Lecrae has made a living being an anomaly; he’s the Christian rapper who insists he’s a rapper who just happens to be a Christian. Paul Wall and E-40 are as likely to lend a verse to a Lecrae album as are Dre Murray and This’l. While he continues to draw ire from conservative Christians, Crae ups the ante with a full-length collaboration with “secular” producer Zaytoven titled Let The Trap Say Amen.
The project features more of Lecrae Moore’s commendable conviction over colorful, albeit repetitive, Zaytoven production.
This newfound pairing is an apparent way for Lecrae to continue his faith-based musings without sounding stale. Think Jeezy’s politics-meets-the-trap album, The Recession, only with “faith” replacing “politics.” While most of Lecrae’s themes are retreads, his enlightened trap flow combined with Zay’s colorful piano keys and rolling drums initially freshen up the same old, same old. “Preach” outlines Lecrae’s well-known mission to use rap as his platform to spread the gospel. Yet, Crae’s stop-n-go flow on the simplistic-but-catchy hook vibes well with the type of shimmering beat that Zaytoven has made his calling card. Songs like this one and the vibrant opener, “Get Back Right” muscle up Lecrae as a lively MC and turn this album into a trunk-rattler.
Zaytoven holds rank as a pioneering producer, but no one would consider him a true composer. He’s a fairly one-trick show and his beats largely bleed together on Let The Trap Say Amen. Because of such symmetry, even lyrically memorable songs like “Blue Strips” lose their luster. Lecrae doesn’t go blameless on the album either; “Switch” talks yet again about how he had to make the change into a righteous life. It’s technically not a weak song by any stretch, but the theme is so worn that even a trap twist can’t spice things up. Redundancy breeds slight contempt and puts Let The Trap Say Amen a few notches below its predecessor, the thematically dense All Things Work Together.
As usual, Mr. Moore’s conviction saves the day. His voice drips with urgency as he raps about his own need for Jesus in his life. Sometimes, Lecrae sounds no different than JAY-Z. “Plugged In” contains life advice from the successful label owner: “Buy a business, get a house/Take the money, rinse it out/Then put the money in a trap/’Cause they don’t want you to get out.” Rhymes like these are akin to Hov’s lament that financial freedom is his only hope, and keep this album from being a one-dimensional affair.
The Waka Flocka Flame-assisted “2 Sides of the Game” is a reminder of Lecrae’s humble beginnings. When he tells his audience to stay away from the street life, he’s not doing it from a pulpit. He’s cautioning youngsters as a man who watched his uncle sentenced to prison for moving weight when Crae was their age. That reality keeps this album from being a gimmick. While Anomaly and All Things Work Together were for Lecrae’s church-going, mainstream audience, this joint is meant to spiritually enlighten D-boys à la his Church Clothes mixtape series. Despite moments of superfluity, Let The Trap Say Amen is generally a work of poetic urgency over streetwise production.
Can they get a hallelujah?
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Gtfo with these wack ass albums gettin high scores.
Solid 1/5
+1
The wackest
Shout out ‘Crae
Album is by far one of Lecrae’s best yet!
Yeah it was.
I’ll give it a 5/5
Does everything sound the same now? For fuck’s sakes.
Of course it does the template has been downgraded sadly nobody has to make a cohesive project no more just a load of pathetic efforts to be played on radio, i give you revival as an example mr just don’t give a fuck suddenly is a big softy, its sad
Suddenly, seriously? From day one Slims had heartfelt tracks, some of the subjects in those tracks inspired anger, now they inspire retrospection. It’s called growing up.
The review is horrible. The writer didn’t pay attention to the complexities of the stories in the album. No mention of “Fly Away” or “By Chance”, where the content is dense and very mature. Also, many people absolutely love Zay’s beats and i would say i haven’t heard something this good from him before. Moreover, you don’t need to skip any track cause there ain’t one bad song. But le creme de la creme is the explicit Christ gloryfing content. It’s wonderful, engaging, inspirational. HHDX, please do your job better. Have a nice day!
Fire! Critics stop hatin! For a Christian albul this is hard! Trust me growing up Christian rap was corny. But this tight. Keep doing your thing crae!????????
Inspirational! Good beats
5/5 Content was a breath of fresh air.
Amazing. Lecrae killed it once again
Crae went hard on this one.
You look like Fuck Queensbridge.
Good album! I like boom bap over trap sounding music but this album had flow to it! Had some content in the music!! We need to remove all mumbling from rap!
True stylistic growth without compromising his message
Great album. The beats were a little repetitive but that’s what all of hiphop sounds like these days. Same trap beats, same trap flow. The only thing different on this album was the content. My question to the author is… how can you review todays hip hop and call the content of this album repetitive, lol. All these kids are discussing the same 5 topics: getting money, killing n^ggas, whips and chains, smashing ass, and poppin pills. Now that’s repetitive… this album brings some diversity to an otherwise monochrome genre of music. We need more of this!!!!
It would be an insult to Lecrae to judge him on the merits of the rap to which you’re referring.
Is that what he told you… smh.
Official score!
Very disappointed. It sounds like the same song over and over again. One of the biggest things I liked about the music, other than the message of course, was the variety of beats. Not on this album…
BOOM!
Dope Album…Good 4 the Soul….Y’all Trippin
What I want to hear with my 808s
Dopppppeeee aaaas hell
Eye Got It From tha Skreeets XD
Elite!
Jesus Jesus I’ll admit. New fresh lyrics to get stuck in my head, fresh beats to help get in motion, fresh creativity to repeat while I’m in the workforce – makin everyone ask, “what song is that?” If one person comes to Christ because of this album, it’s worth every effort. I truly would like an interpretation of
Some of the phrases he uses, honestly I don’t get it. It took 1 year to figure out what “I’m turnt” meant. Regardless, even white good girls like me enjoy the talent and gifts that God has given these awesome artists! Keep it up! Praise be to God! And for the record, I was motivated to start a “Stay Sober” slogan and movement using my testimony. It’s doing well. All because I thought he was saying, “stay Sober” at the beginning of each song on THIS album. I can’t dance either ??♀️????
It is a great album that brings Christianity and rap together