When Kanye West experiments with gospel, mainstream listeners see it as a bold stylistic leap. Gospel artists aren't allowed to do the same
“There’s always a lot of excitement when rappers do something in gospel,” explains Birgitta Johnson, an associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University of South Carolina. “We saw that when DMX started doing prayers on his album. ‘Oh wow, he’s going to go into gospel rap!’ He never went into gospel rap. We’re still waiting for a secular artist to bring recognition to a genre that already has gospel rap.
Gospel artists who try to incorporate sounds from secular music aren’t just facing mainstream indifference — they also have to deal with resistance from their own listeners. Franklin is probably the most successful fusion artist so far, and he has fielded plenty of backlash for his interest in hybrid sounds. “[God]’s creative, so why shouldn’t my music be creative, too?” Franklinin 2017. “But everyone in my community, and especially the consumers, they don’t see it that way.
You’re not supposed to mingle with what the church calls people in the world,” explains Fred Hammond, a gospel artist who recorded with both Snoop Dogg and West. “If they don’t sing gospel exclusively, then you are trying to cross over, you’re a hypocrite, God don’t love you no more. [After I worked with Snoop Dogg], I lost a couple best friends — a husband and wife team walked away from me, called me a sinner.
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