Protestant hymns and African-American
spirituals make up the basic source material for
traditional black gospel music, which in turn is the most significant source of urban/contemporary gospel. Urban/contemporary gospel has kept the spiritual focus of the traditional black gospel music, but uses modern musical forms. Urban/contemporary gospel derives primarily from traditional black gospel music, with strong influence from, and strong influence on, many forms of secular pop music. Due to strong racial divisions in 20th century American culture, urban/contemporary gospel developed specifically out of the African-American musical traditions. The equivalent music from white American culture is
contemporary Christian music. The
color line divides artists with extremely similar musical styles on the basis of their race, and unites artists with divergent styles (such as
rap and pop) on the same basis in industry reporting, marketing choices, and awards like the Grammy and Dove awards. and
Twinkie Clark is called the "Mother Of Contemporary Gospel".
1980s–1990s In the 1980s and 1990s, some gospel groups (such as
The Rance Allen Group) emerged by singing with elements of
Motown sound, emulating quartets such as
The Temptations but still propagating biblical messages. The members of many such groups later established their own gospel music careers (but still returned for occasional reunions). For example,
Marvin Sapp and
Fred Hammond started out in the group
Commissioned. New artists like
Yolanda Adams, the Clark Sisters,
Donnie McClurkin, and
Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation gained popularity in the secular world with their musical style. Other groups and individual artists such as
Hezekiah Walker took gospel congregational songs from the 1950s and 1960s and adapted them to a more upbeat feel similar to '80s and '90s pop. Examples of this include "99 ½" by Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir. Many artists who began in the 1960s and 1970s (like the aforementioned Andrae Crouch and The Clark Sisters) also continued to release influential songs and albums in this period.
2000s–2010s In the 2000s, many gospel artists from the previous two decades began establishing records and gaining established places in the gospel music canon, as recognized by annual
WOW Gospel albums (after beginning in the late 1990s). They were accompanied by younger gospel artists/groups like
Mary Mary,
Sheri Jones-Moffett and
Brian Courtney Wilson, who leaned the genre towards hip-hop, funk and '90s R&B, respectively. Groups like
Tye Tribbett & G.A. and
Myron Butler and his group
Levi released songs with more complicated instrumental riffs and melodies that hint at a contemporary jazz influence (though some say it goes the other way around). Gospel artists had collaborated with secular artists in the past, but in the 2000s and 2010s, this became far more pronounced. Kirk Franklin is widely known for this, working with
Kanye West on his gospel album,
Jesus Is King, and with
Lil Baby on the song "We Win" for the movie
Space Jam: A New Legacy. Franklin also sang with
Stevie Wonder on "Why" in the former's 2005 album,
Hero. Rance Allen sung with
Snoop Dogg on the song "Blessing Me Again" in 2018. Eventually, secular artists began releasing gospel albums full of such collaborations. Examples include PJ Morton’s 2020 album
Gospel According to PJ and Snoop Dogg's 2018 album
Bible of Love. ==Criticism==