Does Christian music suffer from a racial divide when it comes to categorizing music ? In a recent interview with Da ’ T .R .U . T .H., he and the interviewer spoke about how music gets labeled in the Christian sphere . A self- admitted “ old guy,” Tony Cummings of Cross Rhythms in the U . K ., may have asked an often overlooked but very important question concerning Christian music – Is Christian music segregated ? “ I don ’ t know whether it is the fault of Billboard magazine or the fault of the Church leaders or whatever but we ’ve got ‘gospel ’ meaning black artists and we ’ve got ‘CCM ’ meaning white artists and I ’ve never been able to figure it ,” said Cummings to the emcee. “ And strangely , Christian radio is more divided on racial lines than non -Christian radio, which again is a scandal .” Da ’ T .R . U .T .H. replied, “ You are preaching one of my sermons .” He continued, “ I started a company two years ago that was intended to focus on what I call hybrid artists ; not CCM , not gospel , maybe a little bit of everything – eclectic artists . On one level , who needs another label? Except that there is a need that has to be met. The thing that inspired the label was exactly what you’ re saying. Just kind of looking at how polarized the gospel music industry is . ”
PROMOTE YOUR TRACKThe rapper said Gospel Music has no top 40 , which makes it harder to really get exposure to a variety of listeners. This in turn, affects how well their festivals coming , which are “ dying ” T . R. U .T . H. says .“ There ’s CCM radio, there’s quote unquote “ Black Gospel” radio . There ’s the Dove Awards which is 99 . 9 % white , and the Stellar Awards which is 100 % black, ” he said . “ So we look at our industry and how polarized it is , and like you say , to me it all starts with radio. There are CCM stations; they don ’ t play the K -Love stations, not just music from African Americans , just different music. It ’s not a black and white thing ; it ’s a cultural thing as well . And gospel radio stations are not playing any white music or any other music . But to me, that is the recipe for death because if genres don ’ t evolve , they die .”The Complicated rapper says this divide is a “ detriment ” and “ un – kingdom – like ” and ultimately that makes the whole thing “ sinful .”“ It ’s rooted in prejudice , it ’s rooted in biases, we could call it format , we could name it whatever we want . But at the end of the day , as Christians we have a greater responsibility to rise above the status quo and determine what needs to happen rather than trying to determine , ‘Well , if the white soccer mom is 35 -50 and listening then we have to play Casting Crowns only ’. I just think it ’s sad , but that ’ s why I started my company , and I really hope to be able to be one of the leaders in that kind of creative outlet and a platform for artists who don ’t fit into those paradigms . ”Also , what do you think of the discussion from Cross Rhythm ? Do you see this as a major problem ? Do you think it ’ s irrelevant ? Discuss in the comments and we ’ll revisit this soon.
