SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Grammy Award-winning rapper Lecrae has put his Christian faith at the center of his music. In his new album, "Reconstruction," he shares how it's changed his life and also offers some advice to people who've had a bad experience with church.
LECRAE: I understand why people don't want to deal with the church. They've experienced the blasphemers, the bad teachers, the cash seekers, these people who should be shepherds and leaders and guides and carers for the soul who are, you know, being tyrants instead of loving leaders.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STILL HERE")
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: Gave all of your heart. Life broke it apart. I'm still here. I'm still here. I know it's been hard through all of your scars. I'm still here. I'm still here.
LECRAE: I want to say, I see this with you, and I still have not left the faith. Keep pressing forward, and don't give them the power of stealing away something so beautiful and transformative from you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STILL HERE")
LECRAE: (Rapping) Feeling like Yeezy baby. I was losing my mind, givе up all of my time, but it never got easy baby. Well, that's shame on me, feel the rain on me, uh-huh, yeah. It ain't been my season lately, tryna get through the day. I break down when I pray. I don't know what to say. Help me. I'm 'bout to drown, drown, drown, drown.
SIMON: What's being reconstructed? What are you trying to rebuild?
LECRAE: It's not so much of what is being reconstructed. It's what has been reconstructed. This album was birthed out of the work that I think I spent the last five years doing. Some of it is spiritual, obviously, reconstructing my faith. Some of it is relational, reconstructing my family and marriage. But a lot of it is the idea that oftentimes we learn new things, and we find ourselves disoriented at how things don't quite work out the way we like them to. Some of the failures and things that have not worked out are cause to reconstruct and to build something different and better.
SIMON: Can we talk about your early years?
LECRAE: Sure. By all means.
SIMON: I gather, raised by a single mother. Grew up seeing a lot of poverty, drugs. And I gather you survived sexual abuse from a babysitter.
LECRAE: That's right.
SIMON: What do you make of those things now?
LECRAE: Well, the good thing about, you know, those traumatic events happening to you as a child, if there's any silver lining, is that your brain isn't developed enough to understand everything that's happening. So though it was traumatic, some of those things have shaped me in some difficult ways. But more than anything, they've created a resilience, and I think it helps me connect to people. You know, there's nothing I can hear about from other people that would be too off-putting for me and make me feel like I can't help you, I can't relate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY STORY")
LECRAE: (Rapping) I lost hope in humanity many moons ago. Took the sun to remind me the moon is just for show. Reflecting light, it has no light of its own. Without the sun, it's just a dark, cold, perilous globe. I mean, I probably had to take you back, but how far though? Back when me and mama rode the bus because her car broke? Back when I was in my early teens, having dreams 'bout being your favorite rapper. But none of it's what it seems - maybe the crime scene...
SIMON: Can I ask what brought you to religion?
LECRAE: So, ironically, my mother grew up in a bit of a religious cult. She wasn't allowed to wear pants or lipstick or go to sporting events. And because of that, she did not want me to participate in organized religion. She just wanted me to be a free thinker so I would not have to face the same abuse that she endured. But I was still curious. You know, I think every human being comes to a place where they wonder, what's the purpose of life? What is their meaning? Why are they here? And those questions led me to explore religion.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY STORY")
LECRAE: (Rapping) Holy Spirit, patiently waiting, nothing forsaken. Started stirring my faith, it was gentle and never shaken. "The BEMA Podcast" and Marty Solomon's words - I read a couple books by Lois Tverberg, Many sermons by Tony Evans and Charlie Dates. I felt the Lord showing his face, giving me grace. Corrected vision when my eyes got blurry. I give the Lord glory. He changed my whole story, like...
Christianity was the only one that really kind of answered those deeper questions for me. It wasn't about how I can reach God through my trying and my efforts and my abilities. It was more about God reaching down and saying, you're going to need me to pull you up. And that's an existential experience. You know, meeting Jesus at 19 years old, I felt a peace come over me that I've never experienced before. I felt welcomed. I felt loved. I felt forgiven. It was like a new being was emerging where I - literally, I took off all of my jewelry and ran outside and started to give it away to people on the street. Like, it's something I would have never done.
SIMON: I gather that having a Bible in your car saved you from arrest during an encounter with the police.
LECRAE: That's absolutely correct. I was throwing parties, and, you know, some friends of mine were also selling drugs. You know, I was taking part in some aspects of it. And I went to a high school to do some promotion for the party. Of course I have some drugs in my car. You know, the police had caught me trespassing on the high school property. So I hurry up, got to my car. I was met at my car by more police officers. They detained me, put me in the back of the squad car, and then they started to search my car.
And this particular officer who searched my car, he came back to me. At the time, I had a Bible on my dashboard. My grandmother was giving me a Bible. And there were highlights and markers and markings and notes and just so much in there. And he took his time and read through some of those things. And he comes back to the car, and he says, is that your Bible? I said, yes, sir. He says, is that you doing all that marking and reading it? He said, yes - I said, yes, sir. He said, man, I'm going to let you go.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAY FOR ME")
LECRAE: (Singing) I know he's got his hands on me.
He said, I want you to get in that Bible, and I want you to take it seriously and live it out. So I get back in the car. My drugs are gone. You know, I'm like, OK, I think he just let me go.
SIMON: Oh, my.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: God be praised.
LECRAE: Man, I'm telling you.
SIMON: Well, what was that like for you? Humbling?
LECRAE: It was humbling. It, to me, was like a sign, like, hey, I'm giving you a chance here. Get it together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAY FOR ME")
LECRAE: (Singing) When I'm broken, down and out, I hope you pray for me. When I'm broken, down and out, I hope you pray for me.
(Rapping) Say that you pray for me. Don't run away from me. I know I strayed from him. But I feel his grace on me. I was up, but I'm down again, feel the tears coming 'round again. Looking back, I was drowning then. Feeling lost, but I'm bound to win.
SIMON: Can people who don't share your faith listen to your music?
LECRAE: I would hope they do. No one is speaking from a vacuum. Everyone is speaking from a place of belief or unbelief. There's a value, a worldview, a sense of morality in every piece of art that comes out. Tons of people who are not Christians love "Lord Of The Rings," as do I. You know, a Christian wrote that book, and his world view is embedded in the book. It doesn't make it less great. It's just that you begin to see things from a different vantage point. And I think that's what my music is. It's - for those who share my faith, they can probably see those themes very vividly. For those who don't they may not see it, but they may appreciate the topics that I bring up and the vantage points that I have.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAY FOR ME")
LECRAE: (Singing) I know he's got his hands on me. He's my eyes when I can't see. I know his prayer's for me. This prayer's for me.
SIMON: Lecrae - his new album, "Reconstruction." Thank you so much for being with us.
LECRAE: Man, thank you. I appreciate the time and the opportunity.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEADPHONES")
LECRAE: (Singing) And my brother got headphones in heaven. I hope he hear this song, yeah, hey. And my mama got headphones in heaven. I hope she hear this song. Yeah.
(Rapping) We went from nothin' to hunnids To milli's, man, who would've thunk it? We went from runnin' and duckin' to runnin' a Fortune 500. All of my people who held me down, now we liftin' them up. Ain't no more stressin' or strugglin' or dreadin' the first of the month. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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