Sacred, Secular, Syncopated: Theology and the Music of Kendrick Lamar
What does holiness look like in a world addicted to violence, power, and profit?
Can hip-hop be sacred?
Can a Compton-born prophet point the way to spiritual transformation?
Join us for the 2025 Barth House Theological Society Fall Lecture featuring Femi Olutade—writer, podcaster, and theologian—who will explore the sacred themes pulsing through the music of Kendrick Lamar.
A Christian thinker, hip-hop head, and lead writer for the acclaimed Dissect podcast’s deep-dive into Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN., Olutade will guide attendees through a theological exploration of Lamar’s discography, drawing connections between holiness, justice, personal transformation, and prophetic critique.
Open to the public. Location TBD. Reserve seats starting Aug. 1, 2025.
ABOUT FEMI OLUTADE
Femi Athanasios Olutade is a Christian, husband, father, Bible nerd, hip-hop head, Nigerian-American Millennial, and a follower of Jesus in the Eastern Orthodox tradition who enjoys exploring ideas related to spirituality, history, and culture. Femi has taken a particular interest in exploring hip-hop music as a lens to understand the specific struggles of Black people in America and the universal human struggle for personal and societal transformation. Femi’s analysis of spirituality, history, culture, and hip-hop lyrics has been featured on numerous podcasts, blogs, and social media outlets. Most notably, Femi served as the lead writer for the Dissect podcast’s Season Five, which presented a 20-episode line-by-line analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize–winning album, DAMN. Femi equally enjoys teaching a Bible study course for high school students at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, California. Femi graduated from Stanford University with degrees in electrical engineering. Outside of raising children and other domestic responsibilities, Femi works as a software engineer in the tech industry.
