> > I was happy when Christian hip-hop finally started to come of age, and we started to see serious lyrical talent from groups like Future Shock, LPG, SoulJourn, Peace 586, Grits, and others.
> > Consider strikingly literate flows like:
> >
> > The Sun laughed at ridiculous Icarus and his
> > Meticulous plans to land his
> > Manmade plane in the heavenly planes
> > This poor fella lacks more than just propellers
> > Feathers and sticks mixed with wax
> > Would begin his gravitational fall
> > This sums up all
> > Manmade attempts to reach the
> > Son-up to sundown
> > Don't let ill philosophies be your meltdown.
> >
> > Or plain old complex flows like:
> >
> > Polysyllabic linguistics
> > Playing havoc with the twisted logistics
> > Of false doctrine, listen what the D be droppin'
> > Poppin' another Christomatic lyrical cap
> > Piercing through tha pseudo-spiritual crap
> > Infecting rap, til it's about knowledge of self
> > Collecting wealth and emcee powerplays
> > Nowadays they dissin' Christians like we used to do commies
> > Hostile to the Gospel like gays in the Army
> > Consult your swami, your astrological calendar
> > But never listen to that Word that'll challenge ya
> > Like a scavenger, you gather and consume
> > Dead matter from the tomb
> > But I'd rather bloom with the Boom-bap
> > Skillz are the fulcrum in rap
> > To turn it back on its axis, the facts is ......
> >
> > No one in Christian rap, of course, is up to the stature of lyrical greats like Rakim, but at least there's plenty of material now that really impresses me.
> >
> > Iss "Place this in your rememberance / Ponder upon the yonder tense and its developments" achar
>
> hum. d'you know of anywhere online where i could hear clips of any of those groups, Iss? I must say that Christian hip-hop isn't a style i've gotten into much, but it sounds good...
>
> uni"more of a Smalltown Poets/Jars of Clay girl, m'self"peg

I couldn't find any soundclips for the names that Iss listed -- help us, Iss? -- but I did find some from people who'd listed those artists as their influences. You could try

Sphere of Hip Hop
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/49/sphere_of_hip_hop.html

Cypher Kings
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/60/cypher_kings.html

Tunnel Rats
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/70/tunnel_rats.html

Some of this stuff seems avante-garde even for Rap. Like, for example, there's a piece called "Liar, Lunatic, Lord or Legend?" with a traditional Jewish melody... played on a tuba(!)... with normal Rap vocals in the foreground?

I even found a category for "Christian Gangsta Rap" as typified by a group called G.O.G.z .