Hip-hop legend KRS-One has never been afraid to court controversy and provoke strong reactions. Now the Boogie Down Productions legend has topped himself by writing The Gospel of Hip Hop: The First Instrument, a mammoth treatise on the spirituality of hip-hop he hopes will some day become a sacred text of a new hip-hop religion.
Laugh if you must, but people laughed at Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard when they set up their own religions. They're still laughing, and pointing, and giggle-snorting so hard milk comes out their noses. Heck, they even laughed at a sandal-wearing dude with long hair and some crazy ideas about peace and love. That long-haired mystery man? The guy who screams at passerby outside the Sears by my house to stop stealing his thoughts. Like all members of America's cultural elite, we personally worship Pan, the goat God.
Will KRS-ONE's hip-hop religion someday replace Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bhuddism, Hinduism and (insert other religion here)? No, but, as always, we remain cautiously optimistic.