The Hip-Hop Church

Kurtis Blow is rapping for Jesus:

A pioneering rap star is taking hip-hop from the projects to the pulpit.

Kurtis Blow is one of the founders of “The Hip-Hop Church” at two Harlem parishes, which features rousing services fueled by gospel-inspired rap tunes.

“The kids need to learn about God, but even the ones who already know God don’t like the church, because church is boring,” Blow told The Post.

“What we do isn’t boring — it’s energetic, it’s uplifting, it’s spiritual — and the kids can relate to it. We speak the word of God in a language they can understand — rap.”

. . .

Below the altar, Blow mans a DJ booth, rapping and scratching along to artists including 3 Shades of Faith Introducing Prophecy; The Hip-Hop Church Band; guest rappers and break dancers.

In between the beat-driven numbers, the Revs. Stephen Pogue and Darren Ferguson lead the congregation in prayer and deliver inspiring sermons. This February, Blow, 45, will begin studying at the New York School of Ministry to become a full-fledged man of the cloth.

You may be aware that MC Hammer is already an ordained minister; Blow notes the rap-religion symbiosis:

“The younger people really love it because it’s rap, but the adults also like it because there’s a lot of ‘old school’ which they grew up with. The fact is that hip-hop can save the church and the church can save hip-hop,” he said. [emphasis added]

The Blow services are held Fridays at the Abyssinian Baptist Church on West 138th Street and Greater Hood Memorial AME Zion Church on West 146th Street. Other services are offered at the Trinity Episcopal Church of Morrisania in the South Bronx.

The Village Voice “Best of New York”

As a rule, I don’t read the Voice. I do glance through the compilation of random inside jokes they publish annually, aka the “Best of New York.” This year, one entry made me wince.

I had the misfortune of passing “Carl” daily at my last place of employ, and had to witness both his ranting and the pathetic losers who would nod in agreement. Some of his pearls of wisdom:

• “When a man has sex with a woman, it is rape.”
• “Women are only made to serve man. Man must enforce the law.”
• “Britney Spears works for Lucifer. We can see this in her navel.”

Ok, so that last one is funny. But really, can’t we celebrate the goofy mute magician that lugs around a dove and a rabbit on the train? Perhaps a kind word for Chuckles, the squeaking clown whose outfit always involves a matching pair of sunglasses? I guess nice guys always finish last…

Ed Begley, Jr.?

Proving that New York is all things to all people, The Villager reports that Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists gathered just miles from Ground Zero last week to discuss unmanned drones and CIA plots:

Actor Ed Begley, Jr., hosted a succession of speakers and panels of little-known authors, reporters and documentary filmmakers who treated the capacity crowd to five hours of juicy details. Attendees bought self-published tomes, commemorative T-shirts and documentary DVDs that promised to once and for all indict, convict and hang a White House administration they say stole the presidency, laid demolition charges in the trade towers and launched an unmanned drone aircraft at the Pentagon.

The quirkier attendees bandied their laser beam theories amid serious discussions of puffs of smoke seen emanating from small explosion points or “squibs” on the towers as evidence of controlled demolition; video clips of New York firefighters describing successive explosions they heard in the buildings’ cores that preceded the pancake collapse; an interview with W.T.C. leaseholder Larry Silverstein interpreted as an admission that he authorized the demolition of W.T.C. 7 and enough slow-motion footage of unidentified explosions just before the planes hit the towers to numb the Warren Commission.

But more importantly, who knew Ed Begley, Jr. (St. Elsewhere, Six Feet Under, among other things) was part of the tinfoil-hat brigade?