When religion is chronicled in Hip Hop, it’s either been the grandiose, such as Kanye West‘s “Jesus Walks” [click to read] and MC Hammer‘s “Pray” [click to read], or the critical, such as Jedi Mind Tricks‘ “Heavenly Divine” [click to read]. Independent of his own Muslim faith, New Jersey’s Hasan Salaam [click to read] has made an album themed deeply in all religions, that meets the polarity that Hip Hop has witnessed in the middle with an personal, honest and analytical look in Children of God [click to purchase] at how spirituality lives in today’s streets.
“The Reign” shows the tangibility of this album. Hasan recounts his street past, and parallels his journey to Malcolm X‘s, in transition from neighborhood menace to enlightened emcee. With his hard delivery, the song doesn’t preach, but mirrors the message many rappers offer to today’s youth, with jewels to boot. Using the same sample Kanye would later touch for The Game and Common‘s “Angel,” Hasan joins a pioneer in his movement, Brand Nubian‘s Lord Jamar [click to read] in “Angel Dust.” The brilliantly composed song, a la 50 Cent‘s “Baltimore Love Thing,” plays into a drug metaphor, but this one multi-faceted, alluding towards religion and greed, things perceived by many as good and bad respectively. Another veteran jumps in as well, on “The Uprock.” There, Masta Ace [click to read] and Hasan combine subject matter from Hip Hop, street stick-ups and bravado to play off of each other seamlessly with an organic chorus and thumping bassline.
With a message so streamlined and sewed metaphors in every verse, Children of God‘s only inconsistency comes in its production. Whereas “Angel Dust,” “History of Violence” and “Someplace” all employ low, dark and live instrument-based sounds, the album leaps college football warm-up samples and video game effects on “15 Minutes.” “Kingdom of Heaven,” albeit deftly-written, loses momentum with quirky string arrangements that feel a bit too experimental. Sold through mom-and-pop stores and his website, Children certainly surpasses most self-made efforts, and just like Immortal Technique‘s Revolutionary Volume 1, shows an emcee ready for the next plateau of musical assistance.
Though not immaculate, Children of God may be the new archetype in what religious-minded rap can be. Whereas KRS-One‘s Spiritual Minded welcomed all faiths, the rarely-mentioned work may have lost some connection with the youth, Hasan Salaam isn’t too clean to curse, with production and the dirt under his fingernails to connect in audio just as he’s done in his private life, performing and speaking in schools and prisons. While spiritual Hip Hop has either celebrated the artist’s faith vividly or defamed other religions, Hasan Salaam made a universal analysis of religion and rap. New Jersey Hip Hop is coming back into the spotlight, but with a different perspective than ever before.
