Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey there, I'm so glad that you're joining me. Thanks
for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're gonna be.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Glad you're here. Let me tell you why, because I
get the privilege to talk to someone who is not
only let's see, a poet, a songwriter, a rapper, an
industry changer, an innovative person who has brought life to
what could be considered a dying genre, really within particularly
faith based circles, but really on a broad spectrum as well.
(00:47):
And so you know, there's so many layers to this guy.
And more than all of that, I am a mom
of some kids who have fallen in love with the
Lord and with faith because of the work of La Craze. Wow,
thank you so much for being Thank you. I'm so
glad that you're here. It's good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's awesome. It's a privilege.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's good to see you. I feel like I feel
like I know you because I'm in the car with
the boys, and I mean they got the base going,
the windows down, just with cray everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
We thank you. Thank you to your boys.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, they love you. And so tell us tell us
where you are right now. People want to know where
you are, what you're doing what's happening in your life presently.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Man, I am.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm one hundred percent right now, in in tour mode.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
In album mode, in daddy mode.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So how are you doing that tour and daddy at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
So what I do is every break, while the team
may ride onto the next city on the tour bus,
I fly home to give my wife a couple of
days off and.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Uh job, good job.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So it's it's a task at hand, especially when you
used to stand up super late on the tour and yeah,
wake up, take kids' school, make breakfast and so. But
it's been a blessing, you know, and I know it'll
it'll play office dividends in the end.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So cool. So yeah, Well, if you are not aware,
La Craze is a Grammy Award winning it happened. I mean,
let's be clear, it happened. It happened. It happened, not.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Just once, two times, two times.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Grammy Award winning rapper. Now I hear you're a little
bit opposed to the Christian rapper label, and why is that?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So? I am a Christian.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
A Christian is an incredible Now you look in the Bible,
there's Christians in the Bible, But sometimes it's a confusing adjective.
So sometimes when you put it in front of something else,
it can what does it mean?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
You know?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Does it mean that you're going to agree with the content.
Does it mean that the content is going to be
God honoring? What if the song is about marriage?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
What? What? How does you know? And how does that work?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And so for me, I feel as if there's some
due diligence that needs to be done in terms of
using that word as an adjective.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
A lot of times, do.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You think it pigeonholes? It pigeon holes?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You like?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It makes people put expectations on a label around what
you're going to do and what you're going to present
to them. That kind of puts you in a narrow bracket.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Sometimes absolutely so, It's happened plenty of times before. Whereas
I think there's an expectation.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
A lot of times people think if you say it's Christian,
it's for Christians.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So there's nothing beneficial for me if I pick this
up because I'm not a Christian, and I would say no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
The air you breathe was given to you by God,
and you love that air.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I know you do. So there's something for you. There's
some common grace, and that common grace I extend in
my music, and I want everybody to be able to
you know, absorb it and for to you know, to
be effective for whoever listens.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
How do you think you've been able to cross the
spectrum from sort of a Christian pocket and a Christian
niche over into this secular you know, appreciation that people
have to because very few people that kind of start
in this pool of faith based whether it's writing or
whether it's singing or rapping or whatever, very few people
(03:49):
are able to kind of put a foot in both
world and still maintain their level of integrity and their
art and in their message. How do you think you've
been able to do that?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Like, I think the reason why it's not there's, first
of all, there's models, and I think a lot of
people haven't explored the models. So you look at someone
like doctor Martin Luther King, who is appreciated by people
outside the faith but also esteemed within the faith as well,
And I think it's because there's not just a proclamative model,
but an incarnate model.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Right, So it's so deep, so deep. The regular people
like me I think Christians we have we have.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Limited ourselves to just proclaiming and not being incarnate and
living and caring about the issues of our society and
the world. Sometimes will feel like all y'all care about
is talking about what y'all want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Do y'all care about us?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Do y'all care about our pains, our hurts, our woes,
our struggles. What do you have to say about, you know,
this issue of racism and segregation and systemic oppression.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do you have a voice on any of these things?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Or do you just want to come in and and
and say, you know, your little tripe sayings and speak
Christianese to us. And what I think I've tried to
do is speak about all the things that would affect people,
you know, from.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
All walks of life.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
But I'm just speaking about them from my worldview, from
my perspective, which I would hope is lined up with
God's perspective.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That's cool, and I appreciate your perspective. Actually, in fact,
I've got my hands on one of the very first copies.
I don't think they're gonna let me keep this one.
I'm not even supposed to. Actually, yeah, they're learning this
to me. It's one of the first ones the press.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I tried to get them to let me have it
and work it out.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I was gonna let you, like put the boys my
son's name, my name, my husband's You said it, now
said it. I know. I just don't think they care.
