Local rapper mixes religion and music in new album

Jonathan Brunache // Contributing writer

Hip-hop is a genre that proves flexible in drawing inspiration from other genres and styles of music. With so many variations within hip-hop and rap, such as Old School East Coasts Boom Bap vs West Coast bass funk hip-hop, Gangster Rap, Trap, Trip-Hop, spoken word, political, etc., some subgenres get more attention than others, and in hip-hop especially no other subgenre gets the least amount of attention than Christian rap. Local Miami rapper Lamont is within the minority of rappers that chooses to promote and inspire listeners by incorporating their religion into their music as he did with his new album, “Respect My Grind.”

The initial track, “Disclaimer,” helps set the tone for what “Respect My Grind” will be like as a listening experience. Lamont also shows some self-reflexivity about his own work in the first track telling the listener, “I’m a rapper not a pastor,” and that his style is “clean and mean” which is an appropriate brief description for Lamont’s style. The “clean” in Lamont’s music is in his refrain to curse in his songs compared to most known hip-hop artists, while the “mean” shows itself in his aggressive tone when rapping and through the instrumental productions.

Lamont’s rap persona shows most in “Lord Knows,” where he narrates a tragedy involving a mother losing her son, and while normally songs with the theme of loss involve instrumentation with a low tempo, “Lord Knows” had the production of what some would call a “banger.” It’s easy to see this track being inspired by something like “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West. The title track is another song with aggressive delivery and the kind of production one could imagine Big K.R.I.T. appearing on.


While Lamont recognizes struggles and makes it known to his listeners, he also celebrates life in the album’s third song, “Another Year,” and expresses his faith and belief in the afterlife towards the end of the song where he anticipates seeing those he knew again after death. In terms of content, there’s a different focus on each song even while they all have a similar bass heavy beat to them. Lamont is relatable, both as an artist and as a human being, and does not force his personal views on his listeners through music but is simply entertainment first. It’s this approach that helps make “Respect My Grind” an accessible project whether you’re into Christian hip-hop or not.

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