Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

OK OK OK! I've heard it all now! Country praise, punk praise, instrumental praise of all genres from noseflutes to xylophones, rock praise, classical praise, even disco praise and now this! Taking the praise album concept to a whole new level. Hip hop praise! I kid you not! Some of your favourite worship choruses totally reworked! Under the guidance of MG! The Visionary, here's something very different. The melodies are the same and then suddenly a whole new pile of rhymes and raps are interpolated with familiar songs. Not sure what Matt Redman will make of "Heart Of Worship" but it's certainly different. You get contributions from Playdough of III harmonics, members of The Bulfphoon Cyrkle, 3NP as well as Pax 217's guitarist and a few special guests and it's certainly excellent hip hop music with a worship tip. I love the versions of "Arms Of Love" and "As The Deer" but my favourite has to be the opening cut which takes care of "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" giving it plenty of attitude! Mostly the album manages to marry together strong vocal performances with creative rapping and all the time setting these songs over strong grooves. Surely it won't be long before established hip hop acts choose to make praise albums like the rest of CCM.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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