Lecrae might be a rapper who waxes poetics about faith, monogamy and positive human growth, but the lyrically ordained wordsmith’s rhymes never falter. His Anomaly album, due out September 9, is no exception.
“You sacrifice the art [when] you’re so focused on trying to get a message across,” Lecrae tells us. “And sometimes, messages are for books and sermons, lectures and not for music. Music is music. If the message comes across authentically, cool. But [I] focus on making dope music.”
The Atlanta-by-way-of-Houston MC continues to distinctively forge his legacy in Hip-Hop in the most unlikely of ways. By remaining spiritually grounded and simultaneously bodying verses, Lecrae is steadily rising above the Christian rapper stereotype.
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So much is he deviating from the norm that the arrival of ‘Crae’s seventh studio album has already caused a global participation in the concept behind the project. Via the #Anomaly hashtag, celebrities and civilians alike have shared with the rapper how they themselves have gone above what is standard.
Talk about a testimony.
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Hip-Hop Wired: Anomaly. That’s a great word. How will this next album deviate from the norm?
Lecrae: In a lot of ways. Conceptually, it’s about how I deviate from the norm just being a product of Hip-Hop, but yet staying true to who I am and what I’m about, even though the culture is going its own route. It’s saying ‘Man, I don’t care. I’ll be different.’
I really loved when Andre 3000 stood out and was himself, even though everybody else looked at him sideways; he was still unapologetically going to be him. And that’s what this [album] is really all about.
The songs on the album are very personal, and I don’t mind taking some stands and making some statements that a lot of people won’t make. So that’s really what it is, it’s about being an anomaly. And big music – the music is big. The production is not just simple beats, a couple singles have that going on, but for the most part, it’s really intricate.
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Photos: Instagram
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Hip-Hop Wired: Who are some of the producers that you’re working with?
Lecrae: S1, who’s done Kanye’s “Power” and worked with Beyoncé. We just clicked really well, we just get each other. Cobra, which is a phenomenal team, who’s done most of my project. And then Track a Dot who did a lot of stuff for Gravity and got some stuff on Meek Mill’s project and 2 Chainz’s.
Hip-Hop Wired: So you’re obviously working with the IT producers, have you considered working with the “maintstream” rap artists?
Lecrae: What’s funny is that prior to doing the project, I’d reached out to Kendrick and Elle Varner and Nipsey Hu$$le. We all had gotten on the same page about doing some music together. But what happened was as I got to writing, the album got real personal and it got to a place where it would have been a forced feature if I was like ‘yo, Nipsey, this song is about my heart and my pain, see if you could put a verse on here.’ And I just wanted to take a page out of some of the albums that I love [like] The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, OutKast’s original album, even Illmatic where it was them and you got to know them. You got a feel of who they were. And those were classic Hip-Hop albums to me that I just kinda wanted to revisit as well. You don’t get that a lot these days. You get these feature heavy albums, here today and gone tomorrow.
Hip-Hop Wired: Being the kind of rapper you are, someone who looks at things from a different perspective, religious so to speak, when you’re crafting up a verse, do you look at it like “I need to body this verse” or like “I need to get my message across”?
Lecrae: It used to be about “I gotta get my message across.” And sometimes I think you sacrifice the art because you’re so focused on trying to get a message across. And sometimes, messages are for books and sermons, lectures and not for music. Music is music. And if the message comes across authentically, cool. But [I] focus on making dope music. That’s what I wanted to do on this album and what I’ve been trying to do for the last few projects. Focus on making dope music and if it’s in [me], then it’ll come out of [me]. Don’t force it.
Hip-Hop Wired: Who do you hope to work with in the future, what’s a dream project?
Lecrae: I really feel like, production wise, me S1 and my man Joseph, Joey P, production wise, because they get me. It’s hard to find producers that just get the artist.
I think Cole and Kendrick they share a sense of, like, being themselves on a track. And we may not all have the same value systems, but everybody’s like ‘man, I’m ok with being honest about my issues.’ And those are some guys, I think, would be dope to work with.
