rap music? Listening to it and writing it helps a lot of people to calm down when they’re angry, and to express their feelings. A friend of mine also claims that it’s inspirational. It can be really explicit sometimes, obviously, so that’s not a good thing. So is it sinful or not?
 
The artists hereare mostly rap. All are Catholic artists.

The issue with sinfulness isn’t the style or genre of music, it’s whether it’s an occasion of sin . . . how can explicit lyrics NOT be an occasion of sin! I speak from experience, born in '75 and just returning to the sacraments 2 years ago.

Whatever types of music you like, take care NOT to listen to or support musicians that objectify sexuality, blaspheme, etc. Why support that which you do not believe in?
Titus 2:11-13 [DRB]
For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men:
instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

By the way, I have a fever so hopefully I’m not going off on any wild tangents. If I’m not making any sense, please feel free to call me on it. A week from now I don’t want to say: “that fever was boiling my brain”!
 
Phil,

The answer is that it depends on the lyrics. If writing it helps you to calm down, then perhaps the best thing to do is to write it down and then burn the piece of paper on which it is written. (This causes some kind of psychological closure as well.)
  • Liberian
 
I agree with Krysianka. The lyrics are the main problem, and most-- if not all-- rap has vulgar lyrics (with the exception of some Catholic artists). I would also take one other thing into consideration: Is the music itself (apart from the lyrics) beautiful? We know from Scripture that everything beautiful is from God. I would tend to think that something like classical music is objectively more beautiful than rap music, and therefore more Godly. Since we’re made in the image of God, our souls crave Truth and Beauty. It seems that something more along the lines of classical music would be more calming and uplifting to the soul.

Just a thought. But either way, definitely stay away from any form of music with vulgar lyrics. It’s at least an occasion of sin and certainly drags the soul down to earth and away from heaven.

God bless.
 
Read Jimmy Akin’s blog on the subject it is really good helped me with this question no end (although in my case it was more heavy metal music that I wanted to listen to than rap music, but same kind of thing)

jimmyakin.org/2005/07/bad_music.html

Enjoy!

PS, In case you’re wondering who he is, Jimmy Akin is one of the CAF apologists.
 
No doubt those Catholic rappers are doing a greater good. One thing though is that they are horribly produced and another they just have no flow. Very amateurish. I don’t like it. Compared to Christian Rock/Metal bands, the Christian Rap artists just can not compare.
Which is why there is really no audience for them. Because all in all the rap game is about how you flow and the beats you have. Not really the lyrics. Most rappers say things that make no sense, but it is their delivery and the way they handle the beat that gets people to listen. Lyrics are not that important in the rap game.

I love rap and hip-hop and I love rock/metal equally, so I am not basing my opinion because I favor metal over rap.

So your best bet is looking for mainstream rappers with positive messages or party songs. Tribe Called Quest, Common, Q-Tip. Queen Latifah (ugh) but over all the rap game is about the streets and society, so you won’t many tame rappers. Or you can also find Instrumentals of your fave rappers. No lyrics = no obscenities.

Sorry I couldn’t help much.
 
Actually I find Christian rock and metal bands to be pretty terrible compared to regular rock / metal bands (there are some exceptions, like Creed and Seven Sorrows, although even these are only okay). Like you say, Christian bands often focus on the lyrics when what makes music sound good is not really the lyrics.

Anyway this is off topic, oops (-:
 
40.png
Flopfoot:
Actually I find Christian rock and metal bands to be pretty terrible compared to regular rock / metal bands (there are some exceptions, like Creed and Seven Sorrows, although even these are only okay). Like you say, Christian bands often focus on the lyrics when what makes music sound good is not really the lyrics.

Anyway this is off topic, oops (-:
Click to expand...
Creed, Seven Sorrows? Uhhh… I was referring to bands like Underoath, As I lay Dying, Still Remains and Norma Jean. I like it loud and I like SCREAMO metal. Plus I wouldn’t label Creed christian especially with all the stuff circulating around. If you label Creed christian then might as well label Avenged Sevenfold Christian as well. The bulk of a7x lyrics are about God, but I dont think the band member’s lifestyle is Christian.

Oh, I don’t know if you have heard any of Rev Run’s stuff. Run from Run DMC. I haven’t but I’ve heard it is positive and its okay. I personally never liked Run DMC. But they were tame rappers.
 
Here are some Chrisitan Rap artists:

The Gritz
TobyMac
Lecrae
Trip Lee
Mr. Del
MANAFEST (one of my favorites)
KJ-52

There’s more too, but they were just people off the top of my head. If u have Gospel Music Channel on tv, they have a program called Hype and Glory which plays all Christian rap/hip-hop.
Hope this helps!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top