http://www.myspace.com/akalyte
More of his samples can be found here
Gates of hell will not prevail, indeed!
Nice! Thanks.
Palestrina, Gregorian Chant, and Hip-Hop. People may start wondering. We ought to have a discussion about this sometime. I'm just happy to see the enthusiasm, though I'm also pleased with the quality.
"Palestrina, Gregorian Chant, and Hip-Hop. People may start wondering."
Yes...haha. It's interesting to see how many in the Underground Catholic Rap movement are actually the greatest supporters and defenders of using more Latin and sacred music in the liturgy.
If you want to learn more check out www.phatmass.com
Here's an excerpt form the 'About Us':
The “phat” in phatmass stands for “Preaching Holy Apostolic Truth”. The website was created in the year 2000 as a personal act of penance by it's phounder. Phatmass defends and promotes the Catholic faith over the internet and with music. We strive to portray orthodoxy, charity and humility.
Some of the things phatmass does:
* Advocates praying the rosary and provides a meditative prayer aide over the internet with the creation of the website, 59Beads.com
* Produces Catholic hip-hop music as a creative method of communication to the youth and urban culture.
*Phatmass is strongly opposed to advocating the use of hip-hop in the liturgy, as we do not feel it properly creates an atmosphere of reverence conducive to prayer
*Performs at live shows and events across the country with the cooperation of a network of different artists
*Designs, manufacturs and sells clothing and merchandise with strong Catholic messages, promoting a "culture" of orthodoxy
The Phatmass Mission
Our mission is to live and defend the faith given to us by Jesus Christ by remaining totally and completely obedient to the teaching authority of His Church. We encourage dialogue between people of all faiths and recognize that we are all striving for holiness.
We feel that it is of primary importance to promote and adore His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, develop a habit of prayer, and work for a renewal of reverence in the Sacred Mass, which will help us all in our journey to grow closer to Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
We recognize that we are in a constant battle of good vs evil, and ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints in Heaven for a removal of pride and an increase in humility, with our ultimate goal being sainthood
Wow!
Bad poetry as protest songs?
Sorry, but that's only preaching to the choir, not changing minds.
Sometimes the choir needs preaching to--why knock it if it can do that? It's an evangelization tool for Catholic youth who may know next to nothing about their faith. I daresay that it works better than the goopy liberal crap they fed me during catechesis...at least it's substantial and orthodox.
Don't underestimate the ability for these songs to attract secular kids either. Like a lot of other evangelization tools, it's a stepping stone and not the full package.
It sounds insipid when you're simply reading it, but half of hip-hop is the beat and the ability of the rapper to "spit" his lyrics. Listen to some of his tracks on www.myspace.com/mcjust and see if it doesn't strike an emotional chord with you (especially Freedom--a song dedicated to Terri Schiavo and her family)
that myspace link should be www.myspace.com/akalyte (not myspace.com/mcjust)
Vote against Catholic hip-hop and Catholic Rap.
I have a very funny 45 rpm record hereabouts called The Highway Code. It is sung using Anglican Chant.
The good part about it, of course, is that Anglican Chant sounds as if it belongs in Church.
This, however, is precisely the problem with Hip-Hop and Rap. They are absolutely NOT appropriate for use at Mass, and will accustom their listeners to expect such things.
This, however, is precisely the problem with Hip-Hop and Rap. They are absolutely NOT appropriate for use at Mass, and will accustom their listeners to expect such things.
Chris, I agree. However, I don't see this artist or anyone associated with him promoting this music for use in church. I doubt that's the point. But maybe the Catholic church has a place in this genre of music? (Emm ... Amy just made this point to me. And Amy, who worries about form in poetry being lost to the likes of postmodern 'free verse', reminds me that some of the best lyrical poets writing today are in fact rap artists.)
Well, gotta go, but perhaps we ought to have a conversation about different genres of music as well, though that might take us a bit afield from this thread. Cheers.
