How to Recommend Christian Rap Music to Your Friends
BROCKHAMPTON Case Study
If you listen to Christian rap regularly, you are probably aware of how good it can be. You may have also had difficulty getting your friends to vibe out to NotKlyde.
This could be for a host of reasons that are not worth getting into right now, but I have a gift.
Making a slight adjustment in your approach could convince them to check out the next Tre’Gadd record. For that reason, I have taken the liberty of making a written tutorial for Christian rap recommendations.
I am going to use BROCKHAMPTON as an example.
1. Let’s not immediately default to NF and Lecrae
Lecrae and NF are good artists, so this is not to disparage them. However, these two artists can not satisfy the diverse spectrum of styles, tastes, and sub-genres within hip-hop music. NF is not a good recommendation for fans of J. Cole, because they sound nothing alike, they do not share the same themes, and while there is some crossover they have two dramatically different audiences.
2. Before you start making suggestions, ask your friends what type of rappers they like.
Let’s say you have a friend that is a big fan of BROCKHAMPTON.
It helps to know a little bit about that band and what they sound like.
Here are some bullet points:
∙ They are Not a rap group. They identify as a boy band.
∙ They make alternative pop/r&b and bombastic futuristic rap tracks.
∙ They have transparent and emotionally driven themes
*Sometimes it helps to ask your friends if they have a particular favorite song by that band or artist.
3. Now that you are more familiar with the band, you can start making recommendations.
In our case, recommendations for BROCKHAMPTON are going to be pretty easy.
We will start with indie tribe.
4. Give your friends specific listening homework.
Send them 1 — 2 songs to listen to or maybe a music video to watch. Try not to overload them with too many songs. People, typically, do not like a laundry list of stuff to listen to.
For indie tribe, you could recommend these songs:
∙ CLEAR
∙ SALTWATER
∙ TRIBAL COUNCIL
4. Follow up
Ask them what they thought of it. If they enjoyed it they may ask for more recommendations. Now you can begin to suggest albums like:
indie tribe’s U P P E R H A N D
In this case, because these are supergroups, you can also recommend the individual artists as well.
- Nobigdyl.
- Jon Keith
- Mogli the iceberg
- *Dj Mykael v. (he is a loose recommendation just because his recent releases are a bit outside this spectrum, even though his music is good
5. They may have questions about the subject matter on the records. Be prepared to have a conversation.
You never know where the conversation may go. They may want to challenge you on some of the content in the music. They may have questions about the meaning of certain songs, which may even lead you to share your testimony. They may say both groups are garbage and they should stick to Bible studies. That last one is the least likely, but you never know.
I hope this helps, when it comes to recommending music to your friends. Try it out let me know how it works out for you.
