Contemporary Christian Music

Not meaning to throw stones at anyone but y'all know me by now... Some might say it's not for me to say as a black ex-worship leader in exclusive CCM circles. But in my humble opinion, CCM worship music is a curated white evangelical commodity that is unequipped to communicate the life, struggle and aesthetics of the authentic collective black experience. Now that being said, there are definitely black singers in CCM spaces that channel their African ancestors through their throat chakra, but for the most part, what I observe is a performative cultural dilution and assimilation of black creative vitality into a format that's more acceptable to white audiences and their pocket books. Now here is the catch..I'm not saying that black folks can't sing soft rock, folk, country. nope. I am a big Tracy Chapman fan, I listen to authentic black music across a spectrum of aesthetics, I write music that some black folks might think isn't black enough. But that's not what the CCM industry product is. My issue is with Black folks who are usually gospel styled singers but are gutting their sound and story to squeeze into the narrow band aesthetics of CCM for commercial viability and evangelical acceptance. But I'm just bitter they'll say...but I've been there, I've been that assimilator, and I'm done with that. But I said what I said anyway.

What do you think?

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