Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is out touring and promoting his latest album, “All Things Work Together.” I had a chance to talk to Lecrae about his latest album and what’s in store for this talented artist.

I asked him how this album is different than his previous album and he says, “It’s different because it’s pure unadulterated Lecrae. It’s Lecrae, no excuses, no hiding. I’ve always given glimpses of my real life, like things that have happened, but this is like, no holds barred. So it’s a supermodel with no makeup on, you know, just waking up in the morning, and looking in the mirror with her breathe smelling gross, and that’s what this album is.” When I asked if he has a favorite song on the album, Lecrae states, “It rotates, I think for me it’s the first song, “I Always Knew,” right now because it just sets it up. It honors my mother and the work that she’s done to make me who I am today. It acknowledges, kind of, my faith and at the same time my involvement in the mainstream in hip-hop, and so it’s kind of, that whole all encompassing song.”

On his new album, Lecrae has had several collaborations with different artists like Tori Kelly. He said, “Tori and I worked on several songs, and ‘I’ll Find You’ was the one that really landed. So we had a great chemistry. We’re good friends so it worked out well, just a true musician. And then, we connected on real life and just a mutual respect for each others craft.” This song was inspired by Lecrae’s good friend that had passed away from cancer, DJ Official and his producer’s mom was battling cancer at the time as well. He said, “It just inspired us to encourage people who are going through tough times to fight and hold on, we all need that encouragement. People are probably used to a lot more upbeat and joyous music from me, and this one was more of a lament. It was honestly where I was at the time, so it would be impossible if I had somebody else come in and write all these for me; to be in just this happy, happy, joy mood. It was a tough time in my life and it’s reflected on that album. That’s probably the biggest thing that people will walk away with, it’s more of a serious tone than previous albums.”

Talking with Lecrae about the crossroads of trying to cater to the Christian fan base while gaining the respect of hip-hop, I asked him how does he deal with this, and he responded, “I think that’s going to be any artist’s challenge who has a diverse fan base. It was hard to know who to cater to, you know, that core hip-hop fan or the pop audience, or underground hip-hop, because a lot of people know me from some of the stuff I’ve done there. And then of course, the Christian fan base as well. So there are all those huge challenges. The faith-based fan base is a little more critical because they’re looking for content more than they’re looking for art sometimes, while the mainstream are just more looking for the artistic value of the music. The content is not the first priority for them a lot of times. So sometimes the faith-based can be a little more critical.”

I asked Lecrae what does he consider his biggest musical accomplishment and he said, “For me personally, it was opening up for Lauryn Hill, and getting to meet her. Just because of how critical of a role she played in my marked development, and it was an honor to share the stage with her and hang out with her afterward and to hear her words of wisdom. It was definitely the highlight of my musical career. It’s not necessarily an accolade, but it’s just a place where I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m here standing in the presence of people who shaped your music and who you are!'”

Lecrae has many musical influences growing up. He said, “I got to give credit to my mother and my cousins. My cousins introduced me to rap and hip-hop at around 6-7 years old, and they were just fans. They just introduced me to it, and they had a really diverse talent, so I got to absorb everything. But then my mother just constantly supported me, and would say, ‘Hey,there’s a talent show.’ She’s like, let’s investigate it. You know, she dropped me off at the studio sessions at 13 years old, so she just supported me the whole way through.” There are many artists that Lecrae would like to collaborate with and he say’s, “That’s a long, long list. I honestly felt like that will never end, it would probably take the rest of my life too. I love music so much and have so many influences and of course, of all genres, so it would probably take a lifetime. But I would love to sit in a room with Lauryn Hill, Bono, and Andre 3000. I’d just love to just sit in a room with those three because of their unique perspectives and creativity, and views on music and art. And maybe add Rick Rubin, then Dr. Dre, and then I want to add the rest, so it doesn’t stop. It just keeps going!”

Lecrae’s favorite song to perform right now is, “I’ll Find You” with Tori Kelly. He says, “You can literally see the countenance on people’s faces change, just like a connection. A connectivity that happens, where people have this, outer out-of-body experience and they’re looking at their own issues. Their introspective, their dealing with life. And you see smiles, you see tears and it’s like, ‘Wow, this is bigger than me.’ And that’s the song, right now, that I love to perform.”

Lecrae will be performing at The Ritz Ybor, in Tampa on Friday March 23rd. Don’t miss this show as it will be a moving experience!