When working on this review, I did my best to stay away from reading other reviews. I didn’t want other people’s perspective and opinions to have any bearing on my own thoughts for this project. I wanted to come to my own conclusions about Lecrae’s latest mixtape, Church Clothes 3.
Now let’s get into the review.
On 1/16/16, Lecrae surprisingly dropped the project, Church Clothes 3. Just by the cover, you can immediately sense that this project is not only more serious but a lot “darker” as well. To follow with this idea, the first track Freedom deals with the false reality of freedom by uncovering the harshness of the world. Lecrae talks about freedom being a price no one’s willing to pay. He does delve into the various form of modern day slavery. The chorus still encourages that there is still an anchored hope that someday freedom will become a reality.
Gangland as the second track goes over the history of gangs and their role in the black community. Lecrae explains that gangs’ original purpose was to protect the community. They protected their community against violence such as lynching. Unfortunately, many of the leaders were killed and therefore the members lost their way. This track featured Propaganda, who made an intense statement saying, It was a crooked system just like this that left the King of Kings bloodless. The truth is that Jesus was killed in the same environment with corruption all around, so the reality is we are living in the same days.
Although majority of the album is dark and intense, some tracks like Cruising are light tracks. It’s also clear that Lecrae desired to address his critics who have seemed to think he’s falling off his walk with Christ. He speaks on being able to just accept who he is and that there are a lot of people who won’t like him. These topics are the themes for the tracks It Is What It Is and Can’t Do You.
My favorite track on this project would have to be Misconception 3, simply because I love seeing the artists he brings on. This round he brought along John Givez, JGivens and Jackie Hill Perry. These three are rappers that I recommend paying attention to. This track was a strong, powerful, lyrical track.
Overall, this album was a good album. I know that a lot of people, especially Christians, have been harsh critics of Lecrae for the past couple of years. People questioning his intentions and whether he’s still a Christian or not, but I don’t think we can hold that place to do so. We are responsible to hold our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ accountable, but at the same time we can’t impose this accountability on someone who’s not in your inner circle. Unless you can state you talk with Lecrae regularly and he’s confides in you, the best thing to do for him is to lift him up in prayer. As he continues to elevate in his ministry and venture into places that many Christian artists have not gone to, this journey will continue to be hard but it’s clear that Lecrae isn’t backing down.
If you haven’t already checked out Church Clothes 3, be sure to get it on iTunes and also check out Church Clothes 3 – The Short Film below:
For the Love of Music 