I think they still don't take it back. But this
is one of the very first copies of a book
that you have to get your hands on. I actually
got a hold of this last night. I've already read
a huge portion of it, completely captivated by the sense
(05:58):
of mission in this book. Like it's not a memoir,
but it's very clear that the reason why you are
recounting where you've been is because you trying to point
the reader towards what your mission is, what your purpose is.
That it's not just about good music, which, by the way,
the music is good, but it's not just about that
you're actually trying to accomplish something. I think it would
benefit people who just know you because they are listening
(06:20):
to you, or their teens are listening to you. I
think it benefit people to hear a little bit about
where you came from, because it wasn't all just roses
and white picket fences and you have a story to tell.
So just sort of in a nutshell, how does your
story to becoming unashamed? Which, by the way, I love this.
This is clever to me because it's not just like
you're unashamed of the Gospel. It's kind of like you
(06:42):
were ashamed and now you are un You have been
made fun you're ashamed.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You got it. That was that the goal here with
the book.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, all right, so tell us sort of where the
shame began in your past and then how you got
that little dash in there that made you unashamed.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I think a lot of the long story short, it's
gonna all come back to being abandoned by my father, right,
a biological father, And I think every boy just looks
up to the dad no matter what their dad could
just be any kind of terrible person. But there's just
something in me that looks at dad as this hero
(07:23):
until you learn otherwise.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And for me to not have my hero there.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And not have a good explanation or understanding of why,
it made me feel like I was the problem and
I felt insecure, and so I'm constantly fighting for the
approval of people and fighting for someone to validate me.
You never having a dad to say, good job, son,
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You made it. This is what it means to be
a man, this is how this looks.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
You grow up looking for that in every other place
you can possibly find it. And you know, for me,
what it did was it made me ashamed of.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Who I was, if who I was, and fit in
if who I was.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Like, you're always trying to negotiate how do I fit
into this pocket example so I can be accepted in
exactly feel the love that really even when you felt
it though, I remember reading about that, even when you
felt accepted though, there was still a hole that didn't
get filled because it's just a dad size hole.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Absolutely to dad, yeah, absolutely, And and so you're wrestling,
constantly wrestling, trying to figure out and you're finding anything
you can to feel that hole, right, And of course
there's the irreligious way, and that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I chased the irreligious way of just.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
You know, the prodigal son, the party and the drugging,
the you know, promiscuity and just looking for it and
trying to find acceptance and meaning there and it wasn't satisfying.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
And then you know, there's a religious.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Way too that people try to feel that void that's
not fulfilling exactly, and it's performing for acceptance and having
the mindset that if I just do better, God.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Will love me more, the people.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Of God will love me more, instead of understanding the
grace of God and that I've been accepted already and
it wasn't on account of anything I did. It was
all on account of Him. And that really got me
to a place of like, hey, I'm already accepted. What
if I I'm unashamed. Let me go ahead and be
honest because there's nothing anybody can do to There's no
condemnation for me.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You know now that I'm in.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Here, and I have to ask you this because as
a mom of boys, so you know, when I see you,
I see my boys, you know what I mean. I
see my sons. I see the hope that I have
for them, that they will have integrity and character as
husbands and fathers and leaders later, that they will enjoy
their craft, that they will be excellent in their craft.
(09:36):
But I resonated so much and my heart was torn
so much when I read about abuse that you suffered
in your life. And I want you to talk about
that a little bit, because really what I want to
get to are a couple of questions about it, one
being is there anything that could have been done around
you to stop that earlier than it stopped? Your mother
was very responsible after she found out about it and
(09:58):
calling it, But is there anything that could have done
and that could have happened? So tell us just in
a nutshell about the abuse, anything that could have been
done to signify the people around you that it was
happening and put a halt to it. And then how
you break that cycle physical sexual abuse? How you break
that cycle now as a dad, because you're so honest
about you know what my wife sometimes have tout has
(10:19):
to put my anger in check because I'm just doing
what I saw. And so how do you break that
so that it's not something that remains systemic in your
you know, your family line?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah? I think one.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, the first thing is, I mean you said it's systemic, right,
So there's a history there that that dates way beyond me,
that dates back to you know, a family of sharecroppers
and not having you know, this family structure because families
were split apart because people were sold to other plantations
(10:51):
and so it's it keeps trickling down to where Grandpa
doesn't understand how to raise a family, and now there's
sixteen kids over here and there's all this stuff going on.
