Surprise: Shad beats Drake for Canadian Grammy

In a surprising turn of events Sunday night, indie rapper Shad beat out Drake (the "Best I Ever Had" / Young Money favorite) for the Rap Recording of the Year trophy at the Juno Awards for his album TSOL.

Although not on a "Christian record label" or a part of the Christian rap scene, Shad is plenty outspoken about his faith in interviews and his rhymes.

In the November/December issue of Relevant Magazine he said "Any time I read four or five verses of what Jesus said and taught, that's enough for me. It's a serious challenge. It's a way of life that's very foreign to all of us. But it resonates as the right way to go about things."

I'm curious:

1. If another rapper in the States could follow his pattern of living out his faith while in the midst of the mainstream hip hop culture.

2. If the American music scene would embrace an artist like that the way our neighbors to the north have.

Your thoughts?

Lecrae's "Overdose" hits #2 on iTunes

Just months after the release of his Grammy-nominated album Rehab, Houston-born Christian rapper Lecrae is once again topping the charts with his follow-up project - Rehab: The Overdose.

As of 1pm on January 11 the record was holding the #2 overall position on iTunes' charts and the #1 position on the Hip-Hop/Rap chart.

However, you won't find the artist doing much bragging about this on any of his social networks. Instead, following the pattern he used in September when Rehab dropped, he's Tweeting about his current mission trip to Haiti.

This is quite a success for an artist with little to no video or radio airplay.

Rehab's first week sales were reportedly better than notable hip hop acts such as Ice Cube (N.W.A.) and Soulja Boy. And while both mainstream and gospel music airwaves could benefit from the Good News presented in such a popular way, Christian rap is still mostly relegated to life and promotion through Internet media and the grassroots efforts of churches and young adult groups.

Perhaps sales records such as this will bring this message-music more attention.

SIDENOTE: If this theme and marketing feels familiar it's probably because Eminem used a similar approach with 2009's Relapse and Refill projects. (Sigh)

Lecrae's "Rehab" Gets Grammy Nod

On Wednesday it was announced that Houston-born Christian rapper Lecrae's Rehab album was nominated for a Grammy.

Congrats are in order. And so is the annual holy hip hop rant aimed at this whole ordeal.

For some reason, the Grammys only offer a blended "Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album" category for non-church service type Christian music. In fact, the word "rap" wasn't even added to the title until 2006. This year there's only one hip hop album nominated out of the five projects selected.

Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album (Category 52)

Rehab
Lecrae
[Reach Records]

Church Music
David Crowder Band
[Sparrow Records / Sixstepsrecords]

For Those Who Wait
Fireflight
[Flicker Records]

Beautiful Things
Gungor
[Brash Music]

Hello Hurricane
Switchfoot
[Atlantic Recording Corp/ Credential Recordings]

Lecrae's Rebel album is deserving (though certainly not the best of the year) and garnered record sales for our sub-genre, but it's doubtful he'll beat either Switchfoot or the Dave Crowder Band who are also worthy.

I'll have to research it, but I don't think a rap act has ever won this category. If they did, it was either a hip-pop group on a Nashville-based label or someone on rap's outer fringe like Kirk Franklin..

I know that cats in our community would really appreciate the category being separated and given its own slot. But alas, in the eyes of most we're still in that early infant stage of acceptance that hip hop (as a whole) was back in the 80's.

*** Soapbox shout done. Rinse and repeat in 365 Days ***

Cross Movement Records gets Grammy nods

Congrats to Cross Movement Records for scoring two Grammy nominations. On Wednesday, December 2 it was announced that both Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s Big Picture and Tonic’s The Dash were listed among five choices for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album.

The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Sunday Jan. 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS from 8 p.m Eastern.

Live Grammy blog

Add another album to the "Must Buy" list: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

Live Grammy blog

Ahhh crap. Weezy F. Baby just won Rap Album of the Year.

Who are all these people on stage?

If Tha Carter was full of more songs like the New Orleans tribute and less about his "Lollipop" I could understand.

Oh well...

Live Grammy blog

Oh snap! Is this a decent (albeit a-typical) Lil Wayne track with Robin Thicke?

He's understandable and talking about something of substance.

I'ma have to eat my words on this one.

Live Grammy blog

I would have liked more of that Bo Diddley tribute with BB King, John Mayer, Keith Urban and who was the other dude?

Also, wifey gave me a poke about the Neil Diamond post - thinking I'm hip-hop biased. :)

Live Grammy blog

9:50 - Neil Diamond? Really?!? Shouldn't he be performing a Super Bowl halftime show or something?

P.S. My wife will kill me for this post. She's a ND fan.

FLAME says "Thank You" for Grammy nod

This a very cool and gracious response from FLAME about his recent Grammy nomination.

Holy Culture Radio's 3rd Coast Fiyah has the exclusive.