Straight Outta Compline

Written by Anglican Kyle “DJ Cranmer” Wagner (PEI), and Lutheran Peter “Via Media” Reinhardt (BC), this awesome rap was professionally (!??) produced on a macbook.

Written, recorded, video filmed and produced at the Ask & Imagine May 2009 program at Huron University College.  Not officially part of the planned program, it just sorta happened.

S’up Dawg?  Full communion, baby!!

Read the lyrics here:

Straight outta compline!
Thinkin about goin to bed
Gotta say my prayers til the day I’m dead
I lead the boys instead down to the chapel and said:
“You gotta play the shepherd till the sheep are fed!”
I got street cred, eatin bread with the sinners on the block
Chillin in my civvies, representin in my cassock
I fast talk all around the clock
Bringin people to my parish like the rain to a mountain-top
Where’s my Saviour at?
Hangin with my enemies!
Where are the meek?
Yo, they’re just ahead o’ me
They’re enterin the kingdom
Praises? They sing dem

Where are my possessions?
Hey, I couldn’t bring dem
The bells of the tower?
It’s time to ring dem
You think you can dis me?
My bishop’s name is Ingham!
I caught the altar guild pinchin my maniple
Pulled out my crozier ’cause I’m an animal
I’m not a cannibal in communion
Transubstantiation fuels this confusion
Straight outta Compline!

Straight outta Compline!
I’m a young priest who is fightin the beast
The only way to do it’s when I’m facin the east
I’m from the west coast of PEI
And I wantcha to know that my church is fly
I teach the Word as a rector
And I wear a birreta
For I gotta long cope with black rope
And it gives Anglos hope
My bells and smells are so dope
I’m not Johnny Cash but I dress in black
I got thirty-nine buttons in front of my back
My collar is visible
With a Spirit formidable
And I’m kissable
Well Hiltz was his name
A bishop who rose to fame
Put me in the game
He got me talkin ’bout the trinity
So quick you get sick of me
Straight outta compline!

Straight outta compline!
Noddin to the speakers of Latin
Not combatin with the Romans, gettin ready for matins
A day stitched in prayer
A life sown in rhyme
Put your hands in the air and break it down like an enzyme
I genuflect to get the full effect
In front of my bishop elect
My knees are wrecked from kneelin down
I show respect to the office
I picked my shoes
I heard my call
I tell good news to the short and to the tall
Whether powerful or small, I tell em all
Despite the fall:
Humanity’s in the ring, but it doesn’t mean we hafta brawl!
I see ills that are curable
Amidst our stagnance our conscience is stirrable
Light up the incence
I’m swingin my thurible
Our apathy is turrible
Straight outta compline!