Band Bio: Lecrae

Lecrae
Background information
Birth name	Lecrae Moore
Genres	Hip hop, Christian hip hop, Christian rap
Years active	2004–present
Website	http://www.lecrae.net/

Biography

Born and raised by his single mother in Southern Houston, Texas, Lecrae moved often early in life, living in San Diego, Denver, and Dallas. He started rapping as a musical outlet to help him convey his feelings. He didn't become a Christian until after he had graduated from high school.Lecrae gives credit to a man named James White for giving him "the clearest Gospel presentation I've ever heard" at the Impact 98 conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At that conference, Lecrae realized that he "was in need," "empty" and that he "needed Jesus." At the age of 19, Lecrae became a Christian and went back to his college, the University of North Texas, with a printed version of his testimony to pass out on campus. From there, he teamed up with fellow Christian rap artist Trip Lee to start Reach Records. At the age of 25, Lecrae released his first album, Real Talk.
Lecrae co-founded ReachLife Ministries in 2005 to help reform urban culture. The non-profit organization exists to help equip local Christian leaders with tools and media projects that are culturally relevant and based on the teachings of the Bible.
Lecrae currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife and children.

Releases

Real Talk (2004–2005)

Real Talk was Lecrae's first studio album. It reached #29 on the Billboard 'Gospel Albums' chart, and was on the chart for 12 weeks.

After the Music Stops (2006–2007)

After the success of Real Talk, Lecrae released his second studio album on August 15, 2006. After the Music Stops charted at No. 5 On the Billboard 'Gospel Albums' chart, No. 7 on the Billboard 'Christian Albums' chart and No. 16 on the Billboard 'Heatseeker Album' charts. The album was nominated for a Dove Award, as was the single "Jesus Muzik".

Rebel (2008–2009)

On October 8, 2008, Lecrae's third album, Rebel, entered the Billboard charts at No. 60 with 9,800 units sold. It also reached No. 2 on the iTunes' Rap/Hip Hop section, and topped the Billboard 'Christian Album' charts for two weeks, the first Christian rap album to do so. The album gained some of the highest praise for Christian rap yet. CCM website Jesus Freak Hideout said, "Musically, it's easily as good as (if not better than) anything you will hear on mainstream rap stations. Lyrically, there's no comparison. Lecrae's message is better, and better for you." The album maintained a 78-week run on the Billboard 'Gospel Albums' chart. It has sold more than 125,000 copies.

Far Away and Rehab (2010)

On February 5, 2010, a new single was released called "Far Away". The song is a tribute to the victims of the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, and Lecrae has promised that all proceeds from the single's sales will go directly to the Haiti relief effort. A music video was released for the song on February 10, 2010. The single peaked at No. 32 on the iTunes 'Hip Hop Singles' chart, the first Christian hip hop song to do so. In January 2010, Lecrae confirmed that he was working on a new album that would be due out September 28, 2010. On July 7, in a blog post on the Reach Records website, Lecrae announced that the title of his new album would be Rehab. On August 5, 2010, a new song from Lecrae called "Amp It Up" was released on Rapzilla.com. Lecrae would clarify on his Twitter account that the song was not a single off of Rehab, but rather a theme song that he wrote for Camp Kanakuk, which he now writes theme songs for annually. On August 31, 2010, the tracklist for Rehab was revealed, the album became available for preorder, and a promotional video for the album called "Idols" was released. The second promotional video, entitled "I Am Dust", was released on September 9, 2010. Rehab debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it one of the highest selling Christian Rap/Hip Hop albums of all time.

Rehab: The Overdose (2011)

On September 22, 2010, Rapzilla.com reported that the Rehab packaging came with an advertisement encouraging buyers to purchase another upcoming album, Rehab: The Overdose, which was released on January 11, 2011. It included 11 new songs, which featured several other Christian artists such as Thi'sl and Swoope. The album was released as planned, peaking at No. 1 on iTunes and No. 1 on the Hip-Hop and Christian Hip-Hop chart, before settling at the No. 4 position through its debut week.
On August 29, 2011, on his Twitter account, Lecrae officially set September 27, 2011 as the release date for the deluxe edition of Rehab, entitled Rehab: Deluxe Edition, which included five new songs and extensive DVD coverage. This was also the date on which the collaborative group, 116 Clique, of which Lecrae is a member, would release their fourth album, entitled Man Up.
On September 7, 2011, Rapzilla.com announced that Lecrae would be featured on BET's Hip Hop Awards Cypher on October 11, 2011. Lecrae gained popularity after his verse on the cypher, and trended nationwide on Twitter. He also was featured on AllHipHop.com due to the verse.^[ Lecrae was the first Christian Hip Hop artist to perform on any BET cypher.
On October 24, 2011, Lecrae was featured on Statik Selektah's song "Live and Let Live", from his Population Control album.

Church Clothes & Gravity (2012)

On February 16, 2012, Rapzilla.com announced that Lecrae was preparing to release his first mixtape, Church Clothes, which was released on May 10 and was hosted by Don Cannon. The mixtape was downloaded more than 100,000 times in less than 48 hours on DatPiff.com.
On April 27, Lecrae announced that his new album would be titled Gravity, and that it'd be coming out in fall 2012.

Discography

Albums

• 2005: Real Talk
• 2006: After the Music Stops
• 2008: Rebel
• 2010: Rehab
• 2011: Rehab: The Overdose