Lecrae

Deeply rooted in the gospel-rap movement, American rapper and producer Lecrae is widely regarded as one of the most important Christian hip-hop artists of all time. Apart from his solo work, he also releases music with the Christian rap collective 116 Clique. Born Lecrae Devaughn Moore on October 9, 1979, in Houston, Texas, he spent most of his childhood between Denver, San Diego, and Dallas. Even though he began writing songs at a very early age, his rap career got sidetracked after he got involved with drugs and gang-related activities. Following his conversion to Christianism at the age of 19, Lecrae founded the label Reach Records in 2004 and made his official debut with Real Talk, a critically lauded album that reached Number 29 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart after being re-released by Cross Movement Records in 2005. Later that year, he also took part in 116 Clique's first studio outing, The Compilation Album. Released in 2006, his breakout album After the Music Stops peaked at Number 5 on the US gospel chart and was followed by 2008's Rebel, which made history by becoming the first Christian hip-hop album to ever top that chart. Lecrae kept the momentum going on the chart-toppers Rehab (2010) and its 2011 sequel Rehab: The Overdose, the latter of which won Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year at the Dove Awards. Gravity, his sixth LP, appeared in 2012 and quickly established itself as the biggest-selling Christian rap album in history, also winning Best Gospel Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards. During this time, Lecrae also issued the first installment of his Church Clothes mixtape series, with a second volume hitting retail in 2013. His big break came in 2014 when his seventh LP Anomaly achieved pole position on the Billboard 200, garnering widespread critical acclaim and landing three of its singles at the top of the gospel charts in the United States. In the subsequent years, releases such as All Things Work Together (2017), Let the Trap Say Amen (2018) with Zaytoven, and Restoration (2020) all sat atop Billboard's Christian Albums chart, while his 2022 mixtape Church Clothes 4 rose to Number 2 on the Top Christian Albums chart. The mixtape contained the singles "Spread the Opps" and "Fear Not," which reached Number 28 and 45 on the US Christian charts, respectively.