Tag Archives: lecrae

MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 43: LECRAE

I’ve never been in a box. It’s really the irony of it, but publicly I didn’t realize how much of a box I was in. Personally, I was able to navigate in a million different spaces, but I remember [author/theologian] Christena Cleveland challenged me by saying I was an evangelical mascot. I said, “Wow, is that really how I’m perceived?” When I saw that, it really made me do some internal soul searching and say, “Wow, I didn’t realize that was the perception.” I had to ask friends. I was in the dark. By placating people so often in certain circles, you’re viewed as an advocate. If you hang out at the biker club so many times, people will say, “He’s a biker.” I’m way more complex and nuanced than that. It’s not to say that I hate that world or anything like that; I have great friends over there and everywhere. Now I’m just content with saying I’m just a follower of Jesus. That’s it. I don’t belong in any camp. I guess to drive it home for me, it’s not being worried if I disappoint the box people thought I was in in the first place. Because it’s like, “Oh, you’re hanging out with this person? You must be liberal. No, wait. Why are you hanging out with this person? Are you conservative?” It’s like, “No, because I’m nuanced and complex and I like both of them.” I’m not going to worry about the way people perceive me because if you meet me you’ll say, “Oh, OK, I didn’t realize that there was this lane in the middle here that people could run in.” But that’s what you’re going to have to deal with.

Continue reading MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 43: LECRAE

Top Tens: Top 20 Inspirational Videos I Have Ever Seen!

The other day, I was writing my most recent blog of Flashback Fridays (about identity, self-worth and insecurities, linking it to MercyMe’s album Almost There), and while I was writing, I figured out that apart from one of the earlier Message Mondays posts last year about how God can use ‘mainstream music’ just as much as ‘Christian music’; I was in the midst of writing one of the most relevant, vulnerable, honest and inspirational blogs I had ever written. Yeah, I know that it’s a pretty big claim, but that’s what I was feeling and sensing from God at the time. That no matter how much time goes on, I will be always able to go back to this 10th blog in Flashback Fridays, and be inspired, no matter how I feel. Now to test that theory, I re-read this blog maybe about 5 times over in the span of the past few days, and I was still overwhelmed by the amount of rich truth I had revealed, that is so applicable now, and maybe will be so applicable later on in the future. More so than any other blog I have ever written, I was blown away by what I had written- it had to be God using me as a vessel, and His words through my fingers on the keyboard. I will ask the opinions of others close to me in the near future, about whether this was the most inspirational blog I have ever written, but I digress.

Continue reading Top Tens: Top 20 Inspirational Videos I Have Ever Seen!

BEST OF 2017- PART 12: TOP 30 ALBUMS OF 2017 (JULY – DECEMBER)

If you can remember back about 6 months or so, I had the pleasure of unveiling my favourite 25 albums of January – June of 2017. And while I myself still haven’t reviewed everything that I wanted to in the year of 2017, I have since come to the conclusion, that 2017 was and is one of my favourite years in terms of music. And thus here we are in January 2018, as I am unveiling my favourite 30 albums of the back half of 2017. I have incorporated quotes/descriptions of my favourite 15 albums of July-December and the remaining 15 without quotes (because frankly, it could take too long for a reader to check out, and thus, the post could seem daunting and overwhelming to read), totaling 30 albums in the back half of the year that have stood out for me personally. And so without further ado, here below are my favourite albums of 2017 (second half). I will also do a post showing my favourite albums of 2017, period (thereby incorporating my favourite albums of the first half and second half of 2017 in one post. What are your favourite albums of 2017. Read on to check out mine!

Continue reading BEST OF 2017- PART 12: TOP 30 ALBUMS OF 2017 (JULY – DECEMBER)

TOP 10 ___: 2017 Albums We Never Reviewed!

On our latest Top Tens post, we delved into 10 Christmas albums we never reviewed in 2017 (due to life setting in the way), including Christmas albums from Tenth Avenue North, Love & The Outcome and Meredith Andrews. This time, we will be listing 10 albums we didn’t review last year, which we really wanted to! A few albums may not make this list though, but that’s only because we intend to review them this upcoming January and February 2018. So…check out these 10 albums- which did you wish we reviewed?

