Some Christian Hip Hop: "When the Rains Fall"

Here's some music I created and wrote lyrics to over the weekend (it is nice to be able to work on some music again!!!). The title of the song is "When the Rains Fall" and features JJWeekz on the hook. Check it out and when you're done, head over to InscriptedProject.com to hear more and pick up some of my previous work

An Open Letter to the Church: A Modern-Day Epistle

Here's a an open letter, or better yet, an "open rhyme" I wrote yesterday (also made the beat) to the church, which is titled "A Modern-Day Epistle." Check it out & share the link.

Tupac On Homelessness

I caught this in a documentary I was watching tonight on Tupac. He was only 17 when he said this but as was often the case, his words were insightful and had a prophetic ring of social justice to them. Check it out!

The Advent King: A Christmas Rap

Yesterday at church, someone asked me if I'd lead our class in some Christmas carols in the coming weeks. So, today, I practiced a little by breaking out my guitar (and voice) for the first time in months (years actually). After singing a few Christmas carols, I got in a musical mood; I got an itch to write a song. So, I whipped up a hip hop beat, wrote out some lyrics, put them together and below is the recorded, finished product. It is an Advent rap, which of course, is meant to kick off the Advent season. If you're feeling generous this holiday season, you can pick up the app format by scanning the QR Code just to the left or by clicking HERE for the Android Market. Click HERE for my other Android apps.  Feel free to share it (but do not modify it without my consent). Check it out below. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Like Christian Rap? Check Out The Inscripted Project

That's right, if you get a minute, head on over to InscriptedProject.com and check out the music, blog, interviews, free beats & loops, etc. The Inscripted Project, fronted by Christian rapper HALC (that is, me, Michael Halcomb), has, in just one month, become quite popular on site such as ReverbNation, SoundClick, Youtube, Facebook, etc. So, head on over, take a look around and spread the word.

SBL Annual Meeting Paper Accepted

So, I just did a whirlwind tour to Cleveland and back today for a regional SBL meeting, leaving at 5am, presenting at 1:30pm and 3pm, and then, driving all the way back and getting home around 10pm. Long day for SBL stuff to say the least!!! However, I just checked my email and got some more good, SBL news, here's what one email said: "Dear Michael, Congratulations, your paper, 'Decoded: Exploring Rap's Use of Biblical-Apocalyptic Rhetoric,' was accepted for the 2011 Annual Meeting program unity Bible and American Popular Culture." So, in addition to creating and hosting the session titled "Tipping Points" that has a list of stellar scholars, I now have confirmation that I'll be presenting some of my research. I'm super excited because this paper is a bit different from the types of things I usually do; I think it's going to be quite fun!!!

Jay-Z On God

I've been reading through Jay-Z's (Shawn Carter) recently released book titled Decoded, which I've quite enjoyed. Here's an excerpt from one of the sections of the book. While I do disagree with his conclusions, I think it is beneficial for many Christians, especially those who ignorantly and angrily bash him (see Youtube, here's an example of folks doing this on my page), to see. They seriously need to chill out. Anyway, here's what he says:

"My grandfather was a pastor—an Elder, they called them—in the Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal denomination. He had the same name as my father, Abnis Reid, so they called my father AJ, for Abnis Junior. My grandmother Ruby was a deaconess in the same church. My father came from a strict, religious household, but sanctified churches are rooted in African traditions, so music, especially drumming—even if it’s only drumming by clapping your hands together—played a big part of the service. Worship is never a quiet thing in the Church of God in Christ congregation, people passing out, speaking in tongues, or tarrying for hours until they become possessed with the Holy Ghost and the church mothers, dressed in nurse’s uniforms, come and revive them.

