When we see Jesus’ life in context, we can then begin to see some connections to Hip Hop culture. First, Jesus had baby-mamma. Jesus was born to a virgin—right? Well, in the Jewish context of His day and time, the word “virgin” could have meant either without having sex or a “a maiden; by implication an unmarried daughter”[1] This is a problem, not just for contemporary understandings of who Mary—the mother of Jesus—actually was, but also for Mary during that key moment in time.

Within that context, an unmarried woman with child could only mean one thing—someone’s been dippin’ in the field! Joseph was, in Hip Hop language, straight trippin’ with Mary when he heard that she was pregnant. I mean come on, Mary’s never been with Joseph sexually. They are supposedly engaged, but Mary is pregnant. What are people going to say? Moreover, how was Joseph to maintain his reputation in the community with a wife that was pregnant before they were married? That right there is enough to connect with the Hip Hop community. It took a prophetic dream to convince Joseph that Mary was “ok” to marry (Matthew 1: 18-25).

Second, Jesus did not have a good relationship with the police and officials of his day. [2]  In fact, the chief—King Herod—tried to have him killed. Jesus from the onset was controversy. A king? A king of the Jews? “Not in my ‘hood!” bellowed Herod. Jesus had to contend with haters even in His day. Jesus’ relationship with the police was not that good either. In Matthew 22: 15-22 we see the church pastors of the day, challenging Jesus on who to pay taxes to. The Pharisee’s wanted to set Him up to see if they could get Him to fall in order to arrest Him. Jesus, never being at a loss for words, calls them out and uses a word that carried much weight during his day: “hoop-ok-ree-tace'; from Greek 5271 (hupokrinomai); an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (figurative) a dissembler (“hypocrite”) :- hypocrite.”[3] While this word today is used openly, at this time, Jesus, was, in essence, saying a profane graphic word to make his point toward city officials. We do not typically want to identify with a Jesus that had a “foul mouth,” yet we find Jesus several times using profane language for his context (more on this in my new book The Soul Of Hip Hop: Rimbs, Timbs, & A Cultural Theology).

The image of the Black Jesus is a complex one. Not only does it speak to racial and ethnic constructs, but it also relates to the suffering, marginalization, and oppression people groups—particularly African Americans—have been through.. For many, it is simply a Jesus that they can relate to; someone that can identify with their needs. What rappers like Tupac, The Outlawz, and even DMX do essentially, is create a space for Hip Hoppers—and people alike—to access a Jesus which was once only accessible through structured church, pastors, priests, and or pious conduits that did not understand nor sympathize with a ‘hood perspective. The Black Jesus adds the “Z” at the end of the name to illustrate the difference and signify the change. This was not done in blasphemy nor disrespect for Christ. In fact, quite the opposite, the letter Z at the end of Jesus’ name was added to give a portrait of a Jesus that could sympathize and connect with a people that were downtrodden and broken. The Z represents a Jesus which was not only “Above” in theological requisitions, but also “Below” in reachable form. The Z gives new dimensions to the portrait of Christ and validates the struggles, life, narrative, and spirituality for many Hip Hoppers. The Jesuz of Hip Hop is a Jesus that:^[4]

• Opposes the dogmatic Christ of early creeds and is suspicious of interpretations of scripture that do not take context, history, and language into consideration.
• Creates a reconstruction of the life of Jesuz from the Gospels in the form of a story / narrative in which the community can both participate in and find their own story in.
• Uses sociology and psychology to write the biography of Jesuz wich illustrates the inner life and inner development of Jesuz to His full consciousness.
• Emphasizes the humanity of Christ and downplays the traditional view of His divinity; it also strongly criticizes the traditional forms of interpretations of Christ’s morality and ethics.
• Opts for “low Christology” (that is, a Christ who walked among the people and lived with them rather than being “on high” and out of touch with the people) rather than the high view of Jesus and classical orthodoxy that saw Jesus solely as a divine figure.
• Accentuates the gospel of Mark and John as more valid, historical, and relative to the struggles of Hip Hoppers. More importantly the theoretical “Q” source is regarded as more reliable.^[5]

For many years, Hip Hoppers, Blacks, and urbanites in general, have had to deal with the image of a White, blonde, blue-eyed Jesus that was shaped in an image that was foreign to them. James Cone (1975 and 1997) argued that there needed to be an image of a Black Jesus: one that Blacks in America could relate to, one that was socially aware of the struggle that Blacks had to go through, and one that would have compassion on them because of their hardships (Cone 1975: 99-105).

The image of the Black Jesus was one that could connect with the downtrodden. This image carried a messianic message of hope, vision, blessings, and cares for the downtrodden, and hurt that dwell in the inner cities of The United States. Hip Hoppers like KRS-One become the “irreverent” natural theologian that gives voice to a suffering community (Dyson 2001).

So, within this post-soul/ post-modern, micro-narrative ethos we live in, it should come as no surprise that we see new images of Jesus arising. My challenge to you is, how is this different than, say, what Luther was doing in his work? How is it different from theologians like James Cone who have been stereotyped into promoting “irreverent theology?” The image of Jesus is changing; I hope that we can continue to deconstruct the emerging images of Him and challenge ourselves to grow a faith and spirituality which enlightens our minds to a new plane of thinking.