How do you mend a broken world? Give it a gift it could never earn.I’m not worried about no present if you are present.Sometimes the people on your family tree is the best gift you could ever receive.Here are some lyrical gems from the album: (Yes, there is some nice singing on the album.) From left to right: Lecrae, Gawvi, WhatupRG?, Tedashii (all of whom are on the Chrimast album) In addition to the 116 Clique, there are lots of features, including nobigdyl, CASS, Jon Keith, Crystal Nicole and Abe Parker. In addition to the above mentioned, the album features Trip Lee, WhatupRG, Gawvi and, of course, Lecrae. If there was anybody who had the gift to do Christmas, it was us.”Ĭhristian hip hop pioneer Tedashii called it “uplifting and amazing.” “The mainstream rapper would fumble Christmas because either they would make it cheesy or it wouldn’t come out authentic. “I feel like Christmas music needed a makeover,” says Ace. But unlike most “new” Christmas music, Jesus shines through like the old. The result is refreshing and original, a mixture of pop music, rhythm and blues, gospel and rap.
Lecrae and crew actually enter new terrain with new lyrical concepts, and the vintage carols are reduced to a motif in their rendition. Tedashii’s “Christmas tree” last year from his Twitter account. “The Gift: A Christmas Compilation” represents a significant advancement in the subject matter of caroling. There’s plenty of “re-imagining” of such immortal classics as “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Silent Night.” The 116 Clique does much more than just repeat lyrics to new music, as so many artists have done before (making country carols or Hawaiian ukulele). We pulled back to the classic vibe of hip hop because I felt this album was going to be something timeless.” We wanted to dial back on trendy sonics and put more nostalgic, lo-fi sound with warm textures. “The only way this could work if you take classic Christmas songs and re-imagine them. “I thought Christmas and hip hop don’t go together. “Honestly, I wasn’t sold on Christmas and hip hop,” says Lasanna “Ace” Harris on a Youtube video.
In a world where fusion food marries irreconcilably different styles to tantalize the palette, why would this seem strange? Andy Mineo engages in nerf war at Christmas in 2012 with his family on a Youtube videoĮven Reach Record’s Senior Director of A&R couldn’t envision such a union.
Recently, 1K Phew released a Christmas carol album along with all the team at Reach Records. No matter what happened throughout the year, getting ready for Christmas was so powerful to let us know that we could still have joy, no matter what we went through “Christmas was the time of year we all did things together. When Christmas came, there was a certain spirit that came in the house,” he says. “When I was in school, I was getting in all kinds of trouble. He says Christmas has always been special time of year for him and his family. He surrendered his life to Jesus and was born again. So I had to make a decision right then and there as to what I wanted to do.” Once that situation happened, I knew right then and there that if I kept doing the things I was doing, I was going to end either dead or in jail. “What really got me in a real-deal relationship with Christ was when I got in a real bad situation where I got shot at,” he says on video for Jam the Hype. It was the turning point in his life that caused him to reexamine what matters most.ġK Phew, whose real name is Isaac Gordon, was raised a Christian but started getting into trouble in his teen years. That’s because he narrowly survived being shot to death. For Christmas this year, hip hop artist 1K Phew can thank God not only for the gift of eternal life, but just plain life.