So this is this historic, systemic cycle that keeps repeating
itself over and over again. And so I think my
mother's idea was, Okay, I've got to break the cycle.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I've got to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
A lot of it was education for her and you know,
and just trying to navigate through that understanding. And I
don't think there was much she could have done, just
because even she wasn't fully aware of you know, how
this this cycle had influenced family members and you know,
friends around us, and so I don't think she would
(11:35):
have even realized that. And you know, it was a
different time where people trusted each other. Here, take my kid,
let them stay with you for the night, and it's
stuff that you know, I wouldn't have to have a
background check.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
For these days.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, yeah, because this is just like a seventeen year
old babysitter. Yeah, that's just helping your mom out to
hang on to you for a little while. Absolutely, And
a female babysitter, which is so interesting because I think
people we so play up in our culture the abuse
of a male to a young female, but it's very
it's a very prevalent thing where there's a young male
(12:07):
with a female who's taking advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And and I've since talked to a lot of other guys
who've experienced the same thing, and you know, we people
make light of that, but it's a real thing that
has long term effects that I've experienced myself. And so yeah,
I think that moving forward, it's it's a conscious effort
and you're and for me not having these models in
place to see what it looked like to be, you know,
(12:31):
brought up in a certain type environment.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I have to read books, I have to ask questions.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I have to stop and ask married couples, hey houses,
I stop and ask parents, you know, even you know, uh,
stopping to hear your husband talk a little bit and
take mental notes and and just constantly learning and realizing
that you don't have it all figured out. And there's
a wisdom and the multitude counselors, and that's what's helped
me to break some of these cycles because I'm aware
that they're actually cycles.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So what do we do?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What do we do? About these systemic issues, particularly in
the African American culture. Lookraz, what is your message going
to be to my three sons, to your own son,
to all of these particularly younger men that are listening
to you, watching you, and of course integrity and your
own your own life, because you know, like it or not,
they're watching what you're going to the kind of husband
(13:18):
you're going to be, the kind of father grandfather later
on that you're gonna be, and how you're going to
handle this ministry but really business and outreach that God
has given you. But but what do we do as
a people, as a as a society to try to
break these horrible cycles again that plague our culture in general,
but particularly African American men. I think it's like seventy
(13:40):
or eighty percent, Yeah, are single parent homes because our
men are missing right.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, you know, some people call it post traumatic slave
syndrome where you've got men who were never you know,
on on a plantation. They were not they didn't have
to be responsible for the kids used to breed them.
Go on and get some work done, have kids all
over the place, and just and work as long as
you work, and you're find and it's almost as if
that mentality, that cycle, that systemic perspective is just trickled down.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Don't you think like people were using that as an
excuse though, I think some.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
People think that.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I don't think everyone realizes how it's perpetuated in.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Our own homes and our own environments, right, So.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
I don't think people realize how it's perpetuated and how
different different time periods have given way to that being
a crutch, you know what I mean? So you know,
I mean, you can name all types of the war
on drugs. There's all types of different things that would
that could bring in a reason to lean on that.
But but I think it's understanding who you are and
(14:45):
understanding your identity is understanding that you know, despite your circumstances,
despite what you know society or culture that you grew
up in, you were made in God's image, that your
image bear that Ephesians two ten, that you that that
Got has created you for good works, that He's already
pre planned.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And you've got to understand that and walk that out.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And and a lot of the issue does them from
the church has to be the leaders in our society.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And our culture. We're the ones with you.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Know this information and understanding where we come from and
our value and our worth, and.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
We've got the answer, like the answer exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
And so I think that's where a lot of it
has to come from. And unfortunately, in the black community,
in African American community, the church after the Civil Rights era,
I feel like has been kind of silent for the
last thirty years in terms of like being a voice
in the community.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It's kind of like, oh, just just come to service
and you know.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And so that silence has made people say, well, you
guys have been quiet, why should we listen now? And
that's why I feel like the incarnate part has to
take place.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We've got to be visible, We've got to be present.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
In the community for people to say, Okay, this is
a trusted voice. Yeah, that can tell me about being
a father, being a husband, being a leader.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And so so if the music was stripped away, yeah,
no more music, who would you be? I?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I definitely you know, the music is a is a
creative outlet to express passions, express burdens.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Desires, pains, turmoils.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I think I I would probably be some sort of
professor at a college or something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So you love teaching, Yeah, it's I love shaping. I
love shaping and influencing. So it's not so much the
structure of teaching as much as it is sh.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Shaping culture and looking for ways to shape culture into
And I think college students are those young minds you
can launch out into society who are just idealists and
they're gonna take something and they're gonna run with it. Yeah,
And so I would see myself in that realm some
kind of way, being an influence.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, what's next for you? What's next? I mean you
just you just dropped an album?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, put out uh Church Close three?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Does it make me sound old that I just said album?
