Review: Big R – R Rated
It’s hard to hate on a Christian hip-hop artist who gets away with comparing God to herpes. Jacksonville, Fla.-based God Chaserz Entertainment and Clean Rich Records have launched gospel rapper Big R’s latest project, Rated R, the North Carolina performer’s sophomore solo album. In a word, the record is approachable.
Big R moves from directly quoting the Gospel of Luke to lyrics like, “you can’t break Him – like the herpes, you can’t shake Him,” and because of confident delivery and a commercially-viable sound, it works. The record announces itself more in its second track, What’s It Gon’ Be, where Big R gets down preaching the Word through his strong voice; addressing issues such as individuals with lukewarm faith, materialism and the secular lifestyle.
The album’s sound is modern. The second track, Rated R, has a west coast beat to it with a stripped down bass line, minimal accent sounds and sounds like something off of 2001. Re Up, the fourth song, has a Lil Jon-type production to it with heavy, overbearing, electronically-fused bass with a slower delivery and I Tried is a sample-based track recounting R’s approach and acceptance of God – the varied production allows R to keep the sound of the album current, approachable and extremely listenable.
Lyrically, Big R finds himself in the same place that most Christian rappers do – entirely too surface layer. Though the wordplay is entertaining at places, such as the aforementioned herpes comment, the 15 tracks of direct Jesus speak does get tiring. In context it is an album directed at evangelizing through music but producing songs with a more subtle story of Christ’s goodness or love and allowing that to germinate through the music would be a welcome directional change to R’s directly stated “God is good” style and give the album much more depth.
Having such a blatantly stated agenda creates a disconnect between the lyrics and the music. Maybe it’s me but it comes across as strange when I listen to something that sounds like a Dre beat then hear a testimonial. That’s like greeting your pastor at church with a fist pound and a “what up, fam?”
Despite the album’s shortcomings, Big R and GodChaserz Entertainment have put out an album that effectively preaches the Word and does it to music that is widely accessible and interesting to the modern listening audience. A departure from the old Toby Mac I have sitting in a dusty CD case somewhere in my Mom’s attic, I would much rather listen to the Gospel preached over a Dre beat than from a pushy evangelical on the street corner who you can’t shake despite how fast you walk away…like the herp.
For more information on Big R visit his page HERE.
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