Background and career
Lecrae Devaughn Moore (born October 9, 1979) is an American Christian rapper, singer-songwriter, actor, and recording producer and executive. Since having begun his career in 2004, he has released ten studio albums and four mixtapes as a solo artist, as well as recording with the hip-hop collective 116, which he co-founded. Lecrae's first two studio albums, Real Talk (2004) and After the Music Stops (2006), were both released independently and met with critical praise. His third, Rebel (2008), became the first Christian hip-hop album to peak atop the Billboard Top Gospel Albums, and his first to enter the Billboard 200. After the release of his fourth album, Rehab (2010), Lecrae began attracting mainstream attention following his performance at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher, and his guest appearance on Statik Selektah's single "Live and Let Live" that same year. His sixth album, Gravity (2012), and has been called the most important album in Christian hip hop history by Rapzilla and Atlanta Daily World. Along with continued critical praise, it peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and made Lecrae the first hip hop artist to win in the category of Best Gospel Album — at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. His seventh album, Anomaly (2014), became his first to debut atop the Billboard 200, as well as the first album to peak both the Billboard 200 and Top Gospel Album charts simultaneously. In May 2016, Lecrae signed with Columbia Records. He released his third mixtape, Church Clothes 3 (2016), his eighth album, All Things Work Together (2017), and his collaborative album with American record producer Zaytoven, Let the Trap Say Amen (2018). He left Columbia in early 2020, and released his tenth album, Restoration, in August of that year. Lecrae received nominations for Artist of the Year at the 43rd, 44th, 45th, and 46th GMA Dove Awards, the last of which he won, and for Best Gospel Artist at the 2013 and 2015 BET Awards, the latter of which he won, a first for a rap artist. Lecrae's filmography includes a role in the television film A Cross to Bear (2012) and brief roles in the comedy film Believe Me (2014), crime film Superfly (2018), and Christian drama film Breakthrough (2019). Lecrae has presented on and written about racial tension and injustice in the United States as well as advocated for the preservation of responsibility and fatherhood values among men in the United States. In 2013, he partnered with Dwyane Wade and Joshua DuBois in the multimedia initiative This Is Fatherhood as part of the Obama administration's Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, and in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic worked with Love Beyond Walls to distribute hand-washing stations and food to homeless people in Atlanta. Lecrae has co-founded three media entities: the record label Reach Records in 2004, the now-defunct non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries in 2007, and the film production studio 3 Strand Films in 2019.
Lecrae was raised by his single mother in a poor neighborhood in southern Houston. Shortly after his birth, he moved to Denver, away from his father, then to San Diego. At the age of 6, he was sexually abused by his babysitter. As a teenager, his role models were the rapper Tupac Shakur and his uncle, a member of a street gang. At age 16, he began using drugs, trying almost every substance except crack and heroin. He started stealing in high school and dealing drugs, using his grandmother's Bible as a lucky charm. He was arrested for possession of drugs, but the policeman who arrested him discovered his Bible and made him promise that, if he let Lecrae go, he would live according to biblical principles from now on. Subsequently, he began rehab. He dropped drugs but replaced them with alcohol and partying. Lecrae received a scholarship to study theater at the University of North Texas, and graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in 2002. He also briefly attended Middle Tennessee State University. At age 19, he went to a Bible study after being invited by a girl from college. He was amazed to see people like himself there, who liked the same books and music, but who were loving. He decided to live for God, but continued to make bad choices. Following a friend's invitation, he attended a Christian conference in Atlanta and was impressed by the performance of a Christian rap group, The Cross Movement. He was also touched by a clear presentation of the gospel by Pastor James White (of Christ Our King Community Church). He then asked forgiveness for his sins and claimed to have experienced a new birth. Subsequently, he was in a car accident but came out unscathed. In 2003, in a Bible study meeting at Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas, he met Ben Washer, with whom he would volunteer and sing in a juvenile correctional facility. Young people's positive response to Christian rap encouraged them to start a label.
