TIME TO BREAK BREAD…
ARTIST: Lecrae
ALBUM: Real Talk
LABEL: Cross Movement Records, 2006
(www.lecrae.com / www.crossmovementrecords.com)
STANDOUTS: Tha Church, Crossover, We Don’t, Wait, Who U Wit, Nothin’
REMINDS ME OF: Fire ‘n’ Brimstone with southern bounce. Ludacris with a bible. Holy Rukus.
Ahh, Christian Rap the stepchild of Black Music… You almost smirk whenever someone says it, even today. And as a Christian (a highly flawed one, but one none the less), there’s not a whole lot of hiphop rappers that I get into. Mainly because so much of it has just been bad.
But there’s a generation of spitters and flowers out there that are really nice. Not just “nice for Christian rap,” but nice period. Lecrae is one of ‘em.
Now what separates Christian Rap or holy Hiphop as some call it from the secular stuff is the content. There’s not apologies here. They’re reppin’ for Christ, trying to convey a message about their beliefs. Trying to be apostles on wax.
Some say it’s preachy no matter what. But whether you believe the message or not, Lecrae and others (think: Da’ Truth, Cross Movement, BB Jay, etc.) have done/are doing something that 99% of the folks in hiphop gave up on doing a good decade ago:
Concept albums. Concept songs. Songs with actual themes that tackle issues. There’s no I’m better than you/your girl’s ugly/your car ain’t as nice as mine/drivel. You get actual concepts. Instead you’ll get some darts like:
“If you catch me giving up money so folks can eat/it’s really God workin’ thru me—I’m not that sweet.” (“Nothing,” Lecrae)
Humility never sounded so nice. Plus ‘Crae spits like Tourette’s and a gland problem. Imagine Ludacris-turned-missionary. It’s flow on top of flow, beats being ridden like a rodeo. But again, just as Hov’ didn’t apologize for his drug ties, 50 for his bullet wounds, or the rest for the pimp game, ‘Crae makes no bones about his allegiances and faith. But like those guys, the boy can knock. The music’s hot.
Most of the beats on Real Talk have a southern bounce to ‘em. If someone told you that Lil Jon or Jazze Phae or E-40 laced ‘em, you’d have a hard time doubt ‘em—at least in terms of the quality. Real Talk knocks. Hard. I’m not sure if one can get Crunk for Christ as they scream on Scream, but it sounds as good as anything else rattling club walls these days.
Besides, we made an active effort as an industry and society to cosign masses of 12-year old suburbanites singing, “Don’t you wish your man was a freak like me?” Now once you go that far left, having a cat spit’ something like: “Forget 5 mics, I want 5 saved souls/with self-control takin’ the gospel ‘cross the globe/Say Word, Sho—that’s word to the Deacon, the pastor and the choir singin’…”(“Tha Church”) doesn’t seem so bad, does it?
As for choice selcets, Tha Church is a real knocker. Never heard of the guest emcee, Sho, but he’s smoother than a tub of Land O Lakes. And depending on your sense of humor, “Without Christ and his restoration/ your chance of makin’ it is slimmer than blacks gettin’ reparations,” might be one of the funnier lines in Hiphop this side of a Ludacris skit.
Anyway, for some Real Talk, give LeCrae a shot.
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