Urban contemporary gospel
Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched primarily to African-Americans. Christian hip hop can be considered a subtype of this genre.
Urban/contemporary gospel
Late 20th century, African-Americans
- Guitar
- bass
- drums
- piano
Criticism[edit]
Like most forms of Christian music in the last two centuries, artists have been criticized by Christians who see the new forms as too similar to secular music styles or insufficiently focused on traditional religious sentiments. Artists in the urban/contemporary styles have taken a variety of approaches to address these concerns from their fan bases (Darden 2004:302).
Artists in this genre are expected to convey a committed Christian religious viewpoint and to treat their musical performances as a sacred service to God. In a distinctly Protestant-American touch, artists in this genre are expected to pray publicly, to "testify" about the artist's personal, emotion-driven conversion, and to make an effort to convert non-Christians to Christianity (Darden 2004:55).
Influences[edit]
Rock & roll, country and rhythm & blues were influenced by traditional black gospel music, and these forms, as well as disco, funk, jazz and many secular genres, influenced urban/contemporary gospel music.
Perhaps the most significant musical influences on urban/contemporary gospel are hip hop and R&B (Waldron 2006). Like contemporary gospel, R&B developed from traditional black gospel music (Bream 1991). Soul music and Christian rock are also significant influences on contemporary gospel.
Sales and marketing[edit]
The gospel market is smaller than the secular market, but popular artists have sold millions of units. The radio stations that program UC Gospel, primarily in the Southern and Southeastern US serve a fiercely loyal core of listeners from all age groups and income demographics in the African-American communities.
Compared to traditional black music, whose sales are steady, urban/contemporary sales are rising, as a result of more significant marketing efforts (Johnson 2008:86).