Jesus taught people lessons about Heaven, love and many other things using parables and metaphors. It's an effective way to help people understand. Many Christian musicians do the same thing with their music. Take, for instance, a hip hop artist named Tim Gross, also known as CY. His latest album (the fourth in his independent career) is titled Cirus World Event - The Ringleader, and the idea behind it is the the world is one big circus, and to get in, the admission is our soul. It's pretty clever. "The Ringleader" is rapped from the perspective of Satan, who does somewhat act as the ringleader of the world. Jesus comes in at the end of the song, talking about being the true ringleader, and asking who our ringleader is. The circus acts seem to be metaphors for the world's temptations, such as a girl in "Circus Tour." "The Flip Side Trapeze" talks a little about a parable in Matthew 20 that says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first by putting it into a hypothetical situation. In the same manner, "The Parable" makes a hypothetical situation about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16.

CY does an overall good job of presenting the Gospel and different lessons taught in the Bible, making this a pretty decent ministry tool for hip hop fans. However, it's mainly for fans of underground or raw hip hop who aren't really looking for the best production or the best raps and flows. CY isn't terrible, but in a world where hip hop is arguably the most popular form of music, it takes a lot more than what he offers on Cirus World Event to make a standout album. The music is pretty good, with a lot of carnival style sounds to add to the album's theme. But if you've ever been to a carnival or circus, you've probably gotten annoyed at some point with some of the music, which does happen here and there on Circus World Event. His flow is mainly where the weakness lies. His guest emcees sometimes bode fairly well, such as R-Swift and Pettidee and even a newer artist named Colcutz, and unfortunately end up overshadowing CY's performance on their respective tracks (though the opposite is also true for the emcees in "The Showtime," such as Tre9 and S.O.M.). To give an idea of his style, one might make comparisons to hip hoppers like illtripp or the Tunnel Rats - artists that I don't really go to when I'm wanting to hear an awesome flow. If you're into artists like that, CY may be right up your alley. Those who like more refined hip hop with tighter flows may want to look further.

- Review date: 1/19/10, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com

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