The Rap Game & The Preaching Game



Dirt Roads To Black Wealth
New Orleans Bureau - 03/05/2011



Recently I heard the theme song to the 70’s sitcom “Good Times” playing in the background as I pecked away on my laptop and it took me to a very uncomfortable place.



Scratchin’ and surviving - Good Times.

Hangin in a chow line - Good Times.

Ain’t we lucky we got ‘em - Good Times.


Like the characters portrayed in Good Times, many African Americans are still trying to get out of their own version of Cabrini Green.


The roads out for Black Men lately have been Sports, Rap Music, and Preaching the Prosperity Gospel to desperate believers.


If I were to ask you to name me one similarity between Bishop Paul Morton and Grammy Award Winning Artist Lil Wayne

you would probably struggle with the question, but there exists an alarming parallel.




An alarming similarity in that both men got extremely rich off a very poor city, New Orleans. Lil Wayne in his early days as a member of Cash Money Records became a superstar at a very young age,

and a major player on the New Orleans rap scene back in the late 90’s.


As an artist one could argue that Lil Wayne is under no moral responsibility to anyone other than his record label, Cash Money Records.



Having said that, how do you explain the wealth accumulated by Bishop Paul Morton from simply Preaching?

How do Pastors become so wealthy that they end up in gated communities and drive luxury cars that are worth more than the homes of their members?


The answers to these questions are embedded in the new game, “The Preaching Game.”



Like Rap Music, preaching also has the ability to make you very rich, possibly even richer than a rap star.


The pursuit of Gospel Cash may explain why more and more Black Men are becoming preachers, versus business owners or college graduates.



According to Ebony Magazine (Dec/ Jan 2011 edition Issue with Vanessa Williams on the cover, go to page 26),

the average salary for a Mega Church pastor is $147,000 - $3Million.



The reason the Preaching Game has become more appealing than the “Dope Game” or “Music Game” is perhaps because the money is automatic.




Whereas in the Rap Game you actually have to write, compose, and produce a hit CD, the Preaching Game only requires Malachi 3:10.

The automatic wealth that is generated from pulpits is hoarded by prosperity preachers who use the name of Jesus as a hedge-man to collect on their behalf.


This system of “Bring Ye All The Tithes” only results in the preacher getting richer and the congregational peasants remaining in their current condition.



I took a survey in my New Orleans neighborhood in order to gauge the ratio of Black Owned Business as compared to Black Churches, and the results were quite disturbing by any count.


In this one 9th Ward community (Where the levee’s broke) you will find 18 black congregations (and counting) and only 6 black owned business.

I placed emphasis on “and counting” because three more Church buildings are under construction.

I am more than sure you will find the same ratio in a hood near you (I invite you to take your own survey) but 18/6 is still an alarming number for me.



Why is it that my community is considered a financial risk for many nationwide franchises but still an area of opportunity for an up and coming preacher?

How is it that African Americans can exist at the bottom of all economic indicators, while at the same time producing some of the wealthiest pastors this country has ever seen?



With the lack of a positive impact on their immediate community, it is now safe to say that the last thing we need in the 9th Ward of New Orleans is another Black Owned Church!


Here is what we actually have an immediate need for:



African American Owned Business



African American Owned Accredited Private Schools



African American Owned Clinic’s & Hospitals



African American Owned Universities



African American Owned Community Based Development Charities



African American Owned Lobbyist Firms



African American Owned Economic Development Bureaus



African American Owned Rehabilitation & Restoration Charities



African American Owned Theatres / Schools for the Performing Arts




There has been so many African American Preachers that have gone from rags to riches as a result of recycling scriptures that it would be a waste of time to count them all.


The Black Church is in fact the new official way to make a “Come Up.”



“I am in Full-time Ministry” Really?

Fulltime Ministry means that you have in fact replaced a fulltime job with fulltime ministry responsibilities.


Fulltime ministry should mean that as a Pastor you’re out and about in the community ministering the Word of God, not just on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings.




Fulltime Ministry means that you’re at the elementary schools on Monday helping the students that have been unnecessarily tagged ADHD.

Fulltime Ministry means that you’re at the criminal courts on Wednesday trying to negotiate with Judges and probation officers on behalf of Black Men who are in need of a life coach.

Fulltime Ministry equates to finding the worst street corners in the hood and showing up there EVERY Thursday at 7pm with the goal of converting just one. Fulltime Ministry means that on Fridays you set up college tours for high school students within your congregation, and establish a Church sponsored fund to break the cycle of poverty though access to Secondary Education.



Fulltime Ministry means that you’re so visible outside of the Church that there is no need for “Handlers” or “Armor Bearers “ because the community that you live in “Mr. Pastor” is in fact your natural habitat.


This concept of “Fulltime Ministry has become one of the perks of this self-indulged position called Pastor and Co-Pastor.

No wonder so many are now trying to start a ministry. Working ONLY two days a week and making $547K is an awesome gig, if it wasn’t for the Jesus affiliation.




Exploitation is Exploitation no matter if it comes in the form of destructive rap lyrics, Rent-A-Center, Easy Cash Payday Loans or Pastors who preach that you should rejoice to see the so-called “Man of God” Blessed with material things.


I’m sorry, but I beg to differ! You should want to see the congregation Blessed before the Pastor buys his first Bentley.



Would Jesus ride through the hood in a $350,000 car?

Would Jesus buy a $7.5 million Luxury Jet?

Would Jesus move into a gated community 30 miles away from his congregation?

Would Jesus fly to New Zealand with a young impressionable man and sleep in the same bed, while leaving his wife home alone?



There’s no wonder so many of the flamboyant preachers resemble hood rap stars, it’s the same driving force behind both of them.



I got mine, now you get yours.

You didn’t give me this, God gave me this.

Who are you to judge me?

Get rich or die trying!



Our neighborhoods are infested with impotent churches that seem totally oblivious to the crumbling families around them.


It’s this sort of detachment from the people that led to the over throwing of the Egyptian President in a Glorious Revolution.



It will take the same type of revolution to rid our communities of these buildings that are perpetrating as Houses of God. If we stop supporting it, then it will implode.


As long as you keep sowing a seed in an attempt to impress your pastor,

then the current church is all we have to look forward to. Yes, it is time for a revolution, a revolution that will change “The Game” forever.


The Rap Game & The Preaching Two Ways To Get Hood Rich



btw:

not all pimps and prosperity preachers are black.

there are many white pimp preachers (word of faith peddlers) also