Christian hip hop artist Lecrae says as far as he's concerned Kanye West's latest album "The Life of Pablo" is not strictly a gospel album although it may sound like one.
"I don't know exactly what he [West] meant [by it being a Gospel album]," Lecrae told the Journal Star. "I'm thinking he was going for stylistically gospel," he said. "When people categorise every other genre of music, it's based on style. Jazz is not about the content, it's the style. And gospel has a distinct style. If he was going for the style, then absolutely, he pulled from gospel music to make his album. If he's talking about the content, I think it's another story altogether."
The album includes such tunes as "Real Friends," "I Love Kanye," and "No More Parties in LA." There's also a song called "FML," which abbreviates for "[expletive] my life."
As for himself, Lecrae has always been identified as a Christian rapper and his music has even topped gospel charts countless times.
The rapper hopes that people would distinguish his Christianity from his music, but admitted that he's "used to it" when people make wrong assumptions about him and his songs.
"If I had a dollar for every time that happened, I would be rich," he said. "That's the train tracks I'm laying down for others."
Lecrae also discussed his new book "Unashamed," where he details his journey to faith and success. As difficult as it was to confront his past demons, Lecrae said he made it a point to just be himself and be who he was created by God to be because "when people are exposed to that, it helps them. It helps them to experience their own vulnerabilities and their weaknesses."
At the same time, Lecrae confessed that writing a book is actually much easier than writing songs because he has more room to express himself. "It doesn't have to fit into a four-minute song. You can tell the whole story," he said.
