Christianity: Details about 'John Reuben'
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home
|
John Reuben (full name John Reuben Zappin) has contributed to Christian and secular albums alike, and has been frequently releasing albums as of 2000, as has fellow Christian rap artist KJ-52 and the group Ill Harmonics. Much like KJ, as well as Pigeon John, Playdough and other names in the world of gospel rap, John Reuben uses a rap flow similar to mainstream artists, but has a slower pace and gives the lyrics more focus. As some may find the album title Professional Rapper to suggest, his lyrics are arguably the most refined of all Christian hip hop to date, generally excluding all but one slice of urban slang (the laughter, often used to retain an appealing flow), although John Reuben often uses less sophisticated dialogue while appearing on a "street" rapper's album, his appearance on Black Sheep inspired The Choice is Yours for instance, available on KJ-52 Presents Collaborations. Zappin is a good friend of Toby Mac's, who executive produced his 2005 album The Boy vs. The Cynic and provided vocals for Are We There Yet's final track, "God is Love". Also appearing in John Reuben's songs are Matt Thiessen of the band Relient K, Othello and Adrienne Camp of the now dissolved The Benjamin Gate. In addition to John Reuben's surprisingly sophisticated style in lyrics, most every song of his (not counting the duets) takes advantage of "traditional" musical instruments, typically the guitar, though John Reuben experiments with many different instruments and musical styles. AlbumsAlbums
Contibuted To
John Reuben was also mentioned in Toby Mac's song "Gotta Go", of Welcome to Diverse City. In it Toby's fan Cupid holds a conversation with him via telephone and finds that the rapper is "hanging with John Reuben". In response, Cupid asks Toby Mac to tell him that he says hey, which leads the fan to mention a demo he sent him, of which Toby Mac was not intent on listening to. The Christian EminemWhile his album Are We There Yet? was brand new, Gotee Records intentionally marketed John Reuben as "the Christian Eminem." With white skin, an open mic sound, both humorous and cynical lyrics (hence The Boy vs. The Cynic) and radical Christian beliefs, he lived up to the part, and many listeners deemed him better than Eminem. However, it wasn't long until another gospel rap name, known as KJ-52, took his place with his controversial single Dear Slim and the more mature follow-up Dear Slim Part 2. With the same traits that made Mr. Zappin a good, righteous counterpart for the rapper, but with more dedication to Jesus Christ in his lyrics, KJ-52 is now generally excepted as the Christian equivilant of Eminem, although other Christian white rappers have been compared to Slim, including Emcee One, who says "I get compared to Eminem, but I think it's due to similar boldness. Not so much in delivery, but in matter of factness."
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||