So I gave my sermon an urban kick
My rhymes are fly, my beats are sick
My crew is big and it keeps getting bigger
That's 'cause Jesus Christ is my nigga.
My rhymes are fly, my beats are sick
My crew is big and it keeps getting bigger
That's 'cause Jesus Christ is my nigga.
— Rappin' for Jesus
Where the hell do we start with this one...
With layabouts scourging Iowan streets,
The church decided to get down and onto the beats,
So the pastors said to the kids all bored,
Fancy a nice little rapping ditty for the Lord?
Brian Spinney made it for a high-school project,
In collab with his pastor, it was too new, too high-tech;
Go worship at the 2nd West Dubuque Church of Christ,
To learn all your stories and rites.
Rappin' for Jesus was a satirical attempt from a fictitious Iowan church's outreach team, created by Pastor Jim Colerick, to engage young people with religion by describing the life of Jesus through rap. Generally suspected to have been uploaded to YouTube as a hoax.
Tropes in Rappin' for Jesus
- Church of Saint Genericus: The 2nd West Dubuque Church of Christ.
- Jesus Was Way Cool: The song tries to discuss Jesus' miracles in a new way.
- N-Word Privileges: Subverted. Jim and Sue are white, but Jesus Christ is their nigga, obviously.
- Painful Rhyme: 'So I gave my sermon an urban kick / My rhymes are fly, my beats are sick.'
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: The whole point of this.
- White Anglo-Saxon Protestant: The mismatch between this and the subject matter provides much of the amusement.
