[the culture.] Featuring Krispy Kreme, Theory Hazit, and the crazy notion of comedic hip hop
Hey family– if you recall, I had a teensy bit of an experiment — produce some (mostly) lighthearted content that would discuss Christian hip hop, and the world around it. You know, oversaturated scene, too much drama, you already have the HC/Sphere/Da South/Rapzilla news…lets’ try something different.
So, I dropped the ball. But, I picked the ball back up. Which is why you’re reading this. Welcome back to the Culture:
Funny hip hop is funny. CHH needs more humor. Ever heard of Krispy Kreme?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA-V2y7-rLA]
Krispy (the artist, not the donut) is a precocious, hick-sounding rapper that may have pulled rap music’s biggest joke of 2012. Imagine this pasty little guy spitting rhymes like these,
“I have four hundred cars/I have four hundred scars and four hundred guitars/I have four hundred houses/I have four hundred mouses and four hundred houses/Bet you I can dance better than you/I bet you you don’t know two plus two/It’s four! It’s four!/Now go and shut the door/Cause nobody wants to see your face no more”
Yeah, a grown adult male wrote those raps. Suffice to say, when he wasn’t boasting about the hundreds of mouses(sic) he owned, he was letting you know about saving his apparently-mute best friend forever Money Maker Mike, or that time he got a John Cena action figure for Christmas. Great stuff all around, and he’s developed a fervent cult following in less than a years time*
*I am a shameless convert. But I’m not the only one. Peep those views, son!
Of course, between the production values, the uncanny resemblance connection to actually-good rapper Tyler Cassidy, and the ALMOST too on the nose level of wack rhymes, Krispy Kreme was probably just a hoax. If so, it was absolutely brilliant. Check out his raps under his new pseudonym, Froggy Fresh (yeah).
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3UTzZv8z0Y]
Oh wow, apparently he’s IS the baddest of them all. Look at the buzz he go by having a sense of humor.
What can Christian Hip Hop Learn?
Could CHH glean a little from this? Sometimes we’re just a little too serious — I want to see more parodies, more satire, more meta-commentary on what it means to be a rapper and a Christian. More stuff like this Theory Hazit jam, “Sweet”, that’s pretty much the best thing ever:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0s6nqIW_Ms]
Beyond this video being a brilliant marketing move when executed right, it’s incredibly subversive. Consider this — there are plenty of folks that will probably never listen to you sermonize about drug dealing being wrong (and believe me it is wrong, and believe me there needs to be sermons discussing this!). But maybe, just maybe some of those folks tuning out the pastor-rapper might get a glimpse of how silly the trap-music, drug-pushing raps can be when you replace crack cocaine with, well…candy.
Humor in the Bible
You heard me. Think of the prophet Elijah, clowning folks that dared to speak against the true God. All of a sudden, Elijah’s quips made false doctrine for chumps — eternally. What if God used a bit of mockery to bring his people to himself and away from their worthless idols? There’s the the Proverbs, hilarious micro-stories of how lame it is to reject God’s wisdom and follow your own foolish
Finally, there’s Jesus, challenging scribes, pharisees, and self-righteousness with his own brand of satire. Think of the hilarious imagery — camel’s fitting through needles, and prideful guys with 2X4 blocks of wood sticking out their eye-socket…don’t think too hard though, cause it’s funny!
I hope to see more cats in our scene make great music, but lighten up along the way. It might be the next step towards expanding the art and the impact.