Do people still say that?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, technically it is an album, so I'm not older.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, okay, so you just
dropped an album.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, on tour, you know, wrapping up the tour.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know the book, you know, May Third is everywhere everywhere.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, Like I heard, Barnes and Noble has a hold
on this. They just like can't wait to get it
on the bookshelves.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
As long as people run in there and go get
it from Barnes and Noble, We're in good We're in
a good place.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
By the way, there's some really really great photographs I
had to put.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, I'm a product of public schools. You know,
I needed pictures in my book, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, And for all the millennials out there, we did
an audio book as well. You did read you'll bedtime stories,
because I know that's how they But yeah, I really
I'm you know, the book is an exciting piece and
that's what's happening. And I'm back in the studio this
summer working on a bigger, full length project and I'm
excited about that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
And you didn't tell us your wife's name?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
What is Arrah?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Like Sarah with the D And how long have y'all
been married?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
We are ten years?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Ten years married, ten years.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We have a big celebration. Three kids?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How old are they?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Four? Seven, and eight?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
There you go, and I read him here it says
underneath their picture that they are your.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Priority, priority priority.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
How did that? How does she know that? How does
she know that she's your parorty?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
What does lacree do to tell his wife to show
his wife that she's the one?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean, my wife enjoys quality time okay.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And so that's her love language.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, her love language quality time, and and she knows
that's not mine. So so for me to sacrifice my time,
I ask you what I'm like words of information and service,
acts of service.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
So yeah, so you know, hers is is quality time.
And for somebody who travels.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
All the time, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That's big.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It's kind of like, so you know, for me.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
To to fly six am flight back home when I
just got off stage at one am, it's like, she's like, okay,
I'm mad her, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So it's things like that, you know, And we build
a schedule around her and the kids. Every year, we'll
make sure nobody can touch family camp. You know, we
take our family to camp and get refreshed. There's just
some times nobody can touch our vacations and anniversaries and
her birthday and so it's just things like that where
you know, you make sure they're I prioritize. Some will
say this is kind of selfish, but the way I
(19:29):
try to look at it is I have to be healthy.
So if I'm not emotionally, spiritually and mentally healthy, I'm
no good for them. And so a lot of people
will sacrifice their own selves for the sake of career
and family.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And so on and so forth, but then they lose
their family. Exactly, they're not healthy, Exactly, they have no
sense of well being and centeredness or soundness.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
About themselves, exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
No relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
That's vibrant, fel intimacy to give out. And so you're
empty and.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So constantly making sure that I'm taking time to be
full so that I can give back to my family,
and then if there's anything left over, then yeah, fans
can have it.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Well. Listen, I keep getting ready to in the interview,
but I keep thinking of stuff to ask you. So
you have a picture in here with your pastors. I
love that picture because I thought, here's this guy that
has two Grammys, and he's still making sure and sees
the importance of being under the covering. For a man
(20:28):
to remain under the covering of another who he will
submit to their authority, that's a huge problem too with
men of any culture to just say I'm not too successful,
that I don't need somebody that's over me, that I'm
going to submit to them. Why is it important to you?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, I mean even that word authority.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Right, like when you think about it, and authority means
you know, you can't speak from a place of authority
unless it's been given to you. Unless I submit to
an authority, I can't speak with an authoritative voice. And
and so I think it's one. This is part of
the biblical framework. It's submit to your your your pastors.
And and I think I'm more afraid of being a
(21:09):
rogue out here, you know, I don't like somewhere. Yeah,
I mean, I've just seen how detrimental that is for people.
And just to have a great pastoral leadership that cares
about me that you know, I know, my wife is
is taking care of it. It's comfortable and they're going
to check in and and.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Make sure that the home front is safe.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
And then also not afraid to tell me I'm wrong,
you know, and you need that.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
If I'm the type of person, tell me I want
to know, you know what I mean, don't let me out,
don't don't leave me out here going just looking crazy,
sit me down and say hey, you need it now.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, listen, I want to say bravo. I want to
say bravo. Because you have represented well, I'm grateful and
you you are influencing a generation of particularly again everybody,
because I'm listening to you, my husband's listening to you.
Say you have a lot of us that are are
influenced by your music. But again, as a mom of
young boys, the fact that I know I can trust
(22:10):
your music and those that are associated with you, and
my boys can listen to it and know the words
and know the songs and be influenced by them. We
actually made them, by the way, sit down and look
up the words to the song, not just be singing them,
but look at the words. Know what he's saying. There's
a message in there that he's saying. Look it up
so you can talk to us about what he's trying
to tell you. And so the fact that I can
(22:31):
do that and know that there's going to be something
of substance there for my boys, I just say, bravo, bravo,
and we're all for you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Thank you, thank you really course
Hey there, I'm so glad that you're joining me. Thanks
for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're gonna be.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Glad you're here. Let me tell you why, because I
get the privilege to talk to someone who is not
only let's see, a poet, a songwriter, a rapper, an
industry changer, an innovative person who has brought life to
what could be considered a dying genre, really within particularly
faith based circles, but really on a broad spectrum as well.
