“Victory Live!” CD Is Anything but
Your Typical Live Gospel Album.

Tye Tribbett and G.A.’s “Victory LIVE!” CD is anything but your typical, live, gospel album. But it's only fitting because Tye Tribbett is anything but your typical gospel artist. After making his mark with his distinctive gospel debut “Life” in 2004, Tribbett looks to further expand the margins of gospel music with “Victory Live.”

The album’s title track, “Victory,” breaks boundaries with its lively, rhythmic percussions borrowed deliberately from go-go music made popular in D.C. The track comes alive when trumpets and brass join the percussion, providing a potent backdrop for Tribbett’s empowering reminder:

There is no failure, our God can never lose/

And that same power it now belongs to you/

Now it’s time to celebrate all God’s grace (I’ve got the victory, the victory)/

Because the Devil is defeated and God be praised (I’ve got the victory, the victory)/

Every situation I face I win (I’ve got the victory, the victory)/

And everything works for my good in the end (I’ve got the victory, the victory)/

Tribbett also begins the album with this message that Christians are more than conquerors. The first track, “I Want It Back,” begins with a reminder of Matthew 11:12: “The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” Over a track laced with electric guitar and trumpets, Tribbett relates the assurance that every Christian has; that although we may fall short and give into temptation, we still have victory through Jesus Christ. He boldly addresses the Devil, saying:

You hit me hard, I should be knocked out/

Thing I’ve been through, don’t even want to talk about/

You’ve crossed the line this time, you’ve violated me/

I want revenge, and I want everything back from A-Z/

The battle’s not mine, the battle is the Lord’s/

In the name of Jesus, I’m taking it by force/

But there is no hint of somber regret, and just as David ended repentant Psalms in an empowered tone, the song ends with the confidence one finds in the redeeming power of Jesus’ blood, stating:

If you only knew what I was going to be/

After the storm you wouldn’t have even bothered me/

Upbeat, affirmative songs like “Victory” and “I Want It Back” get the listener out of his seat and ready for spiritual warfare in ways that few other gospel artists can.

Tribbett, however, also holds onto the foundation of traditional gospel music. He is well aware of the power of worship, as he calls “hallelujah”s and “thank you Jesus”s his “ammunition” for spiritual warfare through praise. Upbeat songs like “Bless the Lord,” “Hallelujah to Your Name,” and “No Other Choice” praise the Lord in trademark Tye Tribbett and G.A. style, while other songs like “G.A. Hymn (Who Else But God)” and “Seated at the Right Hand of God” have the sound of worship one might hear in a Sunday morning service. 

Once again Tye Tribbett and G.A. provide a gospel album for listeners of all ages with a distinctive and truly unique style. “Victory LIVE!” provides a soundtrack and reminder for everybody striving to follow Jesus Christ that we should live confident and joyously in the victory we find daily in him. 

Justin White