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As the landscape of music and the industry has changed, R&B and Hip Hop (especially Hip Hop) are where people draw inspiration because that’s the dominate genre. That’s just a fact.

Listen to gospel music today. Even gospel is influenced by R&B and Hip Hop.

It has less to do with the singers growing up in the church… I think they are. But the church just isn’t exactly what we remember it to be. They are going to church and growing up with Kirk Franklin & Tye Tribbett as opposed to James Cleveland & Clara Ward.

Where earlier rock & R&B artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe would immolate gospel greats and call upon influences like Ruth Davis & Jackie Verdell, the newer singers don’t have that because that simply doesn’t exist anymore. And it’s not a bad thing.

I think we have to stop falling into the trap of denouncing everything that is new and different than what we are used to in music. That’s really the root of it.

Perfect example… somebody like Faith Evans or Kelly Price. Where I (and those within my age range) would CLEARLY see that they are “churched” singers… my grandparents would say no and be confused… because that wasn’t the church that THEY grew up in. The sound has evolved.

It’s ever-changing and continually evolving. That’s what makes it beautiful.

Bottom line is that it’s less about being unchurched and the church just being different now. That’s all. Where the church was a breeding ground and the ultimate influence for “secular” talent, it’s now being influenced by that same secular talent. They’ve switched places.