...or so says Marc Lamont Hill in his latest article, which i'm sure will cause quite a stir in some circles. seeing as how i'm a born-again Christian that knows what it means to grow up as a post-Civil Rights generation child with hip-hop as a part of my daily soundtrack, this was for a very intriguing read for me. i can definitely see some of brother Hill's points. the pastor of my own church has been rather aggravated at a lot of the "prosperity preaching" that is currently pimped from pulpits nationwide, which i believe is largely the target of Hill's diatribe. he mentions Creflo Dollar, a popular TV evangelist, and my wife and i have our own issues with him. i can't blame this brother for wanting to protect generation hip-hop, seeing as how it's an easy target for so many groups to take potshots at. quite often, it's a chance for some to talk about the sins of the flesh so that you don't have to talk about the sins of the spirit that are eating away at you.

at the end of the day, one would hope that a believer would ask themselves: is a preacher saying "name it and claim it" or Creflo's trademark "MONEYYYYYYY COMIN'...TA ME....NOW!!!" really all that different from 50 Cent saying "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'"? quite honestly, if your message comes down to the paper chase (be it a 'hood tale or a holy sermon), not really...