Recently for my communications class I have been doing something called “genius hour.” It’s when you study an area of interest. I have been studying music’s effect on brain function. I have looked up a lot of information about rap, hip hop, and rock music. I was surprised that rap normally had a negative effect while hip hop boosted people’s emotions.

“What does this have to do with this blog?” you ask? I listen to a lot of gospel rap and hip hop music with a pinch of other kinds of music thrown in. I love the type of music I listen to because I find that it speaks the truth. I was confused why rap was shown in such a negative connotation. I wondered about this for a while. I am very picky about the music I listen to. It could be the normal lyrics in rap songs. If that was the case, then I would need to be careful about what I listened to. It may seem like a good song and you may disregard the lyrics but they can sneak into your subconscious and later into your conscious thought. God wants you to be able to praise him though, in what way. A lot of people use praise music, prayer, and reading the Bible. Often, praise music seems to get it’s own category of music. I find that that should not be the case. We can use any worship song we want to praise God if we can find a positive connotation in it.

I recently found a group called “Bars and Melody.” At the time of this blog writing, there should be some other blogs with songs of theirs. One member is a singer and the other is a rapper. I love their songs because while not necessarily being praise music, it is easy for me to think of it that way because of their positive message. I love to listen to their songs (and accidentally play the air piano for them too) and think of how I could use it in a dance or blog post. You can use any genre of music for praise. You can find a positive meaning to the words and reflect it back to God! You can do it alone or with those who enjoy your taste of music!

Psalm 95:1- “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” — Let us sing and praise him, for he is our God.

“Unite” by Bars and Melody

Sharing Hope for the Next Generation,

Bryce