Christian Rap and Its Love Affair with Batman
You saw the title, the intersection of nerd culture and rap culture has been there all along if not so many ways in secret.
With the release of Batman: Caped Crusader, a noir-soaked homage to the original animated series that set the standard for action cartoons in America, let’s take a look at the influence of the character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
Wit & Dre Murray — Dark Knight Rises
Legendary producer, Wit and word architectDre Murray collaborated on Hell’s Paradise, which is largely considered a classic in Christian Rap. The work is a potent collection of heightened dark tales that detail a reality devoid of hope. Armed with production that sounds like getting attacked by an army of bats in the middle of the city at night, Dre flips the concept of a character shrouded in darkness who views himself as the hero.
Now that we got the legends taken of…
Battz & Aaron Dews — Vengeance
Battz and Aaron Dews have teamed up to become the Arkham Knights. I hope no copyright infringement besets them because this is too firggin’ cool. This is their most recent release after a slew of slick well-paced bangers like Arkham Knights and DNA (one of my favorite rap songs in years). This might be the next one…
Middle Clash — Gotham Fog
The rapper/producer duo of Taelor Gray and Wes Pendleton create a vibe that sounds like something that Bruce would have on his playlist at 4 am upon returning from his shift of crime fighting. Especially with that Lofi trumpet sample at the latter end of the track.
Kaleb Mitchell-Bruce Wayne (feat. Th3 Saga)
Around this time, Mitchell began experimenting with darker tones and aesthetics in his music. What better iconography to adopt than that from the iconic Batman mythos? In this song, he paints himself in like fashion of Bruce Wayne, a person with a straightforward approach to handling business without the need to be distracted by unhealthy relationships.
G-Nap — B.A.T.M.A.N.
This is a fun concept of a song, even if it a little out of step with what I do here.
G-Nap uses the imagery of Batman to correlate sincerity and devotion to his faith in sharing the gospel. He compares driving the church van to driving the Batmobile, suggesting that even though Christians may appear humble, they are actually strong and courageous like Batman. The sample in the background also hearkens back to the soundtracks of the Tim Burton Batman movies along with the 1990s animated Batman television show.
davecreates. — Gotham
Being a believer, particularly a person who's invested in the work of being a believer a person is going to see a lot of dark things. davecreates. mirrors that sentiment by liking Batman's experience of engaging with a multitude of problems at night.
Young Parker — Gotham City
“Feel like I’m in Gotham City, with these Jokers and clowns…”
Relative newcomer, Young Parker, continues with the motif by depicting the world around as a wasteland of debauchery. I like this guy a lot. He brings back that 2010 era of alt-backpackers. I can not wait to hear more from him. Also, I promised I would write more about him in the future.
..And Taelor Gray shows some love with a killer verse.
