The first commercially released and distributed Christian rap record was "Bible Break." It was a song made in 1985 by Stephen Wiley, a youth minister who sought to educate children about the books of the Bible. Wiley is widely considered the father of Christian rap.
Christian rap acts began to emerge as the 1980s drew to a close. They included P.I.D. (Preachas in Disguise), S.F.C. (Soldiers for Christ), and Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez (1967-1990), who was allegedly gunned down due to his work steering street youth away from a life of crime. The 1990s witnessed a proliferation of Christian rappers, which included Gospel Gangstaz (whose members were former gang members); the twin duo, Dynamic Twinz; and the D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ).
Christian elements have always been present in hip-hop music, with or without the existence of a subgenre that specifically caters to the religion. As early as 1988, MC Hammer had a song called "Son of the King"; he followed that up with the much more popular "Pray" in 1990. 2Pac's music is well known for his appeals to God in his struggles with paranoia, DMX has a prayer-like song close to the end of every single one of his albums, and Kanye West had one of his biggest hits with "Jesus Walks." In an extreme case, Ma$e took a five-year hiatus from the music industry to become a preacher. However, even though some mainstream rap artists may profess to be Christians, their songs and their entire careers do not necessarily explore or reflect such faith. Thus they cannot be considered Christian rappers.
There is a struggle within Christian rap as to what constitutes the subgenre. Some people take the more conservative approach, which is that Christian hip-hop needs to be blatantly about Christianity. The rappers' music should strictly be a tool for preaching and proselytizing. Others argue that Christian rappers do not need to mention God in every single song, and that they need to pay more attention to the way they express themselves. Holy hip-hop practitioners should not just rely on the message; they should also focus on creating music that is engaging to people.
In 1994, Christian music trio dcTalk formed a record label called Gotee Records, which is now a major supplier of Christian rap music--along with other imprints such as Uprock, Syntax, BRx2 and Grapetree. Today, there are several Christian rap acts such as Tunnel Rats, The Cross Movement, Lecrae, LA Symphony, Grits, Ill Harmonics and John Reuben. A few have even broken somewhat into the mainstream: T-Bone had a small part in the 2003 movie "The Fighting Temptations," and KJ-52 is perhaps best known in the secular world for his alleged Eminem diss, "Dear Slim"--a song about trying to reach the rap star with his Christian beliefs.