(00:47):
And so you know, there's so many layers to this guy.
And more than all of that, I am a mom
of some kids who have fallen in love with the
Lord and with faith because of the work of La Craze. Wow,
thank you so much for being Thank you. I'm so
glad that you're here. It's good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's awesome. It's a privilege.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's good to see you. I feel like I feel
like I know you because I'm in the car with
the boys, and I mean they got the base going,
the windows down, just with cray everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
We thank you. Thank you to your boys.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, they love you. And so tell us tell us
where you are right now. People want to know where
you are, what you're doing what's happening in your life presently.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Man, I am.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm one hundred percent right now, in in tour mode.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
In album mode, in daddy mode.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So how are you doing that tour and daddy at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
So what I do is every break, while the team
may ride onto the next city on the tour bus,
I fly home to give my wife a couple of
days off and.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Uh job, good job.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So it's it's a task at hand, especially when you
used to stand up super late on the tour and yeah,
wake up, take kids' school, make breakfast and so. But
it's been a blessing, you know, and I know it'll
it'll play office dividends in the end.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So cool. So yeah, Well, if you are not aware,
La Craze is a Grammy Award winning it happened. I mean,
let's be clear, it happened. It happened. It happened, not.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Just once, two times, two times.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Grammy Award winning rapper. Now I hear you're a little
bit opposed to the Christian rapper label, and why is that?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So? I am a Christian.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
A Christian is an incredible Now you look in the Bible,
there's Christians in the Bible, But sometimes it's a confusing adjective.
So sometimes when you put it in front of something else,
it can what does it mean?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
You know?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Does it mean that you're going to agree with the content.
Does it mean that the content is going to be
God honoring? What if the song is about marriage?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
What? What? How does you know? And how does that work?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And so for me, I feel as if there's some
due diligence that needs to be done in terms of
using that word as an adjective.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
A lot of times, do.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You think it pigeonholes? It pigeon holes?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You like?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It makes people put expectations on a label around what
you're going to do and what you're going to present
to them. That kind of puts you in a narrow bracket.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Sometimes absolutely so, It's happened plenty of times before. Whereas
I think there's an expectation.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
A lot of times people think if you say it's Christian,
it's for Christians.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So there's nothing beneficial for me if I pick this
up because I'm not a Christian, and I would say no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
The air you breathe was given to you by God,
and you love that air.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I know you do. So there's something for you. There's
some common grace, and that common grace I extend in
my music, and I want everybody to be able to
you know, absorb it and for to you know, to
be effective for whoever listens.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
How do you think you've been able to cross the
spectrum from sort of a Christian pocket and a Christian
niche over into this secular you know, appreciation that people
have to because very few people that kind of start
in this pool of faith based whether it's writing or
whether it's singing or rapping or whatever, very few people
(03:49):
are able to kind of put a foot in both
world and still maintain their level of integrity and their
art and in their message. How do you think you've
been able to do that?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Like, I think the reason why it's not there's, first
of all, there's models, and I think a lot of
people haven't explored the models. So you look at someone
like doctor Martin Luther King, who is appreciated by people
outside the faith but also esteemed within the faith as well,
And I think it's because there's not just a proclamative model,
but an incarnate model.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Right, So it's so deep, so deep. The regular people
like me I think Christians we have we have.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Limited ourselves to just proclaiming and not being incarnate and
living and caring about the issues of our society and
the world. Sometimes will feel like all y'all care about
is talking about what y'all want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Do y'all care about us?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Do y'all care about our pains, our hurts, our woes,
our struggles. What do you have to say about, you know,
this issue of racism and segregation and systemic oppression.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do you have a voice on any of these things?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Or do you just want to come in and and
and say, you know, your little tripe sayings and speak
Christianese to us. And what I think I've tried to
do is speak about all the things that would affect people,
you know, from.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
All walks of life.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
But I'm just speaking about them from my worldview, from
my perspective, which I would hope is lined up with
God's perspective.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That's cool, and I appreciate your perspective. Actually, in fact,
I've got my hands on one of the very first copies.
I don't think they're gonna let me keep this one.
I'm not even supposed to. Actually, yeah, they're learning this
to me. It's one of the first ones the press.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I tried to get them to let me have it
and work it out.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I was gonna let you, like put the boys my
son's name, my name, my husband's You said it, now
said it. I know. I just don't think they care.
