"Even though hip-hop has its roots in the rough inner-city, it has become the identity of many suburbanites of emerging generations. The urban mindset has spread well beyond the city limits. In fact, hip-hop achieved its dominance because of the economic force of suburban dollars. According to Forbes, “Hip-hop is no longer the music or culture of a particular ethnic group. Hip-hop has grown well beyond the urban market since the genre’s first hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ was released in 1979…Its customer base is the 45 million hip-hop consumer between the ages of 13-34, 80 percent of whom are white.”

Theses facts show that the culture in which we live has changed. Things were much different ten or fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, the church, by and large, hasn’t acknowledged this shift. Youth ministry hasn’t grasped it. Many large ministry organizations haven’t come to grips with it either. Publishers and ministry-resource companies busily produce material from a pre-urban mindset – material that doesn’t engage its audience like it could or should. The church, for the most part, still believes that anything urban-oriented is only for the inner-city or ethnic crowd. This couldn’t be farther from the truth." from Un.orthodox by Tommy Kyllonen (pg. 9-10)

Click on the link above to hear an interview with Tommy. Click here for more information about Un.orthodox.