A religious hustle: T.I. and Jay-Z's lyrical narratives from "the Trap" to the spiritual

Abstract

The coexistence of the religious (or "holy") and the secular (the "profane") has been identified and celebrated in the context of hip hop and rap music; references to prayer and spirituality are present, while the "hustler" and "gangster" stereotype is simultaneously referenced and played out in this popular genre. This paper considers T.I. and Jay-Z as two different manifestations of the holy and profane in rap music. While both rappers identify with the concept of divinity in their work, their approach to the coexistence of the holy and profane is different. T.I. promotes worship of a Christian God, while Jay-Z wants to be worshipped as a human incarnation of the holy in rap. This analysis offers the first scholarly analysis of T.I.'s contribution to rap and religion, and suggests that Jay-Z's self-appointment as the "God" of rap is an alternative construct of the traditional holy and profane identification in rap music.