My homeboy Yeti over at Wooohah.com posted an interesting story this morning about KRS ONE’s plans to release a book entitled the “Gospel of Hip Hop.”  SIDENOTE: If you all like some of the hip hop business posts and Marketing Matters column, I encourage you too subscribe to the Wooohah RSS feed. Yeti goes in depth with it.  

I digress.  The book according to Yeti is the first volume in an anticipated I AM HIP HOP series.  Slated to drop in November the book is supposed to drop knowledge like only KRS ONE can to the tune of 800 PAGES OF pure hip hop religion.

Set in the format of a self-help holy book, this 800-plus-page opus is a spiritual manual for citizens of Hip Hop Kulture that combines classic philosophy with faith and practical knowledge, for a fascinating, in-depth exploration of Hip Hop as a life path. Known as “the Teacha,” KRS ONE developed his unique outlook as a homeless teen in Brooklyn, New York, engaging his philosophy of self-creation to become one of the most respected emcees in Hip Hop history. As Hip Hop’s true steward, KRS ONE painstakingly details the development of the culture and the ways in which we, as “Hiphoppas,” can and should preserve its future.

The book sounds real dope and I almost always support anything KRS ONE does.  However I do question his use of branding here.  A bible?  Religion?  So much is made about the infusion of the 5 percent philosophies in hip hop over the years with the use of the cipher etc.  Religious context is a dexterous game and one we often take too lightly. Even I’m guilty of referring to The (Old) Source as so many have as the unofficial Hip Hop Bible.

We’re trying to draw the significance and importance, but with a youth that’s so misguided and mindless I think its slightly irresponsible of KRS to suggest in someway that Hip Hop is a religion rather than a viable culture.  Its should be studied yes but worshiped???  I know its a play on words but at the end of the day these blasphemous references could lead the more fanatic youth to take it too literally.  Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately there aren’t too many Hip Hopers with enough patience to sit through a 800 page text book about the game if they don’t have the discipline to Google their history now.