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By J. MATTHEW COBB TAKE A GOOD LOOK at today’s charts and the album shelves in mainstream music. There’s an obvious shift and acceptance of Caucasian and other unexpected minorities making strides on R&B/Hip-hop charts - a genre that has forever been associated with blacks. Names like Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Robin Thicke and Maroon 5 are not only pop sensations, but have become mainstays in the black community. And that’s only the beginning. Their styles are appealing to both pop and R&B markets and have helped expanded their audience base beyond traditional color lines. You can even say the same thing for black artists including Ne-Yo, John Legend and Beyonce’ have dominated the top of the pop charts and are primary examples of proof that you can be a minority and be a pop star. Then take a good look at American Idol - the popular reality-TV show that has earned a reputation of challenging their contestants with different styles, genres and sounds. Winners from the competition excellently showcased their vocal skills on various genres that could have easily been their new home. AI’s first winner Kelly Clarkson, with her background in country, took a stab at R&B and was even compared to Mariah Carey when singing Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman.” Yet she found her home in rock/pop and became an overnight success on the pop charts. Taylor Hicks, with his down-home blue-eyed soul campaign, remained consistent in the competition and triumphed as the winner with covers of Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. His album release did fairly well - even though it failed to generate the pop success as other winners - but he still delivered an album that was uniquely different from the other winners and remained true to his deep South roots. On the flip side, black winners like Fantasia and Ruben Studdard did an excellent job doing Broadway and pop standards such as George Gershwin’s “Summertime and the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” - remaining strong candidates to become victorious in the end as the show’s winners. That they did - and even though shifted into comfortable R&B/hip-hop territory, they still remain favorites in the eyes of mainstream pop music. And as mainstream pop music grows more comfortable with interacting and embracing one another’s cultures, a very powerful truth is being uncovered in the religious market. It appears that both Contemporary Christian music (CCM) and gospel music are more segregated than most general music genres. It might be shocking to imagine such a thing since most churches publicly announce that racism and forms of prejudice are uncalled for and goes against Christian principles. But reality speaks in loud volumes as the workplace has since become more integrated and Contemporary Christian/Gospel charts have become more segregated.
Diversity has always been at the forefront of the world of music and seeing different textures of music, culturally describing the melting pot of differences, has always been accepted by music historians. As far as rock is from classical, the large scope of music has proven to be a vast, wide world of colors, textures and fabrics. But it is interesting to point out that Billboard’s Pop 100, whether sung by white, black or by any other minority, bear a very startling resemblance and much more in common than most could comprehend. The addictive, hearty grooves of R&B and hip-hop, along with the demand for the genre’s best-selling producers, have become so accepted in the pop world that other genres are now making changes to their format to appeal to what is now popular - and by what sells. What sells in Christian music, according to recent Billboard charts, is another stark reality. One that is far from being identical to what the rest of the world is pumping out. Reigning on the top of Contemporary Christian charts during the month of September are groups and artists like Point of Grace, Chris Tomlin and Casting Crowns. There’s barely a trace of R&B blood, or anything reflecting a gospel sound, on Billboard’s answer to Christian pop. Except for Mandisa and Trin-i-tee 5:7 - two different artists that are just releasing their albums to the public and are living off of top-dollar marketing. On the gospel charts this month there’s another kind of activity taking place. Marvin Sapp, John P. Kee, Byron Cage and the Clark Sisters - important staples in the gospel music community - sit high on the gospel countdown, yet there’s no sign of Christian pop being filtered into the mostly black-associated genre. And that’s probably because the misconception that gospel music is just limited to blacks still lingers in Christian circles. According to the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia.com, Contemporary Christian (CCM) is defined as a popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerning the Christian faith and is mainly used to define the Nashville, Tennessee-based pop, rock and worship Christian music industry. But the Gospel Music Association (GMA), home of the Dove Awards, only give big awards and recognitions (such as Song of the Year, Album of the Year) to Contemporary Christian/Christian pop artists. You would think they would rethink of renaming their organization something else that reflects the genres they mostly patronize. While awards are given to categories for black gospel artists, the popular categories only focuses on Contemporary Christian music - a genre that tends to overlook gospel music. For generations, gospel music has always been associated with the blues and jazz music and is best recalled when briefing the history of gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey; whom many claim to be the father of gospel music. But in today’s world of ever-changing styles and formats, gospel music is sliding away from its origins and is losing its meaning; hence the recent discovery of Wikipedia’s error. It’s painful to even see that the entry of gospel music performed by black artists isn’t labeled as gospel music - like most music historians and valuable resources cite. Instead it is labeled as “urban contemporary gospel”. Apparently, urban, in this context, is another word used to identify black music. What is really going on? Is gospel music too black to be considered pop - or is Contemporary Christian too clean and polished to be accepted by black consumers? Or should we ask the bigger questions that many blacks raise during the Dove Awards: “Is our music too loud, too black, too non-poppish or too gospel for some real recognition?” Popular praise-and-worship and multi-cultural superstars Israel Houghton and his New Breed crew have desperately tried to become big winners at the annual Dove party, but have failed to win any of the big awards. And even though Israel tries not to really brand and limit his style to “gospel”, he tends to win awards at the GRAMMY’s and Stellar Awards in those categories. Coffee and Bonafide of the urban/hip-hop duo GRITS spoke out to Christianity Today back in 2004 about the plight of racism within the Christian music industry. “There’s a blatant division within our industry. We shy away from talking about race and about who’s really running things. You see it in music, our churches...in the Christian music industry, everything’s predominately white. Black music doesn’t really exist in that genre.” From their statements alone, it doesn’t seem like there’s much difference from the Christian industry now to the persecution Andrae’ Crouch experienced in the 1970s for his cross-cultural, diverse and contemporary gospel sound - especially after they most of his white supporters realized he was black. “It was like turning the stove on from burning hot, scorching hot, to low. It would be like, from cayenne pepper to bubble gum.” Crouch recalls to the Canadian Press a particular event in Texas when people began to walk out of one of his concerts, but everyone stayed once the group started playing. Of course, Crouch is referred to as one of the forefathers of the modern gospel sound and remains one of the highly respected black artists within the Contemporary Christian music genre. Sadly, there’s not too many others that are. OTHER VALUABLE RESOURCES TO LOOK INTO:
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