Hendricks

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As I initially began reading Hendricks’ critique of contemporary gospel music, I found myself in agreement. I thought, yes, gospel music has transitioned and no longer is as strongly rooted in liberation, freedom, and justice. My thoughts immediately took me to the works of Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams whose gospel songs could be heard during primetime on hip hop radio stations. But then I asked myself, is this so bad and I continued to read further. Gospel “music today…is unmindful and uninvolved with the ongoing freedom struggle of Black people in America.” (page 556) When thinking about the shift in proponents of gospel music, one cannot omit the shift in collective consciousness of society. Collectively, many African-Americans no longer utter words of justice there words are filled with despair and desperation. There are many points presented by Hendricks to shed a negative light on the explosion of gospel music. His analysis of gospel music is not truly a fair depiction. He mentions the reason behind his essay was the article written about Kirk Franklin and stating t...

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