Jonathan Calvillo on Churches and Hip-hop

Jonathan Calvillo is a sociologist who teaches about Latinx communities at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. His most recent books are In the Time of Sky-Rhyming: How Hip Hop Resonated in Brown Los Angeles (Oxford University Press, 2024) and When the Spirit Is Your Inheritance: Reflections on Borderlands Pentecostalism (Fortress Press, 2024). Research for his forthcoming book on hip-hop and spirituality was made possible in part by a 2024 Teacher-Scholar Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship’s Vital Preaching, Vital Worship Grants program. In this edited conversation, he offers ideas for how churches can engage with hip-hop.

How did you explain your grant project to the hip-hop creatives you talked with?

I want to understand how hip-hop creatives relate their artistic expression and culture to religion and spirituality. I invite creatives to share their hip-hop testimonials, their stories of how they got involved in hip-hop. Most, but not all, of the hip-hop people I’ve been talking with are Christian or were Christian or have had some kind of Christian background. I focused on three categories of hip-hop expression: in church, in spaces outside church but created by Christians, and in “spiritual but not religious” spaces and networks.

How do you describe hip-hop art and culture to those who don’t know much about it?

Hip-hop emerged in the 1970s among working class Black Americans in New York City’s Bronx borough. It was largely influenced by Black American culture and freedom struggles, as well as by Caribbean and African diaspora people, so Jamaicans and Puerto Ricans also shaped hip-hop streams. Back then, hip-hop emerged as four main expressions:

• Rappers and MCs still get the most attention.
• DJs helped organize the movement by creating a certain sound. Digital culture has changed their role.
• B-boys and B-girls helped people access the movement through breaking, a dance style.
• Early on, graffiti artists and graffiti writers were criticized as vandals who defaced property. Some developed amazing skills and have had their art commissioned and displayed in galleries.

Young people spread the movement and shared skills when they moved locations, such as from New York City to Los Angeles. By the early 1980s, it had become a global movement that the media wanted to capitalize on. It became popular among white Americans, middle class communities, and diverse communities as well.

How did hip-hop influence you?

I grew up in a second-generation Mexican family in a working-class neighborhood in the west part of Fullerton, a city in Orange County, a neighboring Los Angeles county. We attended Latinx Pentecostal churches. In some ways, I became an unlikely hip-hop participant in the era when gangster rap emerged, because I was an honors student who was never drawn into gangs and substance abuse. But I knew people who were. Hip-hop had become a prophetic voice, a way to understand the struggles of urban Black and brown communities. It gave me a way to live out my faith in conversation with the world around me, a way to say “I care about what you’re going through.”

I’d gather friends to write rap lyrics in English and then expand into bilingual music. I also learned to make hip-hop instrumental music. I got invited to share my music at youth rallies and church youth services. We’d hear through the grapevine of others with specific hip-hop skills. At Christian youth camps, we’d all share, encourage, and challenge each other through cyphers. We’d gather in a circle and take turns sharing a rap, rhyme, break move, and more. It shaped us to see ourselves as people with talents and gifts to share.

How have you promoted positive aspects of hip-hop?

As a youth worker in Santa Ana, California, I started Saint City Sessions with other leaders so youth could learn to dance, DJ, rap, and create graffiti with permission. We had designated experts who mentored others. We ended each event with an open mic. The group still exists. Now I have a doctorate, am a professor, and have children, but I still write rap music and attend hip-hop events.

I also build relationships with hip-hop artists and communities. And I write, teach, and speak about hip-hop and faith, including among Latinx churches and communities.

How have some churches welcomed hip-hop?

I was coming of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the time of the LA uprisings and a major surge of hip-hop creativity in greater LA. Some churches in our community began to explore allowing rap music, hip-hop dance, and spoken word in youth ministries and outreach.

Books such as The Hip-Hop Church: Connecting with the Movement That Is Shaping Our Culture (IVP, 2005), by Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson, explained the hip-hop church model, one approach among many in integrating hip-hop into church life. A great example is The House, a monthly Saturday worship service created in 2005 by Lawndale Community Church in Chicago. That service evolved into year-round programming at The Firehouse Community Arts Center. This Christian-rooted safe space for urban youth is dedicated to preventing violence through arts and community engagement.