Hip-Hop Wired: You’re going on tour again, in conjunction with the new album. Lecrae in the booth and Lecrae on the road –– how do those two differ?
Lecrae: All I know how to do is give 100 percent. But it’s hard to divide that up both ways. I never write my best music on the road and I never put together my best shows when I’m at home working in the studio. So when I’m on the road, I’m on the road. I’m committed; I’m fully into it. What I also want to do –– I went to the Yeezus tour and what I saw was an experience. It wasn’t a concert, it was an experience. A lot of other genres have been giving “experiences” for a long time and Hip-Hop had always been two turnables and a mic. Nothing’s wrong with that, but I’m anticipating giving people an experience. So, it’s going to be intense.
Hip-Hop Wired: You touched on Kayne, which I think is interesting. I went to the concert too. And there a few things that kinda caught me off guard. What do you think about Kanye today, the Yeezus production, what are you’re two cents?
Lecrae: I just see a man who is ok with struggling in front of everybody. You know? If he’s confused, he doesn’t mind being confused in front of everybody. If he’s feeling arrogant, he doesn’t mind being arrogant in front of everybody. If he’s sad or frustrated, everyone gets to see it. So, he’s not very – he doesn’t mind letting all that out. And there’s a catch 22, of course. That’s beneficial sometimes, sometimes that’s detrimental. But that’s what I see. I think that what he does is gamble big and so he often wins big, but you can lose big when you gamble big. That’s the quintessential Kanye from my perspective.
Hip-Hop Wired: How does your profession or role in Hip-Hop affect your household? You’re married with kids…
Lecrae: Hip-Hop is a culture and we have a responsibility to teach the culture. Mos Def once was like ‘you want to know how Hip-Hop is doing, how are you doing?’ I think when I’m a healthy person, I’m present in my home and I’m being a father to my kids, being a husband to my wife, I’m setting a precedence in Hip-Hop and I’m changing what the culture sees. And we see that. Nobody talked about being married and then Jay and B get married and now marriage is all the rage, you know what I mean? Love and Hip-Hop, relationships is cool now. You get on Instagram now and guys are putting up pictures with their kids and we get to see these photos of fatherhood and that’s dope, essentially. We don’t have to be ashamed of it or try to hide [it].
Hip-Hop Wired: Definitely. And do your kids listen to your music, are they Hip-Hop fans?
Lecrae: I love Hip-Hop, I love Pop, I love Reggae – they not messing with the Reggae [laughs]. I can’t get them to buy into that. But yea man, they love Hip-Hop. My daughter is the most “rachet” out of the three and she just turns up. She be in the back seat turning up.
Hip-Hop Wired: Is there a story about your wife or your family – a story that you haven’t told yet, that you want to tell or will tell on this album?
Lecrae: There are some stories that I’m telling and there are some stories that haven’t delved into just yet. I think that story is still being written. Being a father is still so new to me. My kids are really young, [and] I’m still getting my footing together. I haven’t seen how my actions have affected them. I haven’t seen how my presence or lack of presence has really had an affect on their lives. But I’m definitely, being really transparent about some other stuff. Me being abused as a kid, abortion, a lot of those issues that have affected me and I can see the effect of it now. I’m touching on that all that stuff now. I think it’s helpful for other people and helpful for me to get it off my chest.
Hip-Hop Wired: How old were you when you were abused?
Lecrae: I was about seven.
Hip-Hop Wired: Wow.
Lecrae: Yea, so just dealing with that. I know a lot of people are molested and abused physically, emotionally, sexually.
I’m also a part of a movement with fathers against sex trafficking. A majority of our country doesn’t realize that children are being trafficked everyday. So I think the one remedy to that, to a lot, is being a present dad. If you’re present in your kids’ lives, they can avoid some of those pitfalls that we see with trafficking and other societal issues. I touch on that a little bit on the album.
