When I initially began reading Hendricks' critique of contemporary gospel music, I agreed. I thought that yes, gospel music has passed and is no longer so strongly rooted in liberation, freedom and justice. My thoughts immediately took me to the works of Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams, whose gospel songs could be heard on prime time hip hop radio stations. But then I asked myself, is this so bad and continued reading further. Gospel music “today…is careless and uninvolved in the continuing struggle for black freedom in America.” (page 556) When thinking about the change in gospel music supporters, one cannot omit the change in society's collective consciousness. Collectively, many African Americans no longer speak words of justice, whose words are filled with hopelessness and hopelessness. There are many points presented by Hendricks to shed a negative light on the gospel music explosion. His analysis of gospel music is not really a fair representation. He mentions that the reason behind his essay was the article he wrote about Kirk Franklin and which stated that t...