Gifted Da Flamethrowa

Street Symphony
Much Luvv Records

If the various subgenres of hip-hop have been the last to achieve full acceptance into contemporary Christian music, so, too, have its Christian practitioners struggled — more than Christian punk rockers, even more than Christian metal bands — for secular legitimacy.

The result, thanks in large part to the laptop ease with which these once-suspect beats can be made to sound so professional, has been an almost entirely insulated Christian rap community in which genuine artists like Gifted Da Flamethrowa are making genuine art.

Gifted’s 16-song “Street Symphony” is competitive, innovative and indistinguishable from the best secular hip-hop/crunk can offer. Recommended.