Move over Toby Mac, there's a new Christian rapper at the top of the charts. Eminem, the guy who raps about killing his ex-wife and overdosing on painkillers, took the top spot on the Hot Christian Songs chart for his 'gospel' collaboration with Kanye West.
Believe it or not, this is the first time Eminem has been on the Christian songs chart in his entire thirty-year career.
The song is a remix of Kanye West's "Use This Gospel" from the album Jesus is King, which also hit the charts at number 1 in Christian music when it was released in 2019.
In the remix, Eminem says a lot of the right things:
"I'm holding on, but I don't know if I can take it much longer/Today's the day that I put all of my trust and faith in You, Father
"So my Savior I call on to rescue me from these depths of despairs/So these demons better step because He is my shepherd/I'm armed with Jesus, my weapon is prayer/Soon as I squeeze it, I'm blessed like sneezes
"Bible at my side like a rifle with a God-given gift/Every single day I thank God for/That's why I pay so much homage/Praises to Jesus, I'll always."
But there are also some things that seem a little off for a biblically based Christian faith:
"Please let this hate make me stronger 'fore they turn on me like a zombie/It's like I'm being strangled unconscious
"Call me Yeezus, I'm F'd in the head, maybe I'm bonkers/Regardless, never claimed to be flawless/Long as the mistakes I've acknowledged."
I mean Eminem has always prayed before performing at concerts, but then he goes out to perform some of the most profane songs out there.
So as the editor-in-chief of Rapzilla Justin Sarachik points out,
It was shocking to see Eminem on a gospel rap track and what was even more surprising is that he didn't say anything controversial or blasphemous. He just rapped about God.
It's easy for Christians desperate for a cultural win to get caught up in wishing celebrities like Eminem, Kanye West, Chris Pratt, etc. are legitimately following Christ, but in the end, Jesus is the only superstar that matters, and the eternal culture of the Kingdom of God is the only cultural win we need.
Let's keep praying for these people in the headlines and at the tops of the charts, but only in the sense that these famous men and women need Jesus as much as any of us.
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