LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
HUFFINGTON
03.09.14
Music
With a
Message
N THIS WEEK’S issue,
Jon Ward profiles Lecrae Moore, a fascinating artist straddling the
Christian and hip hop worlds.
Moore, whose music comes with
a distinctly Christian message, has
long been a poster child for evangelical Christians spreading their
gospel at festivals and events. Over
the past two years, however, Moore
has started breaking into more
mainstream hip hop circles, trying
to reach a broader audience.
“Lecrae is one of many modern
evangelicals who have rejected the
path set by the combative ‘Moral
Majority’ culture warriors of the
1980s, and instead embraced an assimilation into the mainstream and
ART STREIBER
I
its formative institutions, hoping to
shape it from within,” Jon writes.
At times, this places him awkwardly between two worlds: the
Christians who think he’s sold
out, and the hip hop listeners who
don’t want music with a moral lesson of any kind. But for the most
part, his message is subtle enough
to appeal to both camps.
When BET’s director of music
programming, Kelly Griffin, first
heard Moore’s music, he equated
it to how he felt when he first
heard Kanye West.
“[Lecrae] makes being a Christian cool. It doesn’t feel preachy,”
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