Street Scriptures
Between God and Hip-Hop
9780226819167
9780226819143
9780226819150
Street Scriptures
Between God and Hip-Hop
This book explores an important aspect of hip-hop that is rarely considered: its deep entanglement with spiritual life.
The world of hip-hop is saturated with religion, but rarely is that element given serious consideration. In Street Scriptures, Alejandro Nava focuses our attention on this aspect of the music and culture in a fresh way, combining his profound love of hip-hop, his passion for racial and social justice, and his deep theological knowledge. Street Scriptures offers a refreshingly earnest and beautifully written journey through hip-hop’s deep entanglement with the sacred.
Nava reveals a largely unheard religious heartbeat in hip-hop, exploring crosscurrents of the sacred and profane in rap, reggaeton, and Latinx hip-hop today. Ranging from Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, and Bad Bunny to St. Augustine and William James, Nava examines the ethical-political, mystical-prophetic, and theological qualities in hip-hop, probing the pure sonic and aesthetic signatures of music, while also diving deep into the voices that invoke the spirit of protest. The result is nothing short of a new liberation theology for our time, what Nava calls a “street theology.”
The world of hip-hop is saturated with religion, but rarely is that element given serious consideration. In Street Scriptures, Alejandro Nava focuses our attention on this aspect of the music and culture in a fresh way, combining his profound love of hip-hop, his passion for racial and social justice, and his deep theological knowledge. Street Scriptures offers a refreshingly earnest and beautifully written journey through hip-hop’s deep entanglement with the sacred.
Nava reveals a largely unheard religious heartbeat in hip-hop, exploring crosscurrents of the sacred and profane in rap, reggaeton, and Latinx hip-hop today. Ranging from Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, and Bad Bunny to St. Augustine and William James, Nava examines the ethical-political, mystical-prophetic, and theological qualities in hip-hop, probing the pure sonic and aesthetic signatures of music, while also diving deep into the voices that invoke the spirit of protest. The result is nothing short of a new liberation theology for our time, what Nava calls a “street theology.”
Listen to the Street Scriptures Playlist on Spotify
256 pages | 5 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2022
Music: General Music
Religion: Religion and Society
Reviews
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One A Street Theology: Between God and Hip-Hop
Chapter Two A Brief Sonic History of Hip-Hop
Chapter Three Prophets and Emcees: Righteous Rappers
Chapter Four The Return of God in Hip-Hop: Kendrick Lamar’s Street Theology
Chapter Five The Dirty Latin South: Breaking, Reggaeton, and the Rise of the Global South
Chapter Six Native Tongues
Notes
Index
Chapter One A Street Theology: Between God and Hip-Hop
Chapter Two A Brief Sonic History of Hip-Hop
Chapter Three Prophets and Emcees: Righteous Rappers
Chapter Four The Return of God in Hip-Hop: Kendrick Lamar’s Street Theology
Chapter Five The Dirty Latin South: Breaking, Reggaeton, and the Rise of the Global South
Chapter Six Native Tongues
Notes
Index
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