Album Overview

Christian Hip-Hop is now Rated R! Big R dropped his new album Rated R with the motif that Christian music as a whole is restricted from the pop culture and the radio. Big R achieves this theme by placing the listener on the set of a movie scene to help relate to the idea of being rated R. Throughout the album you will hear a “movies director’s voice” shouting familiar terms like “action!” or “cut!”

Rated R has a good flow from track to track, for the most part. There are a couple of tracks that have interludes tacked on at the end of the songs that would have been better off as separate tracks. As for the beats on the album, there was only one that I didn’t really like. The rest of the beats were straight bangin’! Both the fast pace and slow pace beats are on point. Big R did a great job of picking a variety of sounds that are pleasing to the listener's ear. The beats do have a southern style to them, so if that’s what you’re looking for then look no more.

There are also a lot of catchy choruses on this album. After my first day listening to the album, I kept singing “Love You Better” and “Re Up;” and my brother was, “like what are you singing!?” Now, although the choruses are good, in a few of the songs it seems as if the bars in the lyrics have very little to do with what the chorus is talking about and vice versa; this didn’t happen in all of the songs though. It could just be me, but it's a little hard to stay focused on the subject of the song when the choruses don't relate. Rated R presents a good deal of topics, but there could have been a bit more expounding on some of them. Some songs were only two verses which made the album feel a little short. Lyrically, my favorite tracks on the album were “I tried,” “Love You Better,” and “On Fire.”

Spiritual Significance

Rated R is not a lyrically theological album, but the topics in the album are theologically sound. Big R’s purpose with the album was to give the listener a glimpse of his relationship with Jesus, which he did by rhyming about real life situations, out of which you can get biblical application. In “What’s it Gon’ Be”, Big R invites the listener to choose who they are going to serve and what they pursue: worldly things or the King of kings? Joshua 24:15 says, “...choose for yourselves today whom you will serve... as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

In “I Tried” Big R portrays the harmful effects of people that gossip and how it could hurt the person who trusted you with what they were telling you. Rumors and hearsay are tantalizing, exciting to hear, and make us feel like insiders, but they tear people down. If someone trusts and shares with us private information that they do not want to be passed on, then we must handle it with care. If we don’t initiate gossip, we are still responsible if we pass it on. Don’t circulate rumors, squelch them.

The song “Re Up” talks about being regenerated (Titus 3:5), reconciled (Colossians 1:20), and redeemed (Galatians 3:13) by the blood of the Lamb. Regeneration means spiritual renewal and it’s what God does at the moment of salvation when someone accepts Christ as Savior and Lord. Regeneration begins in the believer’s soul and extends to our actions and the way we treat others. It can be seen as the new life that Christ gives us (Romans 6:4). Our sin makes a huge gap between us and God, and Jesus is the bridge that closes the gap. He has brought us back to God, or reconciled us with God. Jesus cleared away the sin that keeps us from having a right relationship with our Creator. That doesn’t mean that everyone is saved, but the way has been cleared for those who will trust Christ to be saved. Jesus has redeemed those who trust in Him to be saved. He bought us with His life (1 Cor. 6:20).

Topics covered

• Christians being Restricted
• Gossip
• Standing Firm in the Faith
• Choosing Jesus over everything else
• Showing love towards others
• Being on Fire for Christ

Key tracks

What’s it Gon’ Be, I Tried, Where Would I Go, On Fire feat. ReadyWriter & Brinson