Question:
I play guitar for our praise team. We do a lot of the popular modern worship songs and a lot of people really like them. However many of our youth don't listen to that style of music. Style meaning rock.
They rather be listening to hip hop like 50 cent or kayan west. Not my personal preference but I can related when I was singing hymns and none of that got me, for lack of a better word, movin'. I remember when I first heard Shine Jesus Shine and I thought "Wow!! Where is this in the hymn book??!" although I'm beginning to get a new appreciation for hymns but thats another issue.
Well I've been bouncing around the idea of taking some popular hip hop song, and replacing the lyrics with more biblical ones. Well I'm not doing really, one of the girls on our praise team is cause she's really into the culture. I would just play the rift on my guitar. This is something we plan to do for an outreach and not a sunday service. My only concern is should we be taking a secular song and replacing the lyrics to make it a worship song? Has anyone ever tried this?
Feedback very welcomed.
Answer:
I think I may have posted wrong forum. Could one of the moderators move it to a more appropriate location if that's the case? Thx
Answer:
Consider it moved to the right forum.
Answer:
Personally, I think taking any song and inserting your own lyrics is cheesy. It feels like a bad parody; I'd much rather hear an original song (no matter what "genre" it is).
As far as the issue of using hip hop in praise, I think it's fine. Like any music, it needs to be done well, and when hip hop is done well it's as good as any other form of music. Wasn't all that long ago that people shunned guitars in worhip music
Answer:
We did Apologetix's "Look Yourself" once. It went over pretty well, seeing as how most of the youth group at that point (heck, still do) listened to rap. But I think it's a pretty cool idea to do things of a different style every once in a while, especially for a youth group that doesn't particularly like rock a whole lot.
Wasn't all that long ago that people shunned guitars in worhip music
Hehe... To quote my first guitar teacher. "Put more than one guitar on a stage in a Baptist Church in the state of Florida and they think you're Molly Hachet". Obviously, that's changing, but it was so true and soooo funny when he said it.
Answer:
I have nothing to offer you stylistically. Wouldn’t know what to work on to achieve hip-hop-edness. But I don’t have any problem with applying a feel of a popular style to a worship song. I do that a lot, actually, but rely more on rock influences. I can say to the band, “Give me Born in the USA,” and they’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
If I can find any interpretations of current praise songs/hymns in a hip hop style, I’ll post links.
Answer:
I also think it comes off as cheesy. I've used a rewrite of "I Wanna Rock n Roll All Night," and, yeah...cheesy. Cheesy, and generally more focused on having fun than God.
I would also be concerned about the suitability of rap for group singing. I've also used "Rest" by Skillet in worship, and in retrospect, I think it was too difficult to sing. I feel like rap would be the same way.
Answer:
Instead of taking a hip hop song and changing the lyrics, do the opposite to a favorite hymn and change the music/beat. A few people (guitarists) did that where I live and it turned out great! All the youth loved it.
Answer:
Originally Posted by jalapeno Instead of taking a hip hop song and changing the lyrics, do the opposite to a favorite hymn and change the music/beat. A few people (guitarists) did that where I live and it turned out great! All the youth loved it.
That sounds like a really great idea. I guess as long as it's in the beat is in the same time signature as the hymn it should work out.
I found that most of these hip hop songs it's just a simple beat or rift so it isn't as obvious. Unless it was sampled from another song. It's like trying to recognize a song by only the drum beat.
Scriptually though, is there anything that I should be aware of?
Answer:
Originally Posted by Jay Tea I would also be concerned about the suitability of rap for group singing. I've also used "Rest" by Skillet in worship, and in retrospect, I think it was too difficult to sing. I feel like rap would be the same way.
Well with brand new lyrics we don't expect anyone really to follow along. It's more of a side project we are working on for an up coming praise and worship night.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Richardrich Scriptually though, is there anything that I should be aware of? "Sing to the Lord a new song..."

--Sean
Answer:
I will have to ask a girl i know about it, she attends a 'hip hop' church, or an entire church where the music/lifestyle is what you are talking about. I think its great.
*anathema*
Answer:
Originally Posted by jalapeno Instead of taking a hip hop song and changing the lyrics, do the opposite to a favorite hymn and change the music/beat. A few people (guitarists) did that where I live and it turned out great! All the youth loved it. I was about to suggest this. Our praise team does it all the time. (Every service we play). However, we tend to play them in a "rockier" style than anything else. It wouldn't be too hard to play them in a hip hop style though.
I would definitely discourage the idea of taking popular songs and changing the lyrics. People, like me, will probably end up running through the original words in their head and not focusing on the new lyrics.
Answer:
Originally Posted by anathema I will have to ask a girl i know about it, she attends a 'hip hop' church, or an entire church where the music/lifestyle is what you are talking about. I think its great.
*anathema*
Thanks guys, I really appreciate this. Well we've been trying some stuff out. Sampled Every Breath You Take by The Police, It All Falls Down by Kanya West and Let's Get it Started by BEP. The last one has a really good bass line that I've been working on.
I really do wanna avoid the cheesy factor but I know that might be hard to judge since I'm involved in it. I will post sound clips when we got something together that we are happy with.
Answer:
If you're having a hard time replacing lyrics without being cheesy...you might want to try finding a good hip hop or rap christian band so you don't need to replace lyrics or anything...it can be a little grueling at times, but a really awesome one that I'm getting hooked on is "Grits" and they definatly don't come off as a cheesy group tryin' to be cool doing hip hop. So, just an idea.
Blair the Rock (or in this case "Hip Hop")
Lyndsay