I think they still don't take it back. But this
is one of the very first copies of a book
that you have to get your hands on. I actually
got a hold of this last night. I've already read
a huge portion of it, completely captivated by the sense
(05:58):
of mission in this book. Like it's not a memoir,
but it's very clear that the reason why you are
recounting where you've been is because you trying to point
the reader towards what your mission is, what your purpose is.
That it's not just about good music, which, by the way,
the music is good, but it's not just about that
you're actually trying to accomplish something. I think it would
benefit people who just know you because they are listening
(06:20):
to you, or their teens are listening to you. I
think it benefit people to hear a little bit about
where you came from, because it wasn't all just roses
and white picket fences and you have a story to tell.
So just sort of in a nutshell, how does your
story to becoming unashamed? Which, by the way, I love this.
This is clever to me because it's not just like
you're unashamed of the Gospel. It's kind of like you
(06:42):
were ashamed and now you are un You have been
made fun you're ashamed.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You got it. That was that the goal here with
the book.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, all right, so tell us sort of where the
shame began in your past and then how you got
that little dash in there that made you unashamed.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I think a lot of the long story short, it's
gonna all come back to being abandoned by my father, right,
a biological father, And I think every boy just looks
up to the dad no matter what their dad could
just be any kind of terrible person. But there's just
something in me that looks at dad as this hero
(07:23):
until you learn otherwise.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And for me to not have my hero there.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And not have a good explanation or understanding of why,
it made me feel like I was the problem and
I felt insecure, and so I'm constantly fighting for the
approval of people and fighting for someone to validate me.
You never having a dad to say, good job, son,
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You made it. This is what it means to be
a man, this is how this looks.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
You grow up looking for that in every other place
you can possibly find it. And you know, for me,
what it did was it made me ashamed of.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Who I was, if who I was, and fit in
if who I was.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Like, you're always trying to negotiate how do I fit
into this pocket example so I can be accepted in
exactly feel the love that really even when you felt
it though, I remember reading about that, even when you
felt accepted though, there was still a hole that didn't
get filled because it's just a dad size hole.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Absolutely to dad, yeah, absolutely, And and so you're wrestling,
constantly wrestling, trying to figure out and you're finding anything
you can to feel that hole, right, And of course
there's the irreligious way, and that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I chased the irreligious way of just.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
You know, the prodigal son, the party and the drugging,
the you know, promiscuity and just looking for it and
trying to find acceptance and meaning there and it wasn't satisfying.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
And then you know, there's a religious.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Way too that people try to feel that void that's
not fulfilling exactly, and it's performing for acceptance and having
the mindset that if I just do better, God.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Will love me more, the people.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Of God will love me more, instead of understanding the
grace of God and that I've been accepted already and
it wasn't on account of anything I did. It was
all on account of Him. And that really got me
to a place of like, hey, I'm already accepted. What
if I I'm unashamed. Let me go ahead and be
honest because there's nothing anybody can do to There's no
condemnation for me.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You know now that I'm in.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Here, and I have to ask you this because as
a mom of boys, so you know, when I see you,
I see my boys, you know what I mean. I
see my sons. I see the hope that I have
for them, that they will have integrity and character as
husbands and fathers and leaders later, that they will enjoy
their craft, that they will be excellent in their craft.
(09:36):
But I resonated so much and my heart was torn
so much when I read about abuse that you suffered
in your life. And I want you to talk about
that a little bit, because really what I want to
get to are a couple of questions about it, one
being is there anything that could have been done around
you to stop that earlier than it stopped? Your mother
was very responsible after she found out about it and
(09:58):
calling it, But is there anything that could have done
and that could have happened? So tell us just in
a nutshell about the abuse, anything that could have been
done to signify the people around you that it was
happening and put a halt to it. And then how
you break that cycle physical sexual abuse? How you break
that cycle now as a dad, because you're so honest
about you know what my wife sometimes have tout has
(10:19):
to put my anger in check because I'm just doing
what I saw. And so how do you break that
so that it's not something that remains systemic in your
you know, your family line?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah? I think one.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, the first thing is, I mean you said it's systemic, right,
So there's a history there that that dates way beyond me,
that dates back to you know, a family of sharecroppers
and not having you know, this family structure because families
were split apart because people were sold to other plantations
(10:51):
and so it's it keeps trickling down to where Grandpa
doesn't understand how to raise a family, and now there's
sixteen kids over here and there's all this stuff going on.
