Armed N Dangerous aka A.N.D.

With its pulsating bass track and rapping emcees, to say nothing of the occasional break dancer and use of strobe lights, a hip-hop church service is never going to be mistaken for a traditional worship ceremony.

But that doesn't mean that they have nothing in common. Both are out to preach the faith. They just do it with different types of energy -- not to mention the volume of their sound systems.

Supporters of the movement hope that will be apparent over the next three days as Minneapolis becomes the epicenter of the Christian hip-hop world. The nation's leading practitioners -- from the ones who started it to the biggest voices of the day to the up-and-comers who are expected to lead the movement into the future -- will be taking part in Operation Hip Hop 2011.

"It is going to be the 'first annual' Operation Hip Hop," promised Pastor Stacey Jones, who, along with his wife, Tryenyse Jones, leads the Urban Jerusalem hip-hop church in Minneapolis and is organizing the convention. "We want to make this a regular affair."

He wants the conference to serve as a lightning rod for everything that's good about Christian hip-hop as well as offering devotees a chance to challenge some of the things that are wrong with it, including a public image that many think is holding the movement back.

During the day, conference participants will attend workshops on a wide array of topics ranging from "postmodernism in hip-hop" to "hip-hop and evangelism" and varying in focus from "hip-hop on a global scale" to "hip-hop and white suburbia." Each evening, the attendees will get a chance to practice what they preach by staging free concerts that are open to the public.

When Elwood Jones (no relation to Stacey Jones) got his invitation to speak at the conference, he didn't hesitate. The pastor of South Point Church in Washington, D.C., said he'd been waiting for a call like that for two decades.

"I've had a vision for this kind of thing 20 years ago," said Jones, who is one of the movement's pioneers -- "they call me Papa," he said with a chuckle. "But I have to admit that I never envisioned that Christian and gospel hip-hop would grow to what it has become. To go from just a handful of us to now having literally thousands of people doing this all over the world, I didn't see that coming."

Stacey Jones expects that at least 500 and perhaps as many as 1,000 people will take part in the conference. He isn't sure how many will show up because he kept the price low -- $25 in advance, $30 to register at the door -- to make the workshops accessible to as many people as possible. He's expecting a large walk-up crowd when registration opens Thursday afternoon at Christ Church International in south Minneapolis.

"There's a big need to educate people of the Christian faith about the importance of engaging with the hip-hop culture," he said.

Despite the growth of the movement, there still is a lot of misunderstanding about it within the faith community, he said.

"There's a level of ignorance -- and I mean that in the most humble way, not as insult -- about hip-hop," he said. Many people associate the music with gangs, drug use and violence, images that aren't warranted, he said.

One conference speaker will be the Rev. Efrem Smith, former pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, who now serves as superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

He wrote the book on hip-hop churches; literally, it's called "The Hip-Hop Church" and it was published in 2005 when he was leading hip-hop services here. In his newest book, "Jump," released last fall, Smith talks about the general public's confusion about hip-hop, which is similar to rap music in form but vastly different in purpose.

"A lot of rap is degrading, especially to women," he writes. "The original principles of hip-hop are peace, love, community, unity and having fun."

Elwood Jones said that, as a veteran in the movement, he plans to use the conference to "communicate to the next generation of hip-hop leaders what it will take to move forward." That includes lyrics that pack a theological punch.

"There's no difference between what the hip-hop singers are doing and what the preachers are doing," he said, "except the hip-hop singers have a bigger audience." - Star Tribune

Today’s review is just a single from Christian Hip Hop artists’ Armed and Dangerous, better known as AND. The single is “This Chance.” I would like to publicly apologize for taking so long to get to your music….your email got lost in the midst of the 3 to 5 tracks I get daily to review. I hope that it is better late than never.

Let’s begin with the beat analysis. I’m really digging the feel good type beat that is reminiscent of the Jackson 5 track that almost everyone has sampled (I don’t know the proper name for the track, that’s why I’m not dropping it). It is actually refreshing to hear a gospel rap group taking the time to remake a secular song and doing a good job of it….thank you.

The singer is pretty good, and I’m loving the chorus. There are a few moments where the singing gets pitchy within the runs, but it isn’t something that stands out a lot until you listen intently. I truly believe that it is something that most listeners are going to not even hear as it is masked. The chorus though is very dope and very catchy, as is the song (I listened through about 4 times back to back).

Now the rapping. There are 2 rappers that are on the track, and I’m not sure what each one goes by, so I’ll just refer to them as rapper 1 and rapper 2. Rapper 2 is the more developed of the two and has a presence on the track that is commendable as well as the lyrical content you would expect from a seasoned lyricist. Rapper 1 is obviously the younger of the two and is less experienced with less convincing lyrics and presence. Rapper 2 impressed me with some of his punchlines and his content.

The mix all around is good, but I feel that rapper 1's voice wasn’t mixed well. The rest of the track was, and was easy to listen to again and again.

So, nice drop….it gets a solid 3.5/5 from me. The only things dropping it down was the inexperience of rapper 1 and the mix on his voice. keep bringing that heat. Very good job for a 12 and 13 year old! - Gospel Rap Fan