Interview: Lecrae Looks Inward As He Closes Out His Groundbreaking 'Church Clothes' Mixtape Series
In 2012, the first Church Clothes mixtape with DJ Don Cannon made Lecrae a mainstream rap star despite five successful albums that revolutionized Christian hip-hop. It’s easy to understand why considering the Reach Records co-founder was able to make such an impression through lyrical abilities and production choices that rivaled secular rap artists.
“It's been just a long time coming,” said Grammy Award-winning emcee Lecrae with BET.com regarding Church Clothes series ending through its fourth chapter. “I wanted to close the chapter out. I think every great story has a final chapter. Every great television show has a final episode. So, if I was gonna do it, let's do it.”
Between album releases ranging from Gravity to 2020’s Restoration alongside collaborative projects like Let The Trap Say Amen with Zaytoven or the 1K Phew produced No Church In A While, Church Clothes has remained something like the Christian equivalent to Lil Wayne’s Dedication series.
Released in early November, Church Clothes 4 provides a split between deep introspective reflections on his personal life, relationship with his faith and commentary on the world at large. Speaking with BET.com, Lecrae discusses closing out his breakout mixtape series, redefining Black spirituality and the importance of seeking therapy.
BET.com: I still remember the hype around the first Church Clothes and later Church Clothes 2 with Don Cannon. In a time where most people wouldn’t even be able to tell you the difference between a mixtape and an album, how do you view the evolution of the Church Clothes series within the pantheon of the 2000s mixtape era from Datpiff downloads to blogs to where we are now?
Lecrae: I just try to think of it like I'm just excited to create in every season. Music is seasonal and I think this was a different era, a different season and you gotta speak to the now. I think that's really what it was about. It was about how I speak to the now about what's going on today but still being relevant. That was really the heartbeat behind it. They all have their own unique kind of voice and so this was me just trying to speak to what's going on today.
BET.com: There’s always a clear creative direction for where you go with Church Clothes mixtapes on a visual level. What was your inspiration this time around especially when you look at the cover which pays homage to the series’ history alongside the music videos?
Lecrae: I wanted it to be timeless. How do I create some timeless music? I felt like that was really the biggest heartbeat. How do I say what and where I'm at today while making it timeless? Being current both visually and sonically and paying homage to what's happened behind us. What does that look like today? It's kind of like if you gonna make a movie about Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, you wanna see it in today's kind of picture. You don't wanna see an old-school version of it but you want history while paying attention to the present.
BET.com: And with that said. How did you want that vision to be represented musically?
Lecrae: For this project, musically, how do I diversify? If you listen to the first few tracks, it's to let people know I'm tapped into what's going on right now for the sounds and the sonics of today. Then, I'm not afraid to tap back into some of that classic hip-hop sound that birthed me and that raised me. As the album progresses, you kind of get into that. Being a student of the craft, doing a little bit of everything, it's kind of like how LeBron has to learn how to do the new moves while he still incorporates some of his old moves at the same time. That's really what I was doing.
BET.com: When it comes to Black people and mental health, we’re also watching the emergence of the Black church becoming more accepting of therapy. As someone who’s been open about that journey on the project, where did your faith and need for professional mental health help meet?
Lecrae: I think we should all be aimed to be integrated people. And being integrated means that your spiritual and mental health are connected. If we try to separate them, we really do a disservice to ourselves. You would never say, man, I'm having heart problems. Let me just pray. You would go to a doctor, you would get some medication and you would pray as well. It's integrating both the spiritual and the mental and emotional. If I'm struggling with my mental health, that's not just a spiritual battle. You know, there's an organ in my head called a brain and it is going through some things. It may need therapy, it may need medicine or it may need rest. We're just getting more attuned to that and not being so just old school with our views on things.
BET.com: The “Still In America” joint is fire alongside the video. It’s the sequel to “Welcome To America” from Anomaly. How do you kind of maintain your willingness to be honest and truthful in your messages as opposed to angering certain parts of your fan base?
Lecrae: As time moves forward, we forget the origins and the roots of things. The best way I can explain it is if my great-grandmother passes a recipe down for banana bread. You know, it's nuts, bananas, brown sugar and flour. By the time it gets to me, the nuts aren't on the list. The bananas aren't on the list. Well, now I'm just eating some sweet bread, but I'm calling it banana bread. That's a lot of what has happened with Christianity in America. The actual faith that was, was passed down. We’ve left out all kinds of ingredients and added on things. Now you gotta be in this gigantic church with lights and stuff. We've gotten away from the simple realities of it. So people call what I'm saying radical but it's what we should be on. We should be on caring about the disenfranchised people. We should be providing for those who don't have. We get a little too caught up in the way things are here and not the way things really should be. I think the recipe's just off. So I'm just trying to encourage us to get back to the recipe so we can eat the bread that we are supposed to be eating.
BET.com: I always looked at you as someone who redefined what it is to be a Christian and a few months ago you talked about your time in the Holy Land. When you look at Kanye, Kyrie Irving, Kendrick, Lupe and even yourself, what are your thoughts on Black people redefining their relationship with the Abrahamic religions as a whole?
Lecrae: I think we all have plenty of common ground and if we can acknowledge our common ground and we can move forward on it, we can have civil discussions. A lot of times we'll look at what's different about us and that'll create tension and division instead of looking at what's common and then building from there.
If we can say, okay, well we all agree on these particular points then we can move forward. And I think what tends to happen is we don't listen to each other. We just talk at each other so we don't really hear and we can't wait to condemn one another. We're ready to pounce on people for anything that comes out of their mouths that don't sound like what we're used to hearing. And I think we just lost nuance.
We've lost the ability to dialogue and wrestle with things because we can throw people away. I got Muslim friends. I got Jewish friends. I got people from all walks of life that I connect with and I can gain a better perspective. I got friends who call themselves Hebrew Israelites as well. I can gain perspective from all of them and we can have civil conversations and see where we agree and disagree and we both walk away more enlightened than we were before we sat down. But it's because we're okay with having civil dialogue and not just blasting each other and throwing each other away when we disagree.