Are churches still doing hip-hop worship services?

Yes, there are still churches that realize that hip-hop is not a fad or trend. It’s been around for more than fifty years and is still relevant for thinking about faith and art. Some churches have included hip-hop worship elements during Black History Month. Others, such as Greater Hood Memorial AME Zion in Harlem, have been offering hip-hop worship services every month or so for years.

Why do churches often shun hip-hop?

Scholars generally agree that hip-hop blurs lines between sacred and profane. I don’t know many churches that call it “sacred” or “profane,” but every church has some designation or consciousness about what does or does not belong in church. Hip-hop is most concerned about what is and how to effect change. I don’t want to sugarcoat that many forms of hip-hop promote negativity, harmful aspirations, sexism, and misogyny, which are among the reasons why some churches stay away from it.

But, as I experienced while working in the arts with young people, hip-hop can focus on positives and good stuff, including social and spiritual transformation. It influences especially urban people, different generations, and people of color. Christian hip-hop artists typically don’t use profanity. Many hip-hop artists ask questions without guiding people to a certain conclusion, unlike what pastors might try to do. Churches may worry about where that might lead, even though generations today often want to have more open-ended conversations.

What do churches miss out on by not getting involved in hip-hop?

I recognize that most traditional church services would not be adaptable venues for playing random hip-hop songs. But I think a lot of church leaders and church-based theologies are missing out on rich conversations among hip-hop creatives. Many artists address injustice, racism, poverty, and violence—without glorifying violence.

When churches are so concerned to keep the church pure and keep profanity out, they miss out on prophetic hip-hop voices. Artists like Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar, for example, offer rich material for spiritual reflection. It would be better to be proactive and listen to what young people and adults are listening to. This advice applies especially to worship leaders, youth leaders, youth ministers, and Christian education leaders.

Do you have any tips on what not to do while trying to connect with hip-hop creatives?

When you seek to build a relationship, start locally. If you’re not part of hip-hop culture, don’t just show up at an event and expect to be catered to. Find someone who can be your bridge. Are there creatives in your congregation who know about hip-hop music, rhyme, spoken word, and dance? Ask them to introduce you to networks and events where hip-hop artists are meeting or being showcased. You’ll probably find Christians there and others doing deep spiritual reflection.

In my own early experience of hip-hop, churches often gave artists space to share their music and testimonies. Our youth pastor gave us a platform. One of hip-hop’s draws is that it authentically communicates the artist’s own lived experience. Inauthentic hip-hop immediately calls into question the artist’s integrity. Through networking, you may meet a Christian hip-hop artist willing to share their testimony in worship. Be sure to build a relationship with the artist first before throwing them into a situation where the church might resist or reject them. And compensate artists when possible.

How else can churches learn from hip-hop creatives?

Once you’ve connected to a network, you can attend, host, or sponsor creative workshops that broadly apply to the arts in general, not just hip-hop. Examples include workshops on how to write poetry, do storytelling, or create music. Many hip-hop creatives are multitalented. There may be parents in your church who have teenagers and know how to cultivate artistic gifts in young people. Many hip-hop creatives have families of their own.

Churches can provide financial support or offer their building as venues for hip-hop art shows or concerts. If you don’t want to host a concert, you could ask music artists to share at an art show opening or a sports event.

Is Christian hip-hop still prophetic?

Sometimes churches are okay with using hip-hop in youth ministry to draw in young people and keep them in the church. But if the message gets too political or direct, then churches often balk. We’re living in a moment that’s really divided politically. The Christian hip-hop community has people at odds over immigration and other issues, like race. Someone’s racialized experience may push artists to take a more vocal progressive political stance. But this risks them losing support from a conservative Christian base that holds political views different from what the artists themselves hold.

There are young artists and creatives who are using their art to speak to this moment. If they don’t see churches respond, they may feel as if church is becoming irrelevant. That’s why some Christian hip-hop artists create spaces outside the church and also partly why some Christian hip-hop artists leave the faith. So, yes, some Christian hip-hop is prophetic, but artists sometimes encounter pressure from audiences that are not ready for prophetic messages.