Lecrae - Mixing Christianity and Real Life Perfectly

Last month, Lecrae became the first artist in any genre to have an album at the top of the Billboard 200 and the gospel music charts at the same time. Anomaly covered the best of both worlds - it was "Christian enough" for church and "real life" enough for the mainstream. That same mix is a representation of the man himself as well as his entire world view.

The Christian side means not being scared to say the name of Christ in his music and presenting a world seen through the eyes of a believer. The mainstream side means not being afraid to talk about things that we all face in the world that we live in where adultry, sex outside of marriage, abortions and cheating are happening around us (and sometimes even to us). For Lecrae, the mix doesn't appear to be a contrived blending - it's just who he is. At the bottom of it all, he's a Christian husband and father who raps. His music isn't sticking to any formula to make it work for either "side," it is just about life as he sees it. But make no mistake, how he sees things is through the eyes of someone who loves the Lord. He just doesn't feel the need to explicitly remind everyone of that in every single song.

In a recent interview with The Atlantic, he explained how he sees it, saying, "Christians need to embrace that there need to be believers talking about love and social issues and all other aspects of life." And those things, when shared from someone with a background of faith, will look, sound and feel differently from someone who is just about seeing their own name in lights.

The line he walks is like a tightrope. An artist that is "too Christian" won't get the time of day from someone who doesn't believe or is on the fence. An artist that is "too worldly" will be bashed by the church. So how does Lecrae do it? "My music is not Christian—Lecrae is," he said. "And you hear evidence of my faith in my music."

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