Rap and the chanted sermon

[Eva Broman <eva.bromanassouchidis...>]

Hi everyone,

I'm a little late in entering the discussion on rap, nevertheless I would like 
to add a few comments...especially since this subject, according to Ari, is not 
to be considered off-topic!

First of all I'd like to say that it seems as though the African-American 
community is highly divided when it comes to rap and hip hop. I have been a 
member of a high volume message board devoted to classic soul and modern R&B 
for some time now. This list has a high percentage of Black members, and some 
of them are very vocal in their dislike of rap music and hip hop culture. In 
the following link there is an example of some recent discussions, and you'll 
see that the arguments against rap that are put forth are very similar to the 
ones heard here: the explicit lyrics, the commercialization, the lack of 
creativity, the distorted picture of African-American life and culture that is 
disseminated on MTV and other commercial media. The counter-arguments are 
pretty much the same as well: that one shouldn't judge a whole style by it's 
worst proponents, that there is a generational gap etc. 

http://soulfuldetroit.com/forum/index.html

I love most forms of African-American music and I try to keep an open mind, but 
I don't care especially for rap...but then I don't listen to indie rock, 
progressive rock or heavy metal either!

There is no denying that rap and hip hop culture has become a part of the 
mainstream, though...at some point last year, nine out of ten records on the 
Billboard charts were by rap artists.

A beautiful form of AA "orature" that is not very known to the white mainstream 
is the art of preaching called "the chanted sermon". I first came across it 
when I bought some tapes with sermons by Rev. C.L. Franklin (Aretha's father). 
In his heyday, Rev. Franklin released 76 albums of recorded sermons on the 
Chess label, and one can find similar albums on most record labels that catered 
to the African-American community. Although I'm not a religious person, I find 
these sermons quite stirring and inspirational. The interesting thing about 
this style of preaching is that although it seems so informal and improvised, 
it is actually characterized by rather complex formal rules, both when it comes 
to content and form. Here's a link that summarizes some of the recent research:

http://www.afana.org/preaching.htm

All the best, Eva