My father’s parents were strict. Secular music like the Motown sound was forbidden in AJ’s house, but he snuck and listened anyway. The whole family had to be in church all the time, like four, five days a week. His three sisters couldn’t wear makeup or pants, and his two brothers spent most of the week in church, too. Church wasn’t a major part of my life growing up, as it had been for my father—soul in our house usually referred to the music. But when you grow up in a place like Bed-Stuy, church is everywhere. So is mosque. So are a thousand other ways of believing. Street corners were where all these different beliefs met—Pentecostals arguing scripture with Jehovah’s Witnesses, clean-cut brothers in bow ties and dark suits brushing past cats wearing fezzes and long beards, someone with a bullhorn or a mic and an amplifier booming out a sermon. We were all just living life, trying to get through, survive, thrive, whatever, but in the back of our minds, there was always a larger plan that we tried to make sense of. I was always fascinated by religion and curious about people’s different ideas. And like everyone, I’ve always wanted answers to the basic questions. Still, by the time I reached my teens, the only time I’d be anywhere near a church was when someone I knew died, and even then I wouldn’t necessarily go in.

But I wasn’t looking for church, anyway; I was looking for an explanation.

I think for some people life is always like those street corners in Brooklyn, with everyone arguing for the superiority of their own beliefs. I believe that religion is the thing that separates and controls people. I don’t believe in the fire-and-brimstone shit, the idea that God will punish people for eternity in a burning hell. I believe in one God. That’s the thing that makes the most sense to me. There’s wisdom in all kinds of religious traditions—I’ll take from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, whatever. The parts that make the most sense feel like they’re coming from the same voice, the same God. Most of all, I don’t think what I believe should matter to anyone else; I’m not trying to stop anyone from believing whatever they want. I believe in God, and that’s really enough for me.

I don’t spend a lot of time on records talking about spiritual ideas in an explicit way, although I think a lot of my music sneaks in those big questions—of good and evil, fate and destiny, suffering and inequality. I think about life mostly in pragmatic terms: I think about behavior andintention in the here and now. But I also think about Karma. It’s a complicated idea that I’ve tried to make sense of. At the heart of a lot of these competing ideas of the afterlife and heaven and hell and thug angels and all that is the idea that if the universe is just, things have to even out eventually, somehow. And sometimes that’s a scary thought. I’ve done things I know are wrong. There are times when I feel like I’ve suffered for those things, that I’ve paid back for my mistakes in spades. But then there are times when I look around me, at the life I have today, and think I’m getting away with murder. It’s something a lot of us who come from hard places go through, and maybe we feel a certain amount of survivor’s guilt for it. I never imagined I’d be where I am today. There’s a line in Fade to Black, the concert film we did for The Black Album, where I say, “I sometimes step back and see myself from the outside and say, who is that guy?” Over time I’ve worked to get more clarity about my past and present and to unify my outside shell and soul, but it’s ongoing. Inside, there’s still part of me that expects to wake up tomorrow in my bedroom in apartment 5C in Marcy, slide on my gear, run down the pissy stairway, and hit the block, one eye over my shoulder."

Here Comes January: A Spoken Word Reflecting On 2010

Here's a Spoken Word I just wrote titled "Here Comes January". It is a both a reflection on the events of 2010 (for a list see HERE) and a lookin' forward to those of 2011. Enjoy!

The Advent Rap

Here's a fun little project I spent a couple hours writing and recording tonight. Ahhh, it's refreshing writing something like this, which is a bit of a step away from the typical scholarly research papers I do. Anyway, give it a listen and let me know what you think.

If you liked this, you might also like my Advent: A Spoken Word Poem

"Jesus Can't Save You Life Starts When The Church Ends" - JayZ

In this screencast, I offer a rebuttal to all the Christians who went on YouTube, all bent out of shape over JayZ's lyric "Jesus Can't Save You Life Starts Where the Church Ends" in his song "Empire State of Mind". Not only can many Christians not read their Bibles correctly, they cannot even interpret poetry and rap correctly. It's a sad fact but Christians REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY need to learn how to interpret things better! Now, I'm no apologist for JayZ or anything but when I saw what people were saying on YouTube, I thought I should add an interpretive corrective. Here's the Screencast:

Baby Got Book!!!

You've got to watch this video!!! It's pretty funny. I don't know if the dude's being sarcastic, using light-weight humor, or what but either way, it's still pretty good. I love the phrase, "And if you're Catholic, there's even more..." I just realized that I saw this guy preach a few years back; he's got a sense of humor. Anyway, for all of us Bible junkies, this is good stuff. Enjoy!