All I can think of is this video:
http://www.whiteboydj.com/
babygo...abygotbook.html
Sandy, Thanks for that. Very cute!
"Chris, I agree. However, I don't see this artist or anyone associated with him promoting this music for use in church."
I know for a fact that they don't promote rap music for use during Holy Mass. As I noted earlier, these guys are probably the biggest defenders of using more Latin and more Gregorian chant in the liturgy.
If you go on phatmass.com's About Us page, they explicitly state that the use of rap music in the liturgy is contrary to the Sacrifice of the Mass.
Not to mention that Akalyte's "Goodbye, Good Men" (based off of Michael Rose's book of the same title) specifically calls out the evils of liturgical abuse.
"But maybe the Catholic church has a place in this genre of music?"
I would argue that it does. Ask any of the many good young men and women who are trying to reach out to the "ghettoed" youth of my city. One of the ways we can actually attract them is by "speaking their language" and then show them the beauties of a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin w/ Gregorian chant.
Ask any of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who have worked in the ghettoed areas of New York and New Jersey, especially Fr. Stan Fortuna.
Rap certainly does not have a place in Catholic liturgy. But as a means to evangelization...why not?
Thanks for the spot and the Comments!
I assure you, I DO NOT support the idea of having hip-hop in the liturgy. That's a no-no. I go to a latin novus ordo mass..Very orthodox. I even pray the Rosary in Latin. My music is for the youth who are caught up in the secular rubbage. The Catholic youth who are becoming lost in the culture of death.
Bad poetry as protest songs?
Sorry, but that's only preaching to the choir, not changing minds.
As a member of the choir, I need to be preached too. It builds up my faith, and the faith of many others.
Rap is not poetry, it's rap. Two different mediums, although they share a similar purpose.
If you're looking for a Catholic artist whose focus is less on "the choir" and more on the subculture that is Hip Hop, check out manCHILD from Mars ILL. He is a convert to the Church. A great artist.
http://www.marsill.com
http://www.myspace.com/marsill
Bad poetry as protest songs?
Sorry, but that's only preaching to the choir, not changing minds.
As a member of the choir, I need to be preached too. It builds up my faith, and the faith of many others.
Rap is not poetry, it's rap. Two different mediums, although they share a similar purpose.
If you're looking for a Catholic artist whose focus is less on "the choir" and more on the subculture that is Hip Hop, check out manCHILD from Mars ILL. He is a convert to the Church. A great artist.
http://www.marsill.com
http://www.myspace.com/marsill
Akalyte: Nice of you to stop by! I emailed Dr. Blosser about your new album...I figured you could use the promotion 
Perhaps you could tell us more about your motivations and inspirations for your work?
Two posts in a roll on music and this one Dr Blosser trying to be ‘hip’ over hip hop in an ultra mundane way of course. My my we are almost approaching a George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” moment.
Is this a shameless appeal to the radtrad youngins who visit here.
Rap is not poetry, it's rap.
Jason, I disagree. I see rap as a species of poetry. It may not be my favorite form, but it's certainly a form. In fact, it's a venue for some of the more creative poets today, according to some. See by reference above to Amy's remark about the degeneration of poetry in postmodern 'free verse poetry' and some of the best contemporary lyrical poetry being found among rap artists.
Atiyah, I've listened to George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" -- when was that ... back in the 1970s or so? He was giften on the guitar and created a few good numbers, like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," I suppose, though the album you mention above is rather a monotonous and uninspired pistache of Hindu, New Age, and Christian allusions.
So ... what rap artists have you listened to? Which are your faves?
This, however, is precisely the problem with Hip-Hop and Rap. They are absolutely NOT appropriate for use at Mass, and will accustom their listeners to expect such things.
Rap is not really my genre of choice (although I acknowledge there is a skill to it).
I have listened to and enjoyed various kinds of rock for most of my life (these days jazz, country, blues as well). But not for a moment would I expect it to be appropriate for the liturgy. 'Folk' masses have never appealed to me and I find most contemporary music in a religious context appalling (being a member of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas. 
