Toby Mac (Feat. T-Bone) – The Slam

Hip Hop/Rap juggernaut TobyMac started DC Talk in 1987, alongside college mates Kevin Max and Michael Tait.  After their hiatus in 2000, TobyMac began his solo career.  He released 12 albums and 3 EP’s, including:

• Momentum (2001)
• Welcome to Diverse City (2004)
• Phenomenon Festival Single (EP, 2004)
• Top Five Hits (EP, 2006)
• Portable Sounds (2007)
• Alive and Transported (Live, 2008)
• Tonight (2010)
• Christmas in Diverse City (2011)
• Eye on It (2012)
• This Is Not a Test (2015)
• Hits Deep Live (2016)
• Light of Christmas (2017)
• The Elements (2018)
• The Lost Demos (EP, 2020)
• Live in Denver (2021)

He’s also earned a plethora of awards for his solo work, as well as his contributions to DC Talk.

Also, check out my reviews of Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight), Feel It, Til the Day I Die , and I Just Need U.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Tobymac-the-slam-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

God is in this place, signifying He is everywhere.  We should evangelize (differently), praise, and avoid sin, and keep our eyes affixed on “the slam” or Jesus, whose loving sacrifice is our shot at a personal relationship with God.  He bore our errors and rose again.  He defeated death and hades, both of which will be thrown into the lake of fire.  John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance and told others about Jesus, before He arrived and after baptizing Him.  TobyMac and Bone-T hope that God will use them to change the world.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

This song aligns with God’s inspired Word.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: Whether we enjoy it or not, God is in this place.  This alludes to God’s omnipresence (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 4:13).

Lines 2-4: The knob and volume represent the degree to which God is heard.  TobyMac suggests that we crank up the volume, spreading the news about “the slam” (later defined as Jesus in Verse 2, line 7) to others (Matthew 28:18-20).

When a plot gets thicker, it means that it’s more mysterious or complicated.  It’s hard to disagree that the concept of Jesus as God and man simultaneously (John 1:1 and John 1:14) is mysterious.  As is the trinity.

Lines 5 and 6: When we fix our eyes on Jesus amid spiritual onslaught (Hebrews 12:2), we also flee from breaking God’s laws.

Line 7: This references Christ’s sacrifice that makes forgiveness possible (Hebrews 9:22).

Line 8: We’ve been called to be other than our past sinful self; to pursue holiness (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, Romans 6:1-14, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10-14, 1 Peter 1:13-16, and 1 Peter 2:16).

[Pre-Chorus]

Line 1: That is, this is Jesus (see Verse 2, line 7).

Line 2: Repeats Verse 1, line 1.

Line 3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: Though no details are offered, TobyMac claims that they will tell others about Jesus in ways that weren’t done before.  My best guess is this style that TobyMac offers, combining Hip Hop/Rap with Rock and roll and referring to Jesus as “the slam”.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-4: Essentially repeats Pre-Chorus.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-8: References John the Baptist in Matthew 3:1-17, Mark 1:4-9, Luke 3:1-21, and John 1:19-36, including the statements he made in TobyMac’s song.  While the phrase “the slam” is not something John cited in Scripture, it’s how TobyMac decided to define him.

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: T-Bone compares the difference that God makes to Christ-followers to Shaquille O’Neal’s impact on black and Latino communities.  Shaq is a national spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and started the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation in 2019.

Lines 3 and 4: Destroying our bodies with illegal drugs is an example of sin that Christ bore (Isaiah 53:4-6 and 1 Peter 2:24).

Line 5: That is, He conquered death, not the lake of fire (see line 8).  This is so because hell (or hades, depending on the translation) is thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

Lines 6 and 7: Combines Jesus’ taking the keys of death and hades (Revelation 1:18) with Christ setting the prisoners free (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18-21).

Lines 8-9: Jesus rose again on the third day (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-29).  This is as true as TobyMac and Boney Soprano (T-Bone) are on this song.

Line 10: This combines another basketball reference with jumper cables to describe their victory in Jesus (Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14, 1 John 5:4-5, and Revelation 12:10-11).

Line 11: Referencing Matthew 21:12-13 and Mark 11:15-18, TobyMac and T-Bone hope to shake up the world by making a difference like Jesus and Shaq did, as discussed in line 1.

Side Note: I did not include Interlude, Breakdown, or Outro because they contain exact or equivalent phrases to previously examined lines.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers should easily interpret this song as Christian.  It uses terms such as “God”, “Jesus”, “cross”, and “lamb of God”.  They will probably not connect “the slam” to Jesus until TobyMac explains it in Verse 2, likely requiring a second listen to properly interpret Verse 1.

Despite this song’s heavy reliance on pop culture and Christianese, outsiders to Christianity should comprehend most of this song, including the cross, John the Baptist, that Jesus bears our sins, the resurrection, and Jesus tossing temple tables.  Other parts require deeper study, including the concept of sin as lawbreaking, the meaning of “thicken the plot”, and the first few lines of Bridge.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God by stringing together truthful statements about God and calling us to follow Christ’s example.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Toby Mac’s The Slam is great overall.  It tells us God is here, calls us to evangelize, avoid sinning, and focus on Jesus throughout our walk with Him.  This glorifies God.  Unbelievers should be able to understand the essence of this song, even if many of its finer points require more study.

I don’t recommend it for corporate worship based on its style of genre and writing.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: The Slam (listen to the song)

Artist: Toby Mac (Feat. T-Bone)

Album: Welcome to Diverse City

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap, Rock

Release Year: 2004

Duration: 3:19

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