The Award Show God Shoutout Phenomenon

Author's note:

I posted this online a few years ago when I was helping promote The Fence documentary I worked on with Bobby "Tre9" Herring.

Given the time that has passed and our now diverted passions, I'm honestly not sure if it will ever be completed or released. But given that last night's BET Awards had plenty of this, I figured it would be worthy of resurrection today.



It seems to happen at every award show – so much so that it’s now a frequent punch line. The rapper who rhymes about selling drugs, pulling guns, and sleeping around with your girl gets honored for his work and the first thing out of his mouth is “I want to thank God.”

Why would someone promote and sell a lifestyle that appears to be so sinful if they are really trying to follow the ways of Jesus? How do they think their God receives such words of gratitude?

Is the “spiritual/Jesus track” at the end of the album a reflection of their true relationship with the Creator or something they tack onto the record to make their momma proud?

This year, we’ve already come through the Grammys, BET, and MTV Awards where such sentiments were no doubt proclaimed from the stage. There's also been the Dove and Stellar Awards where Christian music artists most certainly did the same thing.

Watch this exclusive clip from The Fence documentary series that explores these topics through interviews with people like Houston rap figures Paul Wall and Madd Hatta (97.9 KBXX) as well as comedian D-Ray and Christian rappers R-Swift and Urban D.

How would you respond to their stories, explanations, and reasons for this “Award-Show-God-Shoutout” phenomenon if you were in front of them? Are there valid reasons behind such sentiments?

Leave your comments here and let me know what you think.

Hasn't AutoTune already been buried?

Over the weekend, Jay-Z rocked the web with his new track "D.O.A. (Death of AutoTune)."

I'm all for giving the robot the heave-ho, but haven't we already heard this before?

Peep R-Swift's "R.I.P. AutoTune" on his MySpace page.

I wonder if cats will listen now that Jay's talking?

I've also got to pass along a couple of dope lines my man Zee (co-owner of DaSouth.com) Tweeted this weekend.

Jay-Z's "D.O.A." track? Overrated. Great methaphors, but c'mon... he only rappin' about the death of a plugin, people.

If I was a so-called "great emcee" like Jay-Z, would that be the greatest msg I had to give? Death of a plugin???

How about death, burial and resurrection? Get on that and then you'll have my listening ear... sigh...

Vid: The Award Show God Shoutout Phenom

We released a new trailer for "The Fence" documentary we've been working on for a while. I actually loosely edited this one (selected the clips, made the cuts, and put them in order) and another (more talented editor) gave it the polish.

Here's the tease and link:

It seems to happen at every award show – so much so that it’s now a frequent punch line. The rapper who rhymes about selling drugs, pulling guns, and sleeping around with your girl gets honored for his work and the first thing out of his mouth is “I want to thank God.”

Why would someone promote and sell a lifestyle that appears to be so sinful if they are really trying to follow the ways of Jesus? How do they think their God receives such words of gratitude?

Read the rest and watch the video here.

R-Swfit says thank you for support

R-Swift vlogs a heartfelt thank you to fans and friends who have lent his family support during their recent tragedy.

Pray / support R-Swift

As many of you may already know, R-Swift and his wife Stacey lost their infant son on Thursday evening. Rodnie Graham Jr was only a few months old.

Please, please keep this family in prayer. And if you would like to financially support them during this time, you can send funds via PayPal to TeddyP who is coordinating the efforts in Philly.

Send those to: teddypmusic [at] comcast [dot] net .