In 2004, five years after his conversion, Lecrae teamed up with Ben Washer to found Reach Records, and at the age of 25 he released his first album, Real Talk. The following year it was re-released by Cross Movement Records and reached number 29 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart, staying on the chart for 12 weeks. The album later received a nomination at the 2007 Stellar Awards. In 2005, Lecrae co-founded the non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries (no longer operational since April 2015), which equipped local Christian leaders with tools, media, curriculum, and conferences that were based on the teachings of the Bible and relevant to hip-hop culture. Also in 2005, the debut album of 116 Clique, The Compilation Album, was released. After the success of Real Talk, Lecrae then released his second studio album on August 15, 2006. After the Music Stops charted at number five on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart, number seven on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and number 16 on the Billboard Heatseeker Album charts, and received a nomination for a Dove Award, as did the single "Jesus Muzik", featuring Trip Lee. In 2007, 116 Clique released its second album, 13 Letters, reaching number ten on the Gospel Albums chart and number 29 on the Christian Albums chart. 116 Clique also released the remix EP Amped, which peaked at number 24 on the Gospel Albums chart. On October 8, 2008, Lecrae's third album, Rebel, entered the Billboard charts at number 60 with 9,800 units sold and topped the Billboard Gospel Album charts for two weeks, the first hip-hop album to do so. It also charted at number two on the Christian Albums chart and number 15 on the Top Independent charts. In 2009, the album received a nomination at the 40th Dove Awards, as did the Flame song "Joyful Noise", which featured Lecrae and John Reilly. 2009 also saw Lecrae's first film role, when he appeared in the documentary Uprise Presents: Word from the Street by the UK-based TV channel OHTV. In 2009, he moved to Atlanta and he helped establish Blueprint Church (Southern Baptist Convention). On February 5, 2010, Lecrae released a charity single entitled "Far Away", a tribute to the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Lecrae promised that all proceeds from the single's sales would go directly to the Haiti relief effort. On July 7, Lecrae announced on the Reach Records website that the title of his new album would be Rehab. On August 5, 2010, Rapzilla shared a new song from Lecrae called "Amp It Up". Lecrae subsequently clarified on his Twitter account that the song was not a single from Rehab, but rather a theme song for Kanakuk Kamps, a chain of Christian camps for which he writes songs annually. On August 31, 2010, Reach Records revealed the track list for Rehab, released it for pre-order, and premiered a promotional video "Idols". A second promotional video, entitled "I Am Dust", debuted on September 9, 2010. Rehab debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it one of the highest selling Christian hip hop albums at the time. On September 22, 2010, Rapzilla reported that the Rehab packaging came with an advertisement encouraging buyers to purchase another upcoming album, Rehab: The Overdose, which saw release on January 11, 2011. It included 11 new songs and featured several other Christian artists such as Thi'sl and Swoope. Rehab: The Overdose debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200. On August 29, 2011, Lecrae announced through Twitter that on September 27, 2011, he would release a special edition of Rehab, entitled Rehab: Deluxe Edition. On the same day, 116 Clique released their fourth album, entitled Man Up. On September 7, 2011, Rapzilla announced that Lecrae would be featured on the BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher on October 11, 2011. Lecrae gained popularity after his verse on the cypher trended nationwide on Twitter and was featured on AllHipHop. Lecrae then appeared as a feature on Statik Selektah's song "Live and Let Live" from his Population Control album.
On February 16, 2012, Rapzilla announced that Lecrae was preparing to release his first mixtape, Church Clothes. On May 3, 2012, Lecrae premiered his music video for the title track of his Church Clothes mixtape online on XXL. The video was noted for including cameos by Kendrick Lamar and DJ Premier, and attracted almost 20,000 views in less than a day. Hosted by Don Cannon, the mixtape featured the song Darkest Hour, in which Lecrae collaborated with No Malice of Clipse. Church Clothes was downloaded more than 100,000 times in less than 48 hours on DatPiff.com, and in less than a month reached 250,000 downloads, a platinum rating on the website. On June 25, 2012, a remastered version of the mixtape, without DJ Don Cannon, was released as an EP for sale on iTunes. Due to issues with sampling, this version was much shorter with only seven songs. Upon its release, the EP debuted on the Billboard charts at number ten on both the Christian Albums and Gospel Albums charts for the week of July 14, 2012. On April 27, Lecrae announced that his next album, Gravity, was to be released in late 2012, and recording sessions began in May. On June 21, 2012, Lecrae appeared live at the Apple Store in Chicago for Black Music Month. The release date for Gravity, September 4, 2012, as well as the album artwork was announced on July 19, 2012, via Rapzilla. On August 30, the rapper Saigon announced that Lecrae would be one of the featured artists on his upcoming album The Greatest Story Never Told Chapter 2: Bread and Circuses, due to release on November 6, 2012. Gravity was released on September 4, 2012, to critical acclaim. Upon its release, Gravity debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, with 72,000 units sold. The album also debuted at number one on the Christian, Gospel, Independent, and Rap Album charts, number three on the Digital Albums chart, and 24 on the Canadian Albums Chart. After the iTunes deluxe version of the album reached number one on that vendor's charts, and the regular version at number two, Time wrote an article about Lecrae and his success with the album. On November 7, 2013, Lecrae released his second mixtape, entitled Church Clothes Vol. 2, hosted once again by Don Cannon. The mixtape debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, number one on the Billboard Christian Albums and Gospel Albums charts, and number three on the Rap Albums chart. On Datpiff.com, the album was download over 146,000 times by November 26, 2013. On June 3, 2014, Lecrae announced through social media that his seventh studio album would be titled Anomaly. The album released on September 9, 2014. It is supported by the single "Nuthin". