K.Love – Sugar Coated (2008)

K.Love
Sugar Coated
www.cdbaby.com/klove

Shekinah Glory Ministry stomps on the devil’s head. Holy hip hop artist K.Love goes one step further: he shoots the devil full of scripture and then uses his limp head for a footstool.

K.Love’s domination over demons is from the engaging track “War” from his solo debut CD, Sugar Coated. Cuts like “War” demonstrate how versatile mean street vernacular can be when used as a real life descriptor of the journey to redemption.

K.Love (aka Kendrick Lamont Love) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, joined the COGIC church, and now lives in Atlanta. He has been writing and producing for more than a decade and in 2007 was nominated for the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Academy. He defines Sugar Coated as “ripe-style,” or “a way of life…a continual process of growth that positions us in a place where God can use us no matter the time or circumstance.”

Sugar Coated, like other HHH projects, traverses thematic territory that the quartet community has occupied for decades. HHH artists, like quartet singers, prefer to present a downward-spiraling life of “dirt,” and how finding salvation in Christ is the key to living right. Saving today’s wayward youth is another favorite theme for quartet and HHH artists alike, and it certainly gets plenty of coverage on Sugar Coated.

Although “War” is a memorable track, “For U” is the album’s standout moment, with huge pocketfuls of urban cool to be found in its delivery and sampling. TBGB isn’t alone in thinking this: the track will be included on a 2009 Holy Hip Hop compilation CD.

You also won’t forget K.Love’s take on the congregational song, “This Little Light of Mine,” with its chorus sung by a voice that sounds like Macy Gray on helium. Puts a smile on my face every time!

HHH albums like Sugar Coated offer aural evidence that rap allows for more message to be packed per verse than just about any other inspirational format. And since in HHH it’s all about the lyrics, the message tends to get over better. In other words, by keeping the listener on his toes to follow the rhymes, the rapper assures that his message is heard loud and clear.

Granted, holy hip hop is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have an open mind to check out what today’s generation has to say, and how they say it, you just might find that you like what you hear. I certainly did with Sugar Coated. The talented K.Love evangelizes one rhyme at a time. And he’s pretty good at it, too, so watch out, devil, or risk becoming an ottoman.

Three and a Half of Four Stars