Lecrae has announced he is hitting the road with the Church Clothes Tour, paying homage to the mixtape series which spanned nearly a decade.
The Grammy Award-winner took to Instagram on Monday (January 16) to announce the 25-date tour, which kicks off in Orlando, Florida on March 17.
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Following the first stop, he will make his way to major cities across the South, Midwest and East Coast — including Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, New York and Philadelphia — before closing out in New Attleboro, Massachusetts on May 14.
“We need you there,” Lecrae captioned the tour announcement. “We need you to bring someone who needs to encounter Jesus in an authentic way.”
In a follow-up post, the Reach Records founder jokingly made an attempt to hype up ticket sales, recording his voice over a video clip of LeBron James affirming his support for Shannon Sharpe, following the FS1 commentator’s courtside spat with Ja Morant’s father at the Lakers vs. Grizzlies game on Friday (January 20).
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“Yeah, I mean the biggest thing is, to get some Lecrae tickets,” the rapper said. “Go to lecrae.com/tour. It’s the final Church Clothes Tour, so if Shannon going, I’m going. That’s really what it is. My guy, ya know? That’s it!”
Lecrae will be joined on tour by singer-songwriter Doe and Elevation Rhythm, a youth and young adult worship crew hailing from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Lecrae released Church Clothes 4, the final mixtape in his popular series, in November 2022, accompanied by two music videos: “Spread The Opps,” and “Still In America.” The 13-song album features appearances from Andy Mineo, WHATUPRG, nobigdyl, Jon Keith, A.I. The Anomaly and Jordan L’Oreal.
“I’m a child of Hip Hop. I grew up with rap music, and God transitioned and transformed me when I became a believer!” he said of the impact his beliefs have had on his career in a press release about the tour. “After that, people felt I didn’t belong in Hip Hop anymore.”
“The Church Clothes mixtape series helped them understand there’s a place for artists like me,” he added. “If Wu-Tang can spit the Five Percent gems, Kendrick can talk Hebrew Israelites, and Ice Cube and Lupe can declare their Islamic faith, why is there no space for Christian Hip Hop artists? So, the first Church Clothes was about me getting mine off and spitting what’s in my heart.”
Lecrae announced the first mixtape in the Church Clothes series just before headlining the first-ever Christian Hip Hop showcase at South By Southwest in 2012. “This mixtape is aimed at the mainstream and is raw uncut Hip Hop,” he said at the time. “This is totally different from my past releases and I hope can build a bridge between my current fans and create new ones.”
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Over the course of his long-running career, Lecrae has seen his imprint become one of the most successful independent labels in the music industry. In 2016, he spoke to HipHopDX and explained what he hoped to accomplish through his music.
“What I feel like in terms of my music is I want people to wrestle with the complexity of it and the beauty of the complexity,” he said, “and not just kinda write it off like, ‘I get what it is. It’s just rap.’ Or ‘It’s Christian.’ Or ‘It’s indie.’ Whatever.”
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He continued: “I want you to like, no, it’s it’s own thing. Sit with it and wrestle with it and what it is in it’s own unique package. So when they hand out Grammys for that type of stuff, cool. I think that’s why people want to win Album of the Year because that means it transcends all the little pockets. It’s just good.”