"Praise Adonai": The Musical Michael Halcomb, Pt. 5

Here's a song that a friend and I (Chris Deering) recorded back in college. We borrowed Paul Baloche's "Praise Adonai" chorus, Nas's "If I Ruled the World" beat and added to those, our own lyrics. We had a lot of fun doing this; we actually performed it for over 700 people once. Good times! Give it a listen. "Praise Adonai"

Halcomb On The Mic: The Musical Michael Halcomb, Pt. 3

Last night I had an urge to write and the rap song below is the result. I must admit, I haven't rapped in years, so, this was kind of like walking around in a dark room trying to find a light switch. That said, I don't think it's too bad. Norrelli, if you listen to it, take it easy on me. You too Bryan. Needless to say, I had fun with it and it was good to reflect a bit. I love exploring this realm of music, which is quite different than writing a song to sing with the guitar. Anyway, I didn't take the time to make sure things sounded great but oh well--the whole thing was spur-of-the-moment. If you have a couple of minutes, give it a listen. Enjoy!

Fifty Stories: You've Got To Hear This!

Rap music shouldn’t be confined to expletives and shallowness. Today, too many rappers (I hesitate to call them rap “artists” because they no more make art than the Clinton’s make good leaders) are stuck. They’re stuck on money, drugs, sex, rims and jewelry; they’re stuck in a dream whose reality is but a blistering nightmare. Yet, with his self-titled album, Fifty Stories has brought salvation to the rap scene.

Based out of Cincinnati, Fifty Stories (a.k.a. Chris Deering) has birthed a record that is both lyrically and instrumentally wise. Years in the making, this collection of songs leads us out of superficiality and delivers us from monotony. On the real—this record’s got substance!

Whereas most rap albums are one-dimensional, listening to this record is like putting on 3D glasses. Fifty Stories—a tag descriptive of a fella who is prone to sharing the narratives of his life—leads his listeners through city streets, college campuses, family rooms and sacred spaces and he does this, all while making them nod their heads. Indeed, in the truest sense of the term, Fifty Stories is a rap “artist” whose debut release is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Though a variety of themes drive the c.d. one recurrent and recognizable element is that of faith. While he is not a confessed “Christian rapper” (perhaps because he is neither hokey nor Bible Thumping), Fifty Stories is a certainly a man whose lyrics and life are Christ-shaped. From where I stand, there isn’t even a Christian rapper who has ever produced something of this quality.

Clocking in at just under an hour, the c.d. contains 11 tracks. The album starts out with “Some Call It Cincinnati,” a song that asks listeners to pause, take note of what’s going on around them and to learn from it. Touching on issues such as greed, sin and ethnic reconciliation, this track leads smoothly into its follow “Wake Up.” One of the most sophisticated titles on the disc, this track’s chorus says that it’s time to “Wake up” and “Take off the mask and the makeup”.

The third offering on this album actually debuts Fifty’s wife. In addition to her melodic voice, the two rhyme about faithfulness, social justice and unity. Track four has a dope 70’s feel to it and is a song Fifty dedicates to his girl. The follow offers a twist on Psalm 14 and is by far, one of the catchiest on the record. It is songs number six and seven, though, that have the potential to make this record soar! Number six, “Back When We Were Young” has an unforgettable hook and brings about nostalgia in those who hear it. Seven, “Exit Wounds” is the record’s hit. Reflecting on his childhood struggles through the adoption process, his teenage years as the beginning of a spiritual journey and his adult years in the city, this song will make listeners hit the “repeat” button.

Track eight, “Yeah,” a song about the first becoming last, has a southern feel to it. This song actually leads into three acoustic renditions of earlier tracks. Some might see this as a risk but in my opinion, these adaptations showcase Fifty Stories’ talent and musical genius. One is reminded by these three tracks of Lauryn Hill’s passion-filled acoustic album—certainly, nothing less could be said of these! This is the kind of album that anyone embarking on a spiritual search or needing some direction in life, must listen to.

Click the following link to hear some samples: Fifty Stories Samples

Also, click the following link to purchase the album or individual songs: Fifty Stories.