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with over 88,000 copies sold through the first week. It is the first time an album tops both the Billboard 200 and the Gospel Albums chart. Lecrae also became the fifth artist following Chris Tomlin (2013), TobyMac (2012), LeAnn Rimes (1997) and Bob Carlisle (1997) to score a number one album on both Christian Albums and the Billboard 200. Anomaly also marks the sixth time that Lecrae topped the Gospel Albums chart and the fifth time he topped the Christian Albums chart. In its second week of sales, the album sold 31,000 copies, bringing the total to 120,000 copies sold. In its third week of sales, the album sold another 17,000 copies, bringing the total to 137,000 copies. Anomaly went on to sell over 500,000 copies, and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 26, 2016. As a reward to fans for their support in helping his album go number one on Billboard, Lecrae released a new song, "Non-Fiction", as a free download on September 17. The song was subsequently released on October 21, 2014, in the iTunes store. The single "All I Need Is You" from the album was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, and on June 12, 2019, the song was certified Gold by the RIAA. To promote Anomaly, on September 18, 2014, Lecrae appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing alongside the Roots, the program's house band. He made a subsequent appearance the following year, on January 9, 2015, this time as a featured performer. On January 15, 2016, Lecrae released his third mixtape Church Clothes 3. The mixtape debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Christian, Rap, and Independent charts, selling some 29,207 units.
In August 2015, Lecrae announced an upcoming memoir titled Unashamed, which on May 3, 2016, was published through B&H Publishing Group, a subsidiary of LifeWay Christian Resources. It opened at number 19 on The New York Times Best Seller list. In May 2016, Lecrae signed to Columbia Records, which will release future recordings in conjunction with Reach. Lecrae explained that he signed this deal in order to increase the international audience for Reach, since his label peaked nationally with the release of Anomaly. In September 2016, Reach Records announced Lecrae's upcoming tour schedule, The Destination Tour (You're Accepted), which ran through October and November. On October 21, 2016, Lecrae released the single "Can't Stop Me Now (Destination)", the lead single from his upcoming studio album. On January 27, 2017, he released the second single "Blessings", featuring Ty Dolla Sign. Lecrae followed this up with the third single "I'll Find You", featuring Tori Kelly, on June 8, 2017. Then, on June 23, 2017, he released a promotional single "Hammer Time", featuring 1K Phew. On August 7, 2017, Lecrae announced his eighth studio album, All Things Work Together, his major label debut. The album was released on September 22, 2017. "Blessings" went on to be certified Gold on April 30, 2019, and "I'll Find You" was certified Platinum on February 26, 2020. On May 24, 2018, he announced in a DJ Booth editorial that he and producer Zaytoven would release a collaborative album called Let the Trap Say Amen. The album was released on June 22, 2018. In December 2019, the Atlanta Hawks accidentally leaked information about a new Lecrae album coming March 2020 when they posted about a Lecrae performance—also in March—that included information about the album: Restoration. In an interview with Black Enterprise, Lecrae said that he is excited to put out some healing music, that there is always "hope, healing, and restoration available if you seek it". In the same interview, Lecrae discussed his forthcoming second book, I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion but Found My Faith, which will be a follow-up to his first book Unashamed. I Am Restored was released October 13, 2020. The first single to Restoration, "Set Me Free", featuring YK Osiris, and the accompanying music video, was released on March 20, 2020.
In May 2020, Lecrae left Columbia, and stated that this would give him more artistic freedom and control. Restoration was released on August 21, 2020. On December 3, 2021, Lecrae released No Church In a While, a ten-track collaboration album with 1K Phew. With American Christian rapper Andy Mineo, he released "Coming In Hot" as a single, later included on the Reach Records collaborative album titled Summer Eighteen, as well as Mineo's 2021 album Never Land II. It has been certified RIAA Digital Gold for more than 500,000 downloads and on-demand streams in August 2021, and Digital Platinum in 2023 for exceeding one million, also becoming a viral song on social networks, used by personalities like Kim Kardashian and Will Smith. It managed to position itself on Billboard three years after its release, a rare occurrence in music. In August 2025, Lecrae released his tenth studio album Reconstruction. Later in 2025, announced his upcoming documentary, Unashamed, which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival on September 21, 2025.
