HOLY HIP-HOP MAKES ITS MARK

Back in the day I was a lunch line rapper / after that I guess I was a punch line rapper / then I got saved and sometime after / ya boy came back as a frontline rapper… I’m out here preachin’ Christ on the frontlines / and no it ain't about rockin' stages / ‘coz some of my engagements are out on the pavements.

These words from Lecrae's "After the Music Stops" signify an underground movement that in the last several years may finally be coming into its own. And if that is the case, the artist behind those words is one of the reasons why, or so his record sales say.

In just shy of five years, Lecrae Moore (better known as “Lecrae”), has seen two out three of his albums chart in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart. With multiple sales chart appearances, his third CD, Rebel—released in September of 2008—soared to the top of the Billboard charts, becoming the highest debuting album in the Christian rap industry.

Weighing in at No. 3 on iTunes's Top Rap/Hip Hop Album chart, just below mainstream rapper T.I.'s Paper Trail, Rebel also claimed CMTA's No. 1 position on the Top Hip Hop/R&B Album chart and the No. 2 spot on Billboard's Top Christian & Gospel Albums chart.

But the 29-year old rapper is not the kind to take credit.

“There’s nothing special about me,” Lecrae states. “It’s God honoring that which is faithful and exalts Him —deciding to use the music being made to His own glory and purpose. That’s all I do in my music. I want to give authentic, true and Biblical real life messages.”

Those messages started get the attention of a steadily growing “Holy Hip Hop” following in 2006 when Lecrae first charted with his sophomore CD, After The Music Stops, which debuted at No. 5 on the charts and included the hit singles, “Jesus Muzik” and “Prayin’ For You.”

The payoff for the three-time Dove Award nominee, who is co-owner of Reach Records and also has a licensing deal with Cross Movement Records, is altruistic for the most part. “Artists are the modern day philosophers, whether R&B, Hip Hop or Christian,” observes Lecrae, a graduate of North Texas University, who became a Christian at age 19. “For me, it’s being able to use that influence to help transform the world.”

He’s already started the process with his local Reach Life Ministries, the humanitarian arm of his Memphis-based label, which partners with organizations to equip local leaders with culturally relevant tools and projects designed to strengthen communities with the word of God. “The church can either retreat or engage,” Lecrae says of his ministry, “and that’s what we’re doing, we’re engaging the culture.”

For Lecrae and the artists signed to his label, that also means understanding the culture. “We’re what you would call hybrids,” he says. “We’re urban individuals who have experienced life in the inner city, but on the flip side, we’ve also had life experiences in a suburban context. Outside our cultural norms, there’s more exposure. And that’s the way this world is going, especially with kids.”

Growing up in Houston, the son of a single mother, Lecrae began rapping at age 11, but his dream of a career in hip hop was just child’s play. By age 21, he says, reality hit: “It’s time to get a job. You can’t eat off dreams.”

Gainful employment came by way of a Memphis cable company, where he worked his way up in the ranks from customer service to marketing executive, exhibiting the kind of leadership skills that have positioned him at the forefront of the Holy Hip Hop movement. “I was telling my bosses which channels were beneficial and what people wanted to watch,” says Lecrae.

But it was what he did on the weekends that would forever alter the course of his life. “I would volunteer at a juvenile detention center and write songs for the boys and rap them,” Lecrae recounts. “Upon their release from the center, some of the kids would ask that I put the music on CD.”

Word spread when one of his friends asked to take the music to a Christian camp for boys, and subsequently wrote a theme song for the camp. “It just kind of snowballed from there...” Lecrae says. “I’d find myself every weekend at a church or a ministry, and people would be asking ‘Where can I find your CD?’ and it just created a demand to the point where I had to make a decision: Am I going to stay working, or am I going to do this?’”

The result of that decision was his debut CD, Real Talk in 2005, attacking hard life issues with powerful messages and Lecrae’s personal testimony delivered in his southern rap style. That same year also marked the release of 116 Clique: The Compilation Album, a CD of artists signed to Reach Records, including Trip Lee, Tedashii, Sho Baraka and Lecrae, which took its inspiration from Romans 1:16. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile."

For Lecrae, there’s an authenticity that comes with knowing he’s doing the will of God. “We’re not just making frivolous, fluffy music that feels good, but we’re trying to infuse our music with truth that will ultimately encourage and give people hope and life transformation through the gospel.”

By Lisa Collins, senior music editor, GospelMusicChannel.com

Lisa Collins, a Los Angeles native and resident, is a syndicated columnist, writer, publisher and former Billboard Magazine columnist. Her career in gospel began in 1988 with her creation of “Inside Gospel,” a daily/weekly syndicated radio series that provided news, profiles and product updates relative to the gospel music community. For the next eight years, she would also serve as executive producer of the show that was broadcast in more than 100 markets nationwide. Collins has also served as a segment producer for BET and authored well over 300 articles on a variety of issues for a number of national publications from Essence to Upscale. Her background in the field of entertainment reporting is extensive, featuring cover stories and interviews with the likes of Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson and Prince.