Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Zac DavisSeptember 08, 2017
(AP/America Media illustration)

Rap got religious last year. At least that’s what I wrote earlier this year for America. The truth is, while it may have gotten more explicit about religion in 2016, hip-hop has always had a deep religious undercurrent to its bars and beats.

This week we’re chatting with Alex Nava, the author of In Search of Soul: Hip-Hop, Literature, and Religion. We talk to Alex about religion’s influence on hip-hop and why people are surprised to find out about it. If you need any convincing before or after listening to us—go listen to Kendrick Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost.”

In Signs of the Times, we talk Pope Francis in Colombia, rapping nuns, beer-brewing monks and proposing in front of Pope Francis.

Links from the show:

Czech Catholic Church branches out into forestry
Beer-Brewing Monks Are Helping Rebuild Earthquake-Devastated Town In Italy
Rapping nun to perform for Pope Francis in Colombia
Man proposes to girlfriend in front of Pope Francis
In new book, Pope Francis says he consulted a psychoanalyst
Catholic Church leaders condemn Trump administration’s decision to end DACA

What’s on Tap?

Becherovka, a Czech digestivo (otherwise known as a classy version of Jagermeister).

More: Music
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia prays at the grave of a fallen Ukrainian soldier at a military cemetery near the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Sept. 6, 2024. (OSV News photo/Gina Christian)
Some voices advocate for immediate peace in Ukraine at any cost, but the world—and both political and religious leaders—must reject the illusion of a pacifism that ignores the harsh realities of evil and injustice.
Borys GudziakMarch 10, 2025
a wide shot of st peters square
Despite his confinement to his hospital room, where he is being treated for double pneumonia, Pope Francis delivered two important messages on Sunday.
Gerard O’ConnellMarch 09, 2025
pilgrims make their way toward st peters basilica under a cloudy sky
Pope Francis' continued "gradual, slight improvement" is a sign that he is responding to the therapy he is receiving at Rome's Gemelli hospital, his doctors said.
Gerard O’ConnellMarch 08, 2025
Pope Francis had “a restful night and woke up shortly after 8 a.m.,” the Vatican said on Friday morning, March 7. It was his 22nd night in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
Gerard O’ConnellMarch 07, 2025