BIBFRAME Work

Title

Holy hip hop in the City of Angels

Type

• Text
• Monograph

Contribution

• Zanfagna, Christina, 1980- (author)

Subject

• Rap (Music)--California--Los Angeles--History and criticism (LCSH)
• Rap (Music)--Religious aspects--Christianity (LCSH)

Language

• eng

Illustrative Content

• illustrations

Classification

• LCC: ML3921.8.R36 (Assigner: dlc) (Status: uba)
• DDC: 306.4/842490979494 (Assigner: dlc)

Content

• text

Note

"In the 1990s, Los Angeles was home to numerous radical social and environmental eruptions. In the face of several major earthquakes and floods, riots and economic insecurity, police brutality and mass incarceration, some young black Angelenos turned to holy hip hop--a movement merging Christianity and hip hop culture--to 'save' themselves and the city. Converting street corners to airborne churches and gangsta rap beats into anthems of praise, holy hip hoppers used gospel rap to navigate complicated social and spiritual realities and to transform the Southland's fractured terrains into musical Zions. Armed with beats, rhymes, and Bibles, they journeyed through black Lutheran congregations, prison ministries, African churches, reggae dancehalls, hip hop clubs, Nation of Islam meetings, and Black Lives Matter marches. Zanfagna's fascinating ethnography provides a contemporary and unique view of black LA, offering a much-needed perspective on how music and religion intertwine in people's everyday experiences."--Provided by publisher.

Supplementary content

• bibliography
• index

Summary

"In the 1990s, Los Angeles was home to numerous radical social and environmental eruptions. In the face of several major earthquakes and floods, riots and economic insecurity, police brutality and mass incarceration, some young black Angelenos turned to holy hip hop--a movement merging Christianity and hip hop culture--to 'save' themselves and the city. Converting street corners to airborne churches and gangsta rap beats into anthems of praise, holy hip hoppers used gospel rap to navigate complicated social and spiritual realities and to transform the Southland's fractured terrains into musical Zions. Armed with beats, rhymes, and Bibles, they journeyed through black Lutheran congregations, prison ministries, African churches, reggae dancehalls, hip hop clubs, Nation of Islam meetings, and Black Lives Matter marches. Zanfagna's fascinating ethnography provides a contemporary and unique view of black LA, offering a much-needed perspective on how music and religion intertwine in people's everyday experiences."--Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Earthquake music and the politics of conversion -- "Now I bang for Christ": rites/rights of passage -- Hip hop church L.A.: shifting grounds in Inglewood -- Beyond Babylon: geographies of conversion -- The evangelical hustle: selling music, saving souls -- Roads to Zion: hip hop's search for the city yet to come -- Epilogue: Aftershocks.

Authorized Access Point

Zanfagna, Christina, 1980-. Holy hip hop in the City of Angels

Geographic Coverage

• California

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-30T17:46:02.907297+00:00
• Agent: cbc
• Status: c
• Derived from: 21652567

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-30
• Cataloger id: Unknown
• Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
• Description language: eng
• Description authentication: pcc