Pekints – My Best Friend

Pekints

PM&M 2011
http://www.pekints.com/

Peter Kintum, aka Pekints, is an earnest, youthful-sounding Christian hip hop artist from Washington, DC. My Best Friend is his second and most recent CD.

Pekints’ work is best described as praise rap. The title track, for example, is an gushing ode to the Most High as the artist’s best friend. “You’re My Love” and “We Lift You High” are straightforward exclamations of praise and worship, but with a hip hop beat. On “God’s VIP,” Pekints considers himself (and every believer) a true VIP, a “child of the King.” “Ultimate High” declares the power of being in God’s unchanging hands to be greater than any drug or other artificial stimulant.

The album’s high point is “A Better Me,” a solemn promise of life improvement to his family: “no more messing around – no more hanging around.” Likening his behavior to that of the Prodigal Son, Pekints (or the character he portrays in “A Better Me”) even says he’ll go to rehab. Another strong track on the CD is “Move Your Body.”  It puts praise on the proverbial dance floor, during which Pekints directs listeners to move their bodies “for the Lord.”

At some points during My Best Friend, the blasts of beats threaten to overpower the rhymes, and Pekints’ rapping is superior to his singing ability. What one cannot dispute is Pekints’ sincerity, which is evident throughout the project.

Two of Five Stars

Pick: “A Better Me.”