Lecrae's Sophomore CD

San Diego, Ca.- Sep. 26, 2006...For an album entitled “After the Music Stops,” anyone who picks up Lecrae’s sophomore album and listens to it will undoubtedly dread the moment the ‘music does stop’.

Lecrae's album begins with the anthem “After the Music Stops.” Its opening guitar riff might cause one to wonder whether he is listening to a rock or rap CD. But Lecrae quickly avoids any confusion about his album’s purpose, wasting no time as he opens with the challenge: “I got a question. After the show, after the set, after the music stops, what’s next? Are we just writing songs? Or are we concerned with uniting a people to follow the great commission of Christ?”. As the beat builds and joins the guitar, Lecrae presents his thesis for the fabric of his album:

That’s why I want the beats to knock/

So after the music stops you can meet the Rock/

I pray that you would know him well/

This is like show and tell/

It’s more than a show, I’m showin’ you Emmanuel/

So yeah, I’m hopin’ that you likin’ the flow/

But it’s only so you can know the God I’m writin’ it fo’/

Lecrae makes sure not to lose touch with his southern roots, as the track “Jesus Muzik” attests to. He and his fellow 116 Clique member Trip Lee exchange verses and ideas over a chopped and screwed beat. They lament the sinful message and lifestyle being pushed through secular hip hop, and present their alternative through “Jesus Muzik” which uplifts the things of God. Other tracks like “The Truth,” “Send Me,” “The King,” and “Unashamed” all share the same positive message through chanted choruses and beats that sound very similar to the music on his first album.

But this album stands out from Lecrae's first release through his openness, both in his honesty and his willingness to try new sounds and production. He genuinely opens up about the struggles and agnosticism of his youth in “I Did it for You,” and relates the difficulties he still has in his everyday walk with God in “Prayin for You.” But Lecrae makes sure to remind us that it’s not about him with the song “Invisible.” He thanks the Lord for the success he’s had in spreading the good news, but pleads in the chorus for God to make him invisible and goes on to say, “If you see me on the TV or the worldwide web/ Know that I be giving Christ the cred'.”

One thing that is visible is the more diverse production in “After the Music Stops.”

The tracks range from the gritty southern style common on his first album, to smoother tracks which allow for Lecrae to take on a new approach in presenting God to his listener. “El Shaddai” is a worship song at the end of the album in which Lecrae is altogether absent, as the track is stripped down entirely to guest vocalist Cam and a guitar.

With The Cross Movement getting ready to hang up the microphone and pass the torch after producing holy hip hop for more than a decade, it’s refreshing to see artists like Lecrae ready to take on the calling of producing uplifting music for the hip hop generation.  While secular hip hop continues to endorse sin, Lecrae presents an alternative brand of hip hop that encourages us to instead seek Christ “after the music stops.”  

For more information go to:www.lacrae.com

Justin White