Some forms of music are simply more condusive to religious worship -- I think that most youth exposed to Gregorian chant will agree. I have never encountered a 'Phat Masser' with a love of hip-hop who would even think of pushing a 'hip hop style mass.' Likewise I know a few fellow Catholic bloggers with shared appreciation for hard rock -- none of whom would think of pushing it on the liturgy.
Granted, there is the phenomenon of the 'techno-cosmic-mass' (by expelled-Dominican-now-Anglican Matthew Fox) on the West Cost -- which is marketed and pushed on youth as much as any other fad, but I don't think an exposure to rock or hip hop will necessarily lead to the foolish assumption that rock or hip hop is appropriate for any and all settings.
Jason, I disagree. I see rap as a species of poetry. It may not be my favorite form, but it's certainly a form.
As a rapper myself, and someone who also likes to write poetry, I can guarantee you that they are completely different mediums. Rap lyrics are poetic, but they aren't poetry. You can't say rap lyrics are "bad poetry" because they aren't meant to be read as poetry. They're meant to be rapped. Poetry has its own structure and form.
For those of you whose interaction with Hip Hop is reduced to what you hear on the radio, you'll have to look deeper for a serious impression. Eric B. & Rakim, The Roots, De La Soul, Common, KRS-ONE. These are a more accurate reflection of what rap music is.
BTW, not to get pedantic, but I just want to clarify for your readers in case they are unfamiliar; "Hip Hop" is a culture, "Rap" is an act. The four pillars of Hip Hop are DJing, Emceeing (Rapping), Breakdancing, and Graffitti. Hip Hop is who you are, rap is what you do.
The subtext of folk music is performer-centered. It is an ego trip in which the performer preens and poses and exposes his exquisite sensitivities to a fawning audience. It is relentlessly egotistical. The words don't matter -- they are drowned by the I'm-so-marvelous ambience.
The subtext of rap is exactly the same -- it's all about ME. The ambience is one of anger rather than pampered sensitivities, but aside from that, rap and folk music are two dogs sharing the same fleas.
Totally inappropriate inside a church, but not that great outside either.
Everyone, these days, seems to expend their energies trying to find ways to have their cake and eat it too.
It is relentlessly egotistical. The words don't matter -- they are drowned by the I'm-so-marvelous ambience.
LOL
http://www.forthelistener.com/ma.../
inside_out.mp3
I don't think an exposure to rock or hip hop will necessarily lead to the foolish assumption that rock or hip hop is appropriate for any and all settings.
No more than an exposure to "The Chronicles of Narnia" will lead us to read it during Mass.
Atiyah: I'm not a radtrad. Neither is Akalyte. I'm not sure about Jason, but I'm pretty sure he's not one either. A whole page in the PhatMass website is dedicated to apologetics against RadTrads, so be careful where you sling your insults.
btw, it's Dr. Blosser's blog. He can do whatever he wants with it, including having consecutive posts on music.
Ralph:
"The subtext of rap is exactly the same -- it's all about ME. The ambience is one of anger rather than pampered sensitivities, but aside from that, rap and folk music are two dogs sharing the same fleas."
Listen to Akaylte's album. Some songs do have the subtext of anger, a righteous anger over the state of the Church and its enemies--why would this be inappropriate? Otherwise, the majority of his songs are quite positive and not self-centered as you suppose it to be. Some are simply hard-hitting anthems for youth Catholics trying to evangelize this culture of death.
I think it would behoove all of us to actually listen to some Catholic rap because I get the distinct impression that many are judging out of ignorance.
