This Rap Beef Could Help Us be Better at Biblical Interpretation
Unless you super true to this, rap will have you traversing the most remote parts of Youtube, Genius Lyrics, Netflix documentaries, and other media to understand what-in-the-Arby’s curly fries is going on.
This mode of exploration might come across as amateur to someone who’s been a rap head since its genesis or has at least listened to every important album that fills in the gaps of some of these seemingly obscure references found in these songs.
Kendrick finally released his response to Drake’s “Push Ups” (fair warning this is not a review of “Euphoria”) and came correct by coming direct (bars, lol). Some bars in Euphoria responded to “Push Ups”, but some spoke of Drake as the cornball many deem him to be. But others refer to experiences only rap fans or pop culture heads would know.
No one can discern how great a bar is without discerning the context to which it’s reacting. “It’s just Big Me” don’t hit as a punchline without the existence of “First Person Shooter.”
I view the work it takes to unpack everything going on in these few-minute exchanges over beats as reflective of the work it takes to decode and unearth the mysterious phrases and stories we find in the Bible.
For instance, one can read the story of King David and Mephibosheth (grandson of King Saul and son of Jonathan) in 2 Samuel 9 where David, even after experiencing close calls toward death because of Saul’s jealousy, showed hospitality and kindness toward disabled Mephibosheth.
On the surface, David’s loyalty (his hesed) looks like a great example of faithfulness to a commitment that no one could’ve blamed him for breaking. It also could be of his fondness for Jonathan, the one loyal to David though Jonathan’s father threatened David’s life at every turn. But an angle we don’t consider due to our illusions of competence, or a lack of desire to search deeper, is that David’s kindness could be a politically expedient act.
Now, some may allege there is no basis for such an interpretation. But, my hope is that we will recognize that the surrounding narratives and institutions revealed to us in the Bible are extremely layered. And the same tools required to correctly receive the layered message of a rap beef—frame of reference for the lyrics, songs, and people involved in the details of whatever person or group is being attacked—must be utilized in our interpretation of the Scriptures. We gotta do the work by examining the tools handed down to us by our predecessors of biblical studies, interpretation, and theology. Historical, literary, and geographical contexts are like the double- and triple-entendres we hear in rap bars.
There are more connections to be made that would compromise the brevity I desire for this post to have. But, essentially, there is great, bizarre fun in unearthing the hidden and obvious meanings of a rap beef. If you’re into that type of thing, the time that passes in your research feels like it flies. The joyful work of biblical interpretation is similarly available to you as well. A final, crucial element we’ll consider in this post is risk-taking in constructing a coherent understanding of a song or biblical text in tandem with the background work we’ve done.
All of us end up having to share our true, raw thoughts that proceed from but trespass the parameters of a song or a biblical text. There are motives and reasons not made explicit to us about which we are all speculating, however convincingly or creatively. Sometimes we may be embarrassingly wrong, and that’s ok. But other times, we may be on to something that could bring joy and surprising contemplative material to our own sensibilities and that of others.
Luh y’all big time,
Ru.