Christian Rapper Lecrae To Battle Eminem, Drake Others For Best Rap Performance Grammy

Lecrae Moore, who is known by fans simply as Lecrae, snuck up on rap fans this year with his No. 1 album, Anomaly. A Christian artist, he's been slowly ascending the Billboard 200 over his past several releases, including a No. 3 slot for 2012's Gravity. But this year, he really made a mark on the music scene -- his single, "All I Need Is You," is nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 2015 Grammys.

Speaking with The Blaze, Moore discussed what it's like to reach national prominence after a decade of plugging away in the hip-hop universe.

"The 'Best Rap Song Performance' is like a milestone for me," he said. "It's more about the mission than it is kind of the award for me and what it is, is the mission of just saying that a voice that is not for the degradation of humanity is in the same pipeline with everybody else."

The Houston rapper and co-founder of Reach Records stirred the pot in August when he tweeted: Dear Hip Hop, we can't scream "murder, misogyny, lawlessness" in our music & then turn around and ask for equality & justice."

Given the amount of social dischord that's occurred since then, it's no surprise that Moore's still barking up the same tree.

"I think thre's just a huge, huge lack of civil conversations," he said. "I think that everyone loves to jump on their soapbox and blast out their analysis of everything, but I think we fail to realize that we all see life through a paradigm, through a particular bias."

He has an interesting take on Ferguson, Garner, etc., one that offers itself to understanding and sympathy.

"I always struggle when people say, 'This is a hate crime' ... no one knows the hearts of men," he said. "We don't know what's going on in the hearts of individuals and [what] leads them to do something. I'm not in a position to say."

The 35 year old will be in Los Angeles this February to hear his name get called during Best Rap Performance nominations, but he's a long shot in a group that includes Eminem ("Rap God"), Drake ("0 to 100/The Catch Up"), Kendrick Lamar ("i") and Childish Gambino ("3005").

Check out Lecrae's tune below:

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