Hip Hop and Religion

In Dr. Daniel Hodge's paper:
'No Church in the Wild: An Ontology of Hip Hop's Socio-Religious Discourse in Tupac's "Black Jesuz"'

He states, "The Church, as an institution, for Tupac and The Outlawz, is no different. In their estimation, if the cops beat you, schools lie to you, and systems fail you, why would the Church be any different?"
 ...

Quoting, African American studies and Hip Hop Scholar, Michael Eric Dyson:
"Black Jesus for Tupac meant for him that figure that identifies with the hurt, the downtrodden, and the downfallen. The Black Jesus is a new figure; both literally within the literary traditions of black response to suffering, but also religious responses to suffering. If this is the Black Jesus of history, it is the Jesus that has never been talked about and most people who talk about Jesus would never recognize." 

I can't attest to what most people who talk about Jesus understand about Jesus but I think both Hodge and Dyson are right to point out the push Tupac was trying to make in his appeal to "Black Jesuz" as a socio-political commentary. 



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