When it comes to the planet’s biggest yearly Hip Hop events, fans think of Rolling Loud or maybe Coachella. But there’s another gathering on the verge of making major waves despite being full of rappers you may have never heard of.
Peep Holy Smoke.
It goes down every summer in Nashville. What sets it apart from Rolling Loud or Coachella? Holy Smoke, as you might have guessed by the name, is a celebration of Christian Hip Hop.
Holy Smoke is the creation of indie tribe, a collective of Christian Hip Hop’s top emcees, including nobigdyl, Jon Keith, and Torey D’Shaun. 2025’s event included all of indie tribe, plus a couple of dozen more of the genre’s greatest. Thousands of fans from across the country trekked to Music City for the sold-out three-day festival in August.
Name Drop! And why it’s a big deal.
Hip Hop legend Sway also made a surprise appearance. As in Sway, the morning show host on Eminem’s Shade 45 channel, Sirius/XM Radio’s premiere Hip Hop outlet. The already hyped up crowd went berserk when Sway hopped on stage.
For most of Christian Hip Hop’s existence, the genre has felt belittled, maligned, or overlooked. Deemed too corny to be cool by the mainstream and too gritty to be truly Christian by church culture. For many at Holy Smoke, Sway’s presence came off like “hey world! See? We’re legit now!”
When he got back to work, Sway spent the better part of an hour relaying his Holy Smoke experience to Shade 45’s audience. Sway has connections with CHH going back to the 1990’s, but only recently has it consistently held his attention. He figured maybe it’s because the music is better than it’s ever been, or there’s more talent in the game than ever before.
Perhaps. But there’s another possibility.
Christian Hip Hop has been amazing for decades; the decline of mainstream rap in recent years is why CHH seems to shine brighter than ever lately. Secular hip hop radio stations have sagged in the ratings for most of the 2020’s. Streaming metrics are stagnant. Why? Maybe the culture is shifting.
Hip Hop Played Itself
You don’t have to be a Jesus-lover to be tired of songs about copy-paste luxury flexes, drugs, and shallow content designed for algorithms rather than artistry. Mainstream Hip Hop went from being fun to being a bummer. Meanwhile, at Holy Smoke, Sway said, “I’ve never felt so good in my life. I was greeted in the kindest, most organic way I’ve ever felt going to a Hip Hop festival.”
IYKYK, and We Already Knew
Yo Sway, this is what lovers of CHH have known for as long as they’ve been listening. And CHH fans, yes, it’s super dope that Sway showed our favorite music some love. But the genre was legit long before it captured his attention. God-willing, it’ll only grow in influence because of the lives it changes.
