Praise Life Beyond (Compact Disc)

We Should Praise Him

Beyond

The Only One (Remix)

Here I AmTo Worship

Lift Him Up

Glory 2 U

Heart Of Worship

Great Jehovah

So Into You

Steppin' (In The New Year)

PRAISE & WORSHIP FOR THE HIP-HOP GENERATION

Since first exploding in the late ‘90s, modern worship has been able to morph into a variety of contours, which include your typical pop, rock and alternative offerings as well as less populist styles such as folk, techno, Celtic and Latin music.

All these years, however, there’s been a void for urban pop listeners, as the amount of worshipful options available to them totaled virtually zero. Matt Redman’s “Heart of Worship” done to a thick, sumptuous club beat? Heresy! Unlike Nitro Praise, however, the Praise Life team doesn’t simply take your favorite Sunday morning choruses and turn them into generic hip-hop jams. Produced almost single-handedly by newcomer Antonio Neal, the album is more a showcase of original expressions of worship with a strong rhythmic footing, complete with some of R&B’s most enduring clichés—a rap cameo here, a female vocal trio there, the requisite remix over there, plus the inevitable shout-out (to Jesus, of course).

In fact, true-to-form urban music is so scarce in Christian circles that none of these elements seem forced or groan-inducing to those who grew up listening to the genre. At times things will get overly indulgent and out of hand, particularly during the crunk, floor-blazing joints. But other than that, most everything remains compactly contained and under control.

You may or may not recognize any of the artists here—most of them are either up-and-comers or unsigned cats with great voices—but name recognition was never a component of worship music. This “invisibility” elevates the sole two covers in the set, the aforementioned “Heart of Worship” and the omnipresent “Here I Am to Worship,” both of which sound so fresh, distinct and creatively genuine, you’ll think they’re originals. Both are good barometers for the quality level of Praise Life, the first—and not last, we hope—praise and worship anthology for the hip-hop generation.

ANDREE FARIAS

Review Provided by CCMmagazine.com