Continue reading TOP 10 ___: 2017 Albums We Never Reviewed!

BEST OF 2017- PART 11: TOP 20 MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2017 (JULY – DECEMBER)

It’s 2018! So happy new year everyone! I hope and pray that this upcoming year is your best yet, and that God draws each of you closer and closer to Himself. So I guess it’s that time of year when we finish off our best of lists for 2017. You can view all of them here, but the next one in the instalment is our favourite music videos from July til December 2017. While you can view our favourite music videos from the first half of the year, here are 20 music videos that have resonated with us from the back end of 2017.

Continue reading BEST OF 2017- PART 11: TOP 20 MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2017 (JULY – DECEMBER)

TOP TWENTY ARTISTS AND SONGS THAT SHOULD BE PRESENT ON WOW HITS 2019

Welcome to the latest installment of our most recent blog series Top Tens. Last time, we unveiled 10 artists and songs that in our opinion should have been included on the official WOW Hits 2018 track listing, but weren’t. This time, on this special post, and in keeping with a similar theme, I will take an educated guess and list 20 songs that should be shoe-ins for WOW Hits 2019 (key word- should… I wrote a similar post last year and only 2 out of the 20 made it on WOW Hits 2018!). Some songs that I will predict for WOW Hits 2019 are released right now, so audio slides/lyric videos/music videos/song stories will be below, but others haven’t been released yet and I am just predicting based on the artist. Will these tracks be there in a year’s time? Only time will tell.

Continue reading TOP TWENTY ARTISTS AND SONGS THAT SHOULD BE PRESENT ON WOW HITS 2019

TOP 10 ___: TOP 30 CCM SONGS OF THE SUMMER 2017

Hang on, didn’t we do this post already? Nope, that was last year’s similar top ten’s post, titled “Top 10 CCM Songs Of The Summer 2016”. Ok, so what about this post? Nope, not that either! That was “Top 10: 30 songs to have an impact in 2017”. This top ten’s post is instead “Top 10 (30) CCM Songs of the Summer 2017”!

Though this post will be similar compared to the other two in terms of me trying to guess which songs will be big (either on the radio or in terms of impact in changing people’s lives) by the end of the ‘summer’ (Northern Hemisphere summer!)- which means the end of August; there is one slight difference. While last year, I gave my opinion on 15 songs that I reckon would be big by the end of August 2016, this year I will double that list to 30 songs. Why, you ask? Simply because this seems to be the year that there is more music released. Simple as that. Note that I said ‘seems to be the year that there is more music released’. Not ‘there is’. Cause maybe this is the year I have been paying more attention, and maybe there’s still the same amount of music…either way, if you forgot what the point of my post was last year where I wrote a similar thing, let me give you a refresher.

Continue reading TOP 10 ___: TOP 30 CCM SONGS OF THE SUMMER 2017

BEST OF 2017- PART 3: TOP 20 SONGS OF 2017 (APRIL – JUNE)

Just a few months ago, I posted my favourite songs of 2017 thus far, from January – March 2017. Now here is a follow-up post, favourite songs from April – June 2017. And while this type of series hasn’t really been done before (in previous years, I’ve only posted one ‘top songs of ____’ post at the end of that particular year), I’ve said, and I will say again, that 2017 is the year of the song. Not just hit songs on albums, but just hit songs period- whether it’s on an album or just released as a single. Because frankly these days, when I look at the year up until now objectively, I have realised that more often now than years previously, artists are releasing singles as opposed to new albums. Don’t get me wrong, the number of albums this year is just as much, if not more than last year. It’s just that within these last few months, we have been blessed with tracks that aren’t necessarily attached to any album. And maybe that’s a good thing. To not have to wait until an artist as a collection of songs that they can release to listeners. Often if that is the case, artists may have to wait for management approval, or they’ll have to discuss about radio format and marketability before they release an album. In 2017, with artists releasing more songs as opposed to albums, we are ever reminded that in such an industry like the music industry, it takes a lot for an album or even a song to be released on iTunes- so we ought to be appreciative when an artist does release something, be it an album or a single.

Continue reading BEST OF 2017- PART 3: TOP 20 SONGS OF 2017 (APRIL – JUNE)