One listen to Lecrae, and it is unashamedly evident that he has a worldview not commonly found in popular Hip Hop. From the south side of Houston to a major platform in the movement of urban reform, a rocky road provides a window into the grace he experienced throughout his life, with every situation molding him into the artist and leader he is today.
Atlanta Daily Word sat down with Lecrae recently, who laid it all on the line.
How do you follow up the most important Christian hip hop album of all time?
That’s the question standing before 33-year-old rapper Lecrae, a freshly minted addition to Atlanta’s hip hop community. After his 2012 album “Gravity” hit no. 1 on the rap charts (not the Christian rap charts) and no. 3 on the Billboard 200, won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel album and his “Church Clothes” mixtape racked up 100,000 downloads, certified platinum by mixtape kingpin Datpiff.com in 48 hours, Lecrae has our attention.
He’s also got the attention of hip hop heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar, DJ Premier, Freddie Gibbs and Saigon, to name just a few, and has been named checked by athletes like Houston Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin, NFL quarterback Tim Tebow and PGA golfer Bubba Watson.
“Christian is my faith,” says Lecrae, “not my genre.”
Clearly, he is defying not just the boundaries of Christian rap, but of hip hop, altogether. So where does he go from here? The Atlanta Daily World’s Dion Rabouin talks to one of hip hop’s most sought-after and talked-about lyricists about where he is, where he’s going and the state of hip hop, Godly and otherwise.
ADW: You’re coming off a huge album – you had the number one rap album, won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel album, you were the first holy hip hop artist to do that. What’s next for you?
Lecrae: For me, it’s just continuing to make good music. I’m gonna work on the album, I got a mixtape, “Church Clothes Vol. 2″ coming out with Don Cannon, and for me it’s just bridging the gap between the faith world and the world that is…that doesn’t really explore faith in music. You know what I’m saying? So, for me it’s about bridging that gap and stepping outside the box.
ADW: What can people expect from the new album and the mixtape? And where are you in the process with each of those?
Lecrae: I’m about near done with my mixtape, so you should look forward to that real soon. The album I’m still in grind mode, so we gonna be working on that for quite a while, but I’m excited. I’m still bringing the same passionate content that I brought in the first place, but now it’s a little more mature, a little more well rounded.
Read the rest of the candid special article at Atlanta Daily Word.
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Lecrae: “Christian Is My Faith, Not My Genre.” was originally published on elev8.com
