About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

The Cross Movement

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Cross Movement

The Cross Movement is Christian hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Ministry

The Cross Movement has three separate and distinct eponymous components which comprise its ministry. The first component is the Christian hip hop group known as The Cross Movement which is currently composed of four solo rappers. The current members of The Cross Movement are The Ambassador (William Branch), The Tonic (John Wells), Phanatik (Brady Goodwin), and T.R.U. - L.I.F.E, (Virgil Byrd). The Cross Movement also frequently collaborates with the Christian disc jockey, DJ Official. The second aspect to the Cross Movement is the record label, Cross Movement Records, which is responsible for producing and marketing the albums of the The Cross Movement, its individual members' solo albums, and other Christian hip hop artists such as Da T.R.U.T.H and Flame. The third aspect of the Cross Movement is the incorporated, non-profit group called Cross Movement Ministries, which aims to use creative ways to spread the Christian gospel message within hip hop culture.

Nomenclature

Since its inception, the Cross Movement has chosen to define themselves as the Christian or holy division of hip hop culture as opposed to the hip hop or rap division of Christian culture. Within the genre of rap music, there are various subgenres such as gangsta rap, Conscious rap, old school rap, crunk, and reggaeton, but all of it falls under the rubric of rap and, by extension, hip hop. In choosing to define their music as simply being another subgenre - i.e., the Christian rap subgenre - of hip hop culture, the Cross Movement attempts to "keep it real" in order to maintain the validity needed to influence members of hip hop culture who may or may not be Christians. In their 2003 release, Holy Culture, The Cross Movement stated their reasoning is based on a passage from the Bible, [St. John 17:15-19] in which Jesus is reported to have said to God:

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

As the word [sanctified means "to set apart"], the interpretation maintained by the Cross Movement is that they are instructed by Jesus to remain a part of hip hop culture while being set apart from the majority of the followers of hip hop culture in order to influence it from within to conform to the mores and moral code preached by the followers of mainstream Christianity. The acceptance of this interpretation has been mixed, however. Despite their claim to be a part of hip hop culture, the Cross Movement has slowly found more acceptance, though not total acceptance, in the Christian community than in the secular hip hop community as the majority of their concerts are held at churches or church-sponsored events as opposed to secular venues. In 2006, the Cross Movement received a Grammy nomination for “Best Rock Gospel Album,” as opposed to any of the traditional hip hop or rap categories. Additionally, the Cross Movement has generally only been recognized at Christian and Gospel awards shows such as the Dove Awards or Stellar Awards as opposed to hip hop-only award shows such as the Source Awards or the Vibe Awards.

Career

The Cross Movement’s niche has been to translate biblical and Christian theology into rap music by using the same hyper-aggressive lyrics, sampled orchestral riffs, alliteration, and virtuoso delivery of many mainstream rappers without the self-aggrandizing and violent lyrics, or the misogynistic and consumerist imagery stereotypically associated with many rappers. As of 2006, the Cross Movement has released six albums on its own record label, Cross Movement Records. Among these, Holy Culture (2003) reached #134 on the 200 album Billboard Charts and the top 10 of the contemporary Christian chart. Higher Definition (2004) also reached Billboard's Christian chart.

Current members of The Cross Movement

Former members of The Cross Movement

Members of Cross Movement Records

Discography

Videography

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: