Rap music is often seen as a Black secular response to pressing issues of our time. Yet, like spirituals, the
blues, and gospel music, rap has deep connections to African American religious traditions. Noise and Spirit explores
the diverse religious dimensions of rap stemming from Islam (including the Nation of Islam and Five Percent Nation),
Rastafarianism, and Humanism, as well as Christianity. The volume examines rap's dialogue with religious traditions,
from the ways in which Islamic rap music is used as a method of religious and political instruction to the uses
of both the blues and black women's rap for considering the distinction between God and the Devil.