Following months of speculation and anticipation, Fox recently dropped the trailer for season two of its ratings juggernaut Empire. A lot has changed since viewers were first introduced to the Lyon family in early January. Head patriarch Lucious discovered his diagnosis of ALS was something a lot less life threatening yet, was charged with the killing his former friend Bunky and finds himself currently incarcerated. This is a 180 from the series beginning with his ex-wife Cookie being released from prison. Getting over the closeted homosexual hump, middle son Jamal takes over Empire Enterprises and even manages to get a little Suge Knight-ish during a few episodes. Meanwhile, oldest son Andre is still coming to terms with his bipolar disorder. Empire Enterprises’ greatest threat comes when Hakeem forms an alliance with Lucious’ ex-fiance Annika who is possibly helping a rival record label. Wrapping everything together is Cookie’s power struggle to get the piece of the company that is deserved. As the second season of Empire is surely set possibly break more viewership records, DX is proud to present the next edition of “Empire State Of Mind.”
Does Lucious’s Atheism Fall In Line With Rap’s Spirituality?
A first in prime time television, a black male lead openly admitted to being an atheist on last night’s episode of Empire. As Andre made the decision to reach further into his newly found faith, he decides to get baptised in a symbolic gesture of his new way of handling his bipolar diagnosis. Asking Lucious for forgiveness in attempts to atone for past transgressions, he invites the head of Empire Enterprises to his baptism. Ironically, Andre’s father not only says no but proclaims to not believe in God. Of course, this comes after several previous episodes where he compared himself to the all powerful deity. When Andre reaches out to Hakeem, he gives the typical millennial answer about just doing it to support his brother while Jamal at first rejects it on the basis of Christianity’s stance on homosexuality. This commentary on spirituality in Hip Hop is fairly in line with how most choose to display their faith, lack thereof or viewpoints that may be stuck somewhere in the middle.
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From Hip Hop’s Five Percenters origins to the emergence of Christian rap today, spirituality has always been attached to the culture in some form. In Lucious’ case of calling himself a god, it falls in line with how many upper echelon emcees feel about themselves anyway. There are several obvious examples as well. Before slowing down on the usage, Jay Z referred to himself frequently as Hov which is short for Jehovah while many viewed Rakim as “The God MC.” Even Kendrick Lamar has referred to himself as a God on numerous occasions despite being open about his mainly Christian beliefs. The most interesting usage would probably be Kanye West who not only openly proclaims his Christianity and created “Jesus Walks” but, called himself a God several times on his most recent album Yeezus.
Looking from another angle, there are several popular Christian rappers who probably fall on the a side more in line with the religion’s mainstream beliefs. There’s no doubt about how artists including Lecrae and Andy Mineo feel about their faith. Sitting somewhere in the middle are artists like Tyler, The Creator who haven’t been shy about their lack of belief in anything and have gone on to spit rhymes almost laughing in the absurdity of those spiritual ideologies. Representing where one comes from has been the cornerstone of what Hip Hop represents. As the culture grows into different sectors of the global population, belief is something that just comes along with the territory.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
