"Now y'all be messin' up my name/It's not '52'/It don't stand for 'King James'." On his third full-length, Godorific rapper
KJ-52 wants everyone to know where he comes from, and who it's all for. The 'K' stands for 'knowledge', and the 'J' 'justification' (like Romans 10:9, yo!), while '5' is the loaves and '2' is the fishes. Looks like there are even some haters in the Christian rap game. But
KJ can't stay mad at anyone -- Christian, secular, or otherwise. "Whoop Whoop" rocks a stuttering PG-rated Dirty South rhythm under raps about bustin' mad prayers all night, while "Rock On" (featuring
Pillar's
Rob Beckley) turns up the amps and demands to see heads-a-noddin' on the dancefloor. There's even a
Rob Base sample buried in there. As he did with 2002's
Collaborations, producer
Todd Collins quite effectively redirects the infectious energy of mainstream hip-hop to help his man,
KJ, incite some faith-based booty shaking. And
52 himself finds new ways to blend positivity with pop culture -- "47 Pop Stars" shouts out to a heavenly host of rockers and rappers while trying to explain why the big J.C. is the master. Over the course of the record, he makes references to SpongeBob SquarePants and
A Tribe Called Quest, but at the same time, "I Feel So Good" and "Pick Yourself Up" are straight-up devotions.
KJ-52 disciples will likely love this, since it's a repeat performance of
Collaborations.
It's Pronounced Five Two will also be a solid introduction for anyone wondering about the MC's Christian spin on the rap game style. But
KJ-52 still seems dogged by that very distinction. In "Dear Stan," his open letter to
Eminem,
KJ makes no bones about his being mistaken for
Marshall. (Indeed, their flow is often startlingly similar.) But with
It's Pronounced's "Dear Slim, Pt. 2," his pleas for
Em to turn toward God -- mixed with
KJ's own desire for success -- start to sound hackneyed. It's been two years, and he's still wondering whether
Slim even heard his song.
KJ-52's concern for
Eminem's soul, and the questionable influence of mainstream hip-hop is admirable. But he seems much more comfortable when he uses its framework to further his own aims and fire up his own fans, instead of trying to change the larger rap game's wicked ways one or two songs at a time. Obviously, preaching is part of Christianity's mission statement. But so is leading -- and rapping -- by example. ~ Johnny Loftus