So this is this historic, systemic cycle that keeps repeating
itself over and over again. And so I think my
mother's idea was, Okay, I've got to break the cycle.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I've got to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
A lot of it was education for her and you know,
and just trying to navigate through that understanding. And I
don't think there was much she could have done, just
because even she wasn't fully aware of you know, how
this this cycle had influenced family members and you know,
friends around us, and so I don't think she would
(11:35):
have even realized that. And you know, it was a
different time where people trusted each other. Here, take my kid,
let them stay with you for the night, and it's
stuff that you know, I wouldn't have to have a
background check.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
For these days.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, yeah, because this is just like a seventeen year
old babysitter. Yeah, that's just helping your mom out to
hang on to you for a little while. Absolutely, And
a female babysitter, which is so interesting because I think
people we so play up in our culture the abuse
of a male to a young female, but it's very
it's a very prevalent thing where there's a young male
(12:07):
with a female who's taking advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And and I've since talked to a lot of other guys
who've experienced the same thing, and you know, we people
make light of that, but it's a real thing that
has long term effects that I've experienced myself. And so yeah,
I think that moving forward, it's it's a conscious effort
and you're and for me not having these models in
place to see what it looked like to be, you know,
(12:31):
brought up in a certain type environment.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I have to read books, I have to ask questions.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I have to stop and ask married couples, hey houses,
I stop and ask parents, you know, even you know, uh,
stopping to hear your husband talk a little bit and
take mental notes and and just constantly learning and realizing
that you don't have it all figured out. And there's
a wisdom and the multitude counselors, and that's what's helped
me to break some of these cycles because I'm aware
that they're actually cycles.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So what do we do?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What do we do? About these systemic issues, particularly in
the African American culture. Lookraz, what is your message going
to be to my three sons, to your own son,
to all of these particularly younger men that are listening
to you, watching you, and of course integrity and your
own your own life, because you know, like it or not,
they're watching what you're going to the kind of husband
(13:18):
you're going to be, the kind of father grandfather later
on that you're gonna be, and how you're going to
handle this ministry but really business and outreach that God
has given you. But but what do we do as
a people, as a as a society to try to
break these horrible cycles again that plague our culture in general,
but particularly African American men. I think it's like seventy
(13:40):
or eighty percent, Yeah, are single parent homes because our
men are missing right.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, you know, some people call it post traumatic slave
syndrome where you've got men who were never you know,
on on a plantation. They were not they didn't have
to be responsible for the kids used to breed them.
Go on and get some work done, have kids all
over the place, and just and work as long as
you work, and you're find and it's almost as if
that mentality, that cycle, that systemic perspective is just trickled down.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Don't you think like people were using that as an
excuse though, I think some.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
People think that.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I don't think everyone realizes how it's perpetuated in.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Our own homes and our own environments, right, So.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
I don't think people realize how it's perpetuated and how
different different time periods have given way to that being
a crutch, you know what I mean? So you know,
I mean, you can name all types of the war
on drugs. There's all types of different things that would
that could bring in a reason to lean on that.
But but I think it's understanding who you are and
(14:45):
understanding your identity is understanding that you know, despite your circumstances,
despite what you know society or culture that you grew
up in, you were made in God's image, that your
image bear that Ephesians two ten, that you that that
Got has created you for good works, that He's already
pre planned.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And you've got to understand that and walk that out.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And and a lot of the issue does them from
the church has to be the leaders in our society.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And our culture. We're the ones with you.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Know this information and understanding where we come from and
our value and our worth, and.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
We've got the answer, like the answer exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
And so I think that's where a lot of it
has to come from. And unfortunately, in the black community,
in African American community, the church after the Civil Rights era,
I feel like has been kind of silent for the
last thirty years in terms of like being a voice
in the community.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It's kind of like, oh, just just come to service
and you know.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And so that silence has made people say, well, you
guys have been quiet, why should we listen now? And
that's why I feel like the incarnate part has to
take place.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We've got to be visible, We've got to be present.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
In the community for people to say, Okay, this is
a trusted voice. Yeah, that can tell me about being
a father, being a husband, being a leader.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And so so if the music was stripped away, yeah,
no more music, who would you be? I?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I definitely you know, the music is a is a
creative outlet to express passions, express burdens.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Desires, pains, turmoils.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I think I I would probably be some sort of
professor at a college or something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So you love teaching, Yeah, it's I love shaping. I
love shaping and influencing. So it's not so much the
structure of teaching as much as it is sh.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Shaping culture and looking for ways to shape culture into
And I think college students are those young minds you
can launch out into society who are just idealists and
they're gonna take something and they're gonna run with it. Yeah,
And so I would see myself in that realm some
kind of way, being an influence.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, what's next for you? What's next? I mean you
just you just dropped an album?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, put out uh Church Close three?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Does it make me sound old that I just said album?
