Today Show Reports On Growing Popularity Of Christian Rap
National coverage highlights exploding Christian music genre
Posted: December 22, 2023, 5:00 PM | Category:General Artist Tags: Lecrae Source: NRT Staff Reports (KM)
The Today Show, NBC's weekday morning news and entertainment program, featured an extensive five-minute segment this morning highlighting the growing popularity of the Christian rap genre. Going back to the early 80s where the genre began to take shape, the report includes an interview with Lecrae, and RapZilla.com's editor-in-chief, Justin Sarachik. RapZilla is a popular website that covers the sub-genre of Christian music in detail.
You can watch the full segment below.
Lecrae talks about the moment where he saw his career in Christian Rap begin to expand. "I remember in 2011 being able to do the BET Awards and being on a national stage and just the world opened up," shared Lecrae who would go on to win the 2013 GRAMMY for Best Gospel Album for Gravity, the first hip-hop record to receive the award. "I'm not ashamed to acknowledge my faith," Lecrae continued. "You know that I believe in Jesus, but I do think Christian is a better noun than it is an adjective. It defines me as a person. But what I do is different, and I want to be respected for what I do."
When asked about the role Christian Hip Hop can play in the larger scene of popular music, Lecrae responded, "I think it's good music for the church, and it's good music from the church to the world. I think it's both. And I mean, that's beneficial for everybody."
Towards the end of the segment, Today co-host Carson Daily mentioned, "Lecrae won a GRAMMY 10 years ago. He's been doing this a long time. [The genre] needs more press. The light's got to be shined on this genre of music and get more publicity."
