Lecrae has done prayer sessions with plenty of MLB, NBA and NFL teams. However it wasn’t easy to get the players of those teams to become interested in his music, he explains in an interview with ESPN First Take yesterday (May 5).
“Sometimes that genre, when you kind of classify it as ‘Gospel’ or ‘Christian,’ it’s off-putting,” Lecrae says. “So a lot of times I don’t label it. I make music. I’m Lecrae, the person as Christian. I may talk about social issues, I may talk about love, relationships, I may talk about my love for Jesus. It could be all of that.”
Lecrae has had numerous prayer sessions with the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Timberwolves, among others.
The Grammy-winning rapper recalls one prayer session with the Sacramento Kings when one of the coaches announced him as a Christian rapper with CDs for the players to take home with them. The players weren’t interested.
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Lecrae explains that once music listeners hear his music and realize that he’s spitting about real issues, they become more receptive to it as being uplifting and empowering. He’s since developed relationships with a few notable ball players including Jeremy Lin and golfer Bubba Watson, among others.
“I think in the locker room, athletes want to hear something to get them riled up,” he says. “They want to hear something to get them focused on the field, on the court, whatever it may be and I provide an alternative to some of the other stuff that some cats might be listening to.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Lecrae praises his close friend Golden State Warrior point guard Stephen Curry who once joined him on stage at a Summer concert last year.
“Steph is solid through and through,” the Houston-bred rapper says. “It’s not just tongue in cheek with him. He’s the real deal. You can see it in the subtle things and the bigger things and I think even just watching him on the court. Obviously he’s a human, he’s not perfect, he’s not the perfect picture of a human being but he’s real. He’s authentic. He’s serious about his faith, he’s humble, he’s a good father, he’s a good husband, he’s a role model and he’s arguably one of the greatest players in the NBA right now.”
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The full ESPN First Take interview with Lecrae is as follows.
For additional Lecrae coverage, watch the following DX Daily.
