Faith Walka
DMG/Universal Christian Music Group (release date: June 18, 2013)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
Memphian Mr. Del, born Delmar Lawrence, is a former member of the Three 6 Mafia, the first African American rap group to win an Oscar for Best Original Song (“It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the film Hustle and Flow).  Eschewing hard core rap for Christian rap, Mr. Del has since released several solo albums.  Faith Walka, due out June 18, is his fourth. 
Repping Christ as a street corner evangelist of the twenty-first century, Mr. Del spits measured rhymes, his voice as gruff and gritty as the streets he is trying to save.  Faith Walka features a greater variety of beats and musical canvasses than 2009’s minimalist THRILLA, making this project more accessible to a Christian hip hop community raised on Canton Jones and Lecrae.
Speaking of Canton Jones, he joins Mr. Delon Faith Walka’s “Forgot to Forgive,” the album’s standout selection.  The piece is about forgiving one’s parents for the mistakes they made that pass from generation to generation.  “You become what you hate/Ain’t that kind of strange,” Mr. Del raps.  It evokes the equally soul-baring “Don’t Do It” from THRILLA.
Mr. Del covers or samples three 1980s pop songs on Faith Walka.  “Die 4 U” riffs on Prince’s hit, with rhymes about Jesus’ death on the cross as offering salvation from a life of sin.  “Losing My Religion,” with an edgy vocal cameo by T.A. (Tasha Andrews) uses the familiar melody of the REM hit to comment on how the world and its enticements and frustrations can challenge the saved.  “Sunglasses,” featuring Rod G. Newman, retreads Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” to demonstrate that Christians can be cool and at the same time “watch the enemies in the skies” and “keep track of the demons in my eyes.”
“Da Money” is a diatribe about those who take advantage of God’s people for the love of money.  He singles out those in gangsta rap for the money.  “The music/is so sick/They use us/to kill us.”
Faith Walka finds Mr. Del taking a step further into the Christian hip hop mainstream.
Three of Five Stars
Picks: “Forget to Forgive.”

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Written by : Bob Marovich

Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.

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