Every now and then I go back and listen to albums and songs that really moved me artistically and spiritually when I heard them. One of those albums is The Solus Christus Project by Shai Linne. It is one of my favorite hip hop albums- period. The production is unique (though not commerical), the content is incredible, and Shai’s lyrical skill is on full display. This is one of those albums that makes rappers ask themselves, “Why am I still rapping again?”
I can’t quote the whole record in this post, but here’s one of my favorite verses from the album. It’s shai’s verse from “Mic Check 1,2″:
He gave His life as a ransom, I’m hype and I’m dancing
When reciting my anthems of Christ, the Righteous Lamb who lights my lantern
Who else but the Lord of the nations
Can hype a heathen drunkard to write without even one word of self-glorification?
My feeble words- inadequate indeed to describe the Immaculate Seed
Destined to do miraculous deeds
At the age of twelve, he had the old heads amazed at His insights
Obeyed His parents, even though He created their wind pipes
A true Anomaly- and who can ponder the
Servant fighting the serpent in the desert with verses from Deuteronomy
Satan threw every obstacle at Him, but couldn’t fathom
The brilliant stratagems of the eschatological Adam
The uniqueness of His meekness is too deep to speak
And if you think meekness is weak just try being meek for a week
Perfect humanity- yet bubbling with divinity
Fulfilling the eternal covenant within the Trinity
Excruciating suffering, infinite agony
Divine abandonment for the Inventor of gravity
No sin in His Majesty, He was a substitute
The fruit of His love was enough to scoop sin up from the root
The third day rose victorious- meaning history is
A play that God’s directing to make Jesus look glorious
We spit holy speech over beats to turn up the temperature
And no retreat though we seek the return of the Emperor!
That, my friends, is one of the greatest hip hop verses ever written. The rhyme schemes, the vocabulary, the clarity and depth of the content, the flow- all of it was crazy. Praise God for using my brother Shai. What are some of y’alls favorite albums and verses?
Lee
August 19, 2013 / at 7:27 am
To respond to your question Trip – this was the verse that compelled me check out Shai in the first place, off Flame’s Our World Redeemed, “2nd coming.” Amazing.
In the scriptures we find facts
Pictures of divine acts
Prophesied God provides wisdom the mind lacks
At History’s climax
More vivid than IMAX
The sky cracks with
Jesus on some, I’m back
Now, just try to visualize the most
Glorious site ever to hit physical eyes
Holy angels in Christ who gets minimalized
in splendor arrives and all the dead in Him will arise
Believers who are alive become a maturated Order
And caught up in the clouds like evaporated water
To Be captivated by the Master’s grace and aura
Before He Activates the slaughter
on the cats who hate the Torah
The File wildin’ out and doubt and wouldn’t call on Him
And now Crying out for the mountains to fall on ’em
The dead come Out the grave at the holy judge they look
They’re broken up and shook
while He opens up the books
All sins will be Weighed not ignored
And law breakers slayed (slain) by the sword
on the day of the Lord
While we gaze and admire His
Greatness, liars and fakes who hate Messiah expire in
The fiery lake
Made for Satan and his angels sent to deceive
Multitudes who refuse to repent and believe
The elect have no hell to fear
Cause we’re related to the judge
Like the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Another verse that hit me, Lecrae’s verse on “Beautiful Feet” off Rebel. It was amazing and really hit at the heart for me:
Eric used to go to bible study as a kid
He got older and started doing what the hood did
A rival gang caught him slippin tried to take his life
But the jammed up so them beat him nice
He woke up in the hospital singing bible songs
Praise God he had a place to learn the bible from
But then he gets saved and wanna preach Christ they make him change his whole culture and way of life
He gotta get him a bachelors wear a suit and tie
Go to seminary by then all of his boys will die
Jesus came to invade culture outta nazereth and used a couple fisherman who people saw as hazardous
The feet are beautiful if only they’d go
If ain’t nobody in hood preaching how will they know?
Eric is better used taught trues in his context
Somebody please plant a church in his projects.
The last one I can think of off top is Tedashii’s verse from Between Two World’s “Bear with you” (which I think is my favorite song on the whole album) –
Life done been crumby, since I been walkin a young’n
Call me different or funny, wish I could change it like money
Grew up off in the country, we’re lookin different n funny
Stupid head or just ugly, no matter what it kept comin
Askin’ my momma where daddy, he aint here to protect me
Teach me, raise me, or carry my load when it get heavy
So I did it on my own, fightn carryin on
It don’t matter what they told me dawg, I thought I was grown
People tell me that I’m trippin, n i tell them they wrong
All the while I’m actin out, blamin my daddy who gone
Fast forward by 10, when God saved me from sin
And He changed my heart from dark to light to show to all men
And I got the conviction, call him up and stop trippin
Thats when I found out he’s a Christian, who got saved in omission
Thats when it goes past religion, and then it makes an incision
Into your heart n then you start forgivin, man and start buildin!
Cheers to good music and hail to the King!
JulianH
October 31, 2013 / at 2:55 pm
I’m constantly amazed by the show Shai and others like yourself put on through your lyrics. I figure most Hip Hop isn’t that difficult because you have the freedom to create bars that really don’t have to relate to your previous bar. Just saying random things that rhyme, pretty much. But you guys have to pick a subject and make it rhyme while still having a clear message. I couldn’t measure the difficulty of that. And that Shai verse you posted, in light of that difficulty, is truly amazing.