"Some are simply hard-hitting anthems for youth Catholics trying to evangelize this culture of death"
That is, YOUNG Catholics. Sorry for the typo...California weather's getting to me
I was a secular rapper before I converted. I was into all the immoral self glorifying rap music. I had an experience at a shrine, where I was re-born. After that I decided to use my talents for God and his Church. The song "heaven" on my album explains this. I do get angry in some of my songs, but its a righteous anger. My next album "Lost art"(communication) wont be so controversial. With the exception of a song about the so called "stars" in un-holywood. lol
I love the Church, I love the Papacy, I love Catholics, I do this music to re-evangelize fallen away Catholics and the youth. No bad intentions hear, just "becoming all things in Christ". I'm taking something that has been used for so much blasphemy and confusion and using it as a tool for teaching.
Rap lyrics are poetic, but they aren't poetry. You can't say rap lyrics are "bad poetry" because they aren't meant to be read as poetry. They're meant to be rapped. Poetry has its own structure and form.
Jason, I wouldn't want to unnecessarily draw this out, but I think our disagreement could be merely over the definition of terms -- or it could be a genuine disagreement. You say that rap lyrics aren't poetry because they're meant to be rapped, not read (I would say vocalized). Fair enough. But I say that rapping is a form of reading/vocalizing. It's different. But then so are the ways you vocalize a sonnet and vocalize a free-verse poem like Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl.' Grouping all forms of poetry in one category and pitting them over against rap does injustice to the formidable complexity of 'poetry', does it not? How would one intone a Haiku poem? A Wakka? A Limerick? A nursery rhyme? Thus, agreeing with your point that rap is different from the other types of versification classed under 'poetry,' my point would be that it is nevertheless, itself, yet another -- if unique -- form of 'poetry' (from Gk. poieo, meaning to make, to do).
I had an African-American student in one my classes ask if he could include a rap presentation as part of his class project, which included a term paper for a course. The course was one in which students were required to identify a social issue that was a serious problem and examine ways in which the Church had endeavored to address the issue either through history or in contemporary society. I gave this student the green light, and he began researching the problem of abortion. His study led him to the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margret Sanger, and the conspiratorial eugenic theory animating her strategic plan. He ran across several web sites detailing the outrage of American Blacks against the "Black Genocide" underlying her "Negro Project," and became so outraged himself, that he produced a magisterial rap song about Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood, and Abortion as Genocide. He brought along a friend of his who ran the sound system, and did a live presentation for the class -- something that few students from that graduating class will ever forget. There certainly is a place for holy and righteous indignation; and in that venue, I could not personally imagine a more appropriate aesthetic setting for the expression of that righteous anger than the magnificent artistry of this African-American student's outraged rap. It was unforgettable.
How can ungrammatical mouthings like that be poetry?
wakka SHD BE waka -- but wacky is rather the word that comes to mind;
SV2, anta mitai ossan wa shimpu toshite wa tottemo shikataga nai mon ya na!
Akalyte:
I'm not sure I take your meaning. Do you intend this stuff as the first stage of contact, the same way an effective missionary to China might spend some time learning Chinese? THe real risk is the sort of syncretistic nonsense which issues forth from the mouths of Indian Jesuits and Oblates of Mary Immaculate. I'll take Francis Xavier over Joseph Bernadin any day.
Chris,
I'm no Joseph Bernadin fan myself. lol
I make the music in hopes of changing the minds of youth who have embraced the secular culture and are in danger of becoming lapsed catholics. I'm already witnessing many catholic kids run away from any mention of Church as it is. Im hoping they will embrace the light and let go of the darkness.
I'm not doing this to change the church or add it into the mass, because trust me I'm in love with tradition. I'm no liberal, nor am I fond of liberalism in any way.
Yes my music is a ministry. I'm preaching and defending the truth of the Catholic Church. It's what I do outside of Mass.. It's sort of a "counter-reformation". The media is reforming people into hedonists, I'm working on counter-reforming them back to the faith..Understand? God Bless..
I think I understand: you're taking the Gospel to them in the only language they can (presently) understand. While I wish you good hunting, I can not travel that road. I have written some spoofs (some of which Philip has very generously posted here)as my only way of getting through to such willfully misguided people as love the nonsense of sacropop at Mass.
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