Do people still say that?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, technically it is an album, so I'm not older.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, okay, so you just
dropped an album.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, on tour, you know, wrapping up the tour.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know the book, you know, May Third is everywhere everywhere.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, Like I heard, Barnes and Noble has a hold
on this. They just like can't wait to get it
on the bookshelves.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
As long as people run in there and go get
it from Barnes and Noble, We're in good We're in
a good place.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
By the way, there's some really really great photographs I
had to put.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, I'm a product of public schools. You know,
I needed pictures in my book, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, And for all the millennials out there, we did
an audio book as well. You did read you'll bedtime stories,
because I know that's how they But yeah, I really
I'm you know, the book is an exciting piece and
that's what's happening. And I'm back in the studio this
summer working on a bigger, full length project and I'm
excited about that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
And you didn't tell us your wife's name?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
What is Arrah?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Like Sarah with the D And how long have y'all
been married?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
We are ten years?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Ten years married, ten years.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We have a big celebration. Three kids?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How old are they?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Four? Seven, and eight?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
There you go, and I read him here it says
underneath their picture that they are your.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Priority, priority priority.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
How did that? How does she know that? How does
she know that she's your parorty?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
What does lacree do to tell his wife to show
his wife that she's the one?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean, my wife enjoys quality time okay.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And so that's her love language.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, her love language quality time, and and she knows
that's not mine. So so for me to sacrifice my time,
I ask you what I'm like words of information and service,
acts of service.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
So yeah, so you know, hers is is quality time.
And for somebody who travels.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
All the time, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That's big.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It's kind of like, so you know, for me.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
To to fly six am flight back home when I
just got off stage at one am, it's like, she's like, okay,
I'm mad her, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So it's things like that, you know, And we build
a schedule around her and the kids. Every year, we'll
make sure nobody can touch family camp. You know, we
take our family to camp and get refreshed. There's just
some times nobody can touch our vacations and anniversaries and
her birthday and so it's just things like that where
you know, you make sure they're I prioritize. Some will
say this is kind of selfish, but the way I
(19:29):
try to look at it is I have to be healthy.
So if I'm not emotionally, spiritually and mentally healthy, I'm
no good for them. And so a lot of people
will sacrifice their own selves for the sake of career
and family.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And so on and so forth, but then they lose
their family. Exactly, they're not healthy, Exactly, they have no
sense of well being and centeredness or soundness.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
About themselves, exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
No relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
That's vibrant, fel intimacy to give out. And so you're
empty and.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So constantly making sure that I'm taking time to be
full so that I can give back to my family,
and then if there's anything left over, then yeah, fans
can have it.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Well. Listen, I keep getting ready to in the interview,
but I keep thinking of stuff to ask you. So
you have a picture in here with your pastors. I
love that picture because I thought, here's this guy that
has two Grammys, and he's still making sure and sees
the importance of being under the covering. For a man
(20:28):
to remain under the covering of another who he will
submit to their authority, that's a huge problem too with
men of any culture to just say I'm not too successful,
that I don't need somebody that's over me, that I'm
going to submit to them. Why is it important to you?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, I mean even that word authority.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Right, like when you think about it, and authority means
you know, you can't speak from a place of authority
unless it's been given to you. Unless I submit to
an authority, I can't speak with an authoritative voice. And
and so I think it's one. This is part of
the biblical framework. It's submit to your your your pastors.
And and I think I'm more afraid of being a
(21:09):
rogue out here, you know, I don't like somewhere. Yeah,
I mean, I've just seen how detrimental that is for people.
And just to have a great pastoral leadership that cares
about me that you know, I know, my wife is
is taking care of it. It's comfortable and they're going
to check in and and.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Make sure that the home front is safe.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
And then also not afraid to tell me I'm wrong,
you know, and you need that.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
If I'm the type of person, tell me I want
to know, you know what I mean, don't let me out,
don't don't leave me out here going just looking crazy,
sit me down and say hey, you need it now.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, listen, I want to say bravo. I want to
say bravo. Because you have represented well, I'm grateful and
you you are influencing a generation of particularly again everybody,
because I'm listening to you, my husband's listening to you.
Say you have a lot of us that are are
influenced by your music. But again, as a mom of
young boys, the fact that I know I can trust
(22:10):
your music and those that are associated with you, and
my boys can listen to it and know the words
and know the songs and be influenced by them. We
actually made them, by the way, sit down and look
up the words to the song, not just be singing them,
but look at the words. Know what he's saying. There's
a message in there that he's saying. Look it up
so you can talk to us about what he's trying
to tell you. And so the fact that I can
(22:31):
do that and know that there's going to be something
of substance there for my boys, I just say, bravo, bravo,
and we're all for you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Thank you, thank you really course
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