Leaving the Church of Hov

By now, you've probably heard of the new Jay-Z song, "Death of Autotune," that dropped on New York's Hot 97 on Friday last week. Everyone had an opinion on this song, evidenced by the near monopoly of Twitter discussion on "DOA" that night. (At one point, half of the Top 10 hot topics on Twitter pertained to the new release from the Roc's finest.)

Before I get any further, I want to make two disclaimers: First, I happen to generally not be bothered by Auto-Tune. True, some use it better than others. Mark J's "Enmity" and Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak come to mind as great uses of the technology. (As much as I scratched my head at "808s" last year, I gotta give Mr. West props now. Yeah, I said it.) And you can't deny Cher's "Believe," the godmother of the sound. But exaggerated use of Auto-Tune (it's supposed to be undetectable when used normally) is not worse than any other gimmick co-opted en masse by rappers and singers, like Snoop Dogg's "izzle" speech, which still pops up today.

Second, I've never been a hardcore Jay-Z fan or "stan." Until recently, my household was like the James Carville/Mary Matalin of hip-hop: My husband, a staunch Jay-Z supporter, vs. me, riding for Nas. (Proud to say my Mr. favors Mr. Jones now.)

With that said, I listened to the song, which was available just about everywhere instantaneously. And? Well, that was basically my reaction: And? As some Twitterers noted, the next song played on Hot 97 after Jay-Z's jazzy diatribe on Auto-Tune was... a song using Auto-Tune. Not really shaking up the world.

I'm interested to see if fans and MCs really heed this call to arms against the great vocal equalizer. Jay-Z has had a reputation for being an all-powerful force in the world of hip-hop for quite some time, even calling himself "Jay-Hova," a play on Jehovah.

I think more than Auto-Tune, or the criticism of it, what bothered me most about the whole event was how many of the man's fans have bought into the whole Hov thing. Jay-Z does have talent (though he's been pretty lazy the last few years, IMO), and he's proven himself to be a successful businessman (and business, man), but does that really warrant the amount of rapt attention he received? Much like Tedashii called out in several places on Identity Crisis, this obsessive focus is a form of idolatry.

Do we do this with Christian hip-hop artists? I saw a reminder from someone recently on Twitter (sorry, the name escapes me) encouraging us to avoid this level of artist worship in our own backyards. Unlike the worshippers at the Church of Hov, those of us who listen to CHH have to be careful not to worship at the Church of Lecrae, or the Church of Viktory, or anyone else. Yes, there are many, many dope Christ-centered artists, but the message in CHH, and what we can get out of it to move us ever closer to God, is what's important.

I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this, as Jay-Z does have an upcoming album to promote. If he must make pronouncements, let's hope he chooses other more relevant topics, like the aftereffects of the recession on his inner-city and suburban fans alike, or the violence in Darfur, a la Mark J.