Stomp

For those of you that think that gospel music has gone too far
You think we’ve gotten too radical with our message
Well, I’ve got news for you, you ain’t heard nothing yet
And if you don’t know, now you know
Glory glory!!

 

  1. Stomp Kirk Franklin & The Family 5:05

Embed

Copy and paste this code to your site to embed.

 

And believe me, in 1997 there were plenty of people in the church and in traditional gospel music circles who believed that Kirk Franklin indeed had gone TOO FAR over the rap/hip hop line with his song “Stomp”.

He caused consternation for his use of electronics, funk beats, hip-hop production values, and extensive rap segments. Of course, controversy over form and content has raged in gospel music at least since the late ’20s, when barrel-house and blues pianist Georgia Tom (Thomas A. Dorsey, the Father of gospel music) parted ways with legendary guitarist Tampa Red to apply his talents to inspirational music. And don’t forget the stir that Little Richard and Rock ‘n Roll (again refered to as “The Devil’s Music”) caused in 1957 among (predominantly white) church folk…and then Elvis and his gyrating hips…SHOCKING!!!!

Whatever their complaints, gospel purists couldn’t criticize Franklin for lyrical waffling; never do his songs lose sight of their devotional message. He has, however, occasionally been rapped for being a less than pure singer and pianist. While he won’t remind anyone of R.H. Harris or Claude Jeter, he is a compelling enough performer that he can hold a young audience at rapt attention during his performances.

One thought on “Stomp”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.