Standing In the Gap

Like his colleague in the faith, Bobby Bishop, Scoob Serious is very obviously a really good guy. A former gang leader, he was converted to Christianity while in prison, and is now devoted to spreading a positive religious message and trying to uplift the youth around him through hip-hop. The problem, though, is that uplifting spiritual messages don't necessarily come across very powerfully in the context of music that is designed to communicate a feeling of menace and icy intimidation. There is such a thing as effective Christian hip-hop, but effective Christian gangsta rap is a different proposition, and that's what Scoob Serious is trying to put across. He doesn't always fail, by any means — the pumping street groove of "Addicted" works very well, for example, but mainly because it looks back on a bad relationship. When he tries to sound hard on songs like "Keep Me from Drowning" and "Ride with Me," though, the disconnect between the hard minimalist beats, his tough-guy delivery, and the sweetly devout lyrics tends to undermine the music's power. Overall, this album is enjoyable enough but not really noteworthy.