I gotta level with you-I am totally unqualified to review this album.

Honestly, I just am not a big rap fan. However, a few years ago (during a summer spent with my family in Oklahoma City), I started listening to some Christian hip-hop on radio station KOKF. At first when the rap songs played, I was anxious for the DJs to "hurry up and get to the 'real' music." But as I grew more open-minded, I started to enjoy the beat. After a while, I even started listening to the lyrics, and I was blown away by the brutally honest testimonies given in the songs of groups like the O Double G'z (a.k.a. The Original Gospel Gangstaz).

Today, hip-hop still isn't my favorite style of music, but I am growing to enjoy it more and more. I am also convinced that God is moving through "holy hip-hop" to make a powerful impact upon communities that aren't being reached by the traditional churches.

Having said all that (read: now that I have the disclaimer out of the way!), let's get to the music.

All Mixed Up is the 2G'zs fourth release. On this disk, the Gangstaz take songs from their first two albums and remix them to combine the East and West coast styles of hip-hop.

Probably the thing that most stands out in the remixes is the beat. Tracks like "Y Can't Da Homiez Hear me?" have more of a hard and fast beat that really gives the old songs a whole new vibe.

Lyrically, the tracks on this album are hard-hitting-once you find out what they're saying. Regrettably, neither the album's liner notes nor the band's official website have the lyrics listed. The songs generally have a straight-up evangelistic message-in a nutshell, it's "turn to the Lord or you'll die a brutal death on the street and then burn in hell." These guys don't pretty up the message but deliver the truth as straight up as a piece of raw meat.

The few songs that aren't evangelistic deal primarily with the issue of race relations in America. I think the most gripping one is the remake of EDL's "Whitey on the Moon."

This song's commentary on the sociopolitical climate at the time of the Apollo moon landing (how the Black community was still under the extreme oppression of the privileged white society), is one of the album's highlights.

In the end, if you already like hip-hop music, buy this album. You'll love it. If you don't like hip-hop music, I would still encourage you to give this disc a chance. Musical stretching is a good thing. Take my word for it, once you get past the initial soreness, it won't hurt a bit.