- Lecrae, so many thingsto talk to you about.

First, can we begin with the Dove Award,

you were one of the first

to support Kirk Franklin,

but that wasn't a knee-jerk reaction.

The story's bigger for you, correct?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- What can you share aboutwhat made you so quick

to support Kirk Franklin's boycott?

- Well, what's really interesting,

is that the night of the Dove Awards,

after he had made his speech,

I listened to his speech,

which I thought was phenomenal.

That was a call to prayer.

And, he came backstage

and I ran into him backstage,

and we had a conversation.

I came into his dressing room

and he said,

"How do you think that went?"

And I thought it,

I said it,

I don't think it could've gone any better.

And, just kinda jokingly,

we said, it'd be crazy

if they cut this one off, too.

And, just jokingly.

And then, to see it not make it,

was almost like a shock.

It was a shock to the system.

Like, how could this have happened?

And, at that point in time,

you begin to say,

okay, this is not a coincidence.

This is an intentional thing

that's happening here.

And, even if it is a coincidence,

it's one of the coincidences

that you just can't afford to have happen.

And so, for me,

it demonstrated to me,

that there are certainvoices and certain issues

that I believe God cares about, that...

for some reason, are muted.

and I think that's unfortunate

and that's somethingthat we can't stand for.

We have a freedom ofspeech in this country.

We have the freedom to address things,

and what better platform,

than a Christian platform,

to bring up a call to prayer

for issues in oursociety that need prayer?

And, that's what made me say, okay,

I'm out as well.

- Amen, what do youthink has to happen now?

You both have calledfor restoration, unity.

How do we get there?

- Yeah, I think,

with this particular situation,

it's going to take

some serious dialogue and conversation,

and some of those conversations

have already begun.

But, I do think

the bigger issue's got to be seen,

and it's not, oh...

we're sorry, here's the speech.

It's acknowledging...

what it meant to cut that speech off.

It's acknowledging what it meant to

not be aware

that this was something devastating.

It's acknowledging that the state

of the church in America,

as it pertains to race

and social injustices,

is very fragile.

And, if we want to be a body

and be a functioning community, and

truly experience unity,

than these fragile issues have got

to be taken serious.

- Amen to that.

Next thing I'd like

to turn the conversation to,

is Kanye West.

I'm sure you've heard the album,

as I have.

He's drawing both praise and criticism,

at the same time,

from all (laughs) sides.

Surprise you?

- Not at all.

(light laughter)

- Why not?

Par for the course for Kanye.

That's what Kanye does.

He draws praise and criticism, every time.

I think he's a polarizingfigure, obviously.

I think he...

he says what's on his mind

and he does not, really,

he's unmoved by what opinions

you might have of him,

based off of what he feelscompelled to say and,

at this juncture in time,

I believe he's compelled

to tell people about Jesus.

I believe he's compelled to say,

I found a new faith andI'm serious about it.

And, he's not reallyworried about the backlash

of those who want him

to talk about the content that he used

to talk about.

He's not worried about the backlash

of those who say he's insincere.

He's not worried about the backlash

of those who say,

he's using this

as some sort of play,

a political play.

I think he just sincerely saying,

hey, this is what Ifeel and where I stand.

And, even if he's not sincere,

which I have no way of knowing.

Even if Kanye was my best friend,

I don't know what's going on in his heart.

Only God knows that.

Even if he's insincere,

the gospel message isvery clear and evident

and God's gonna get his glory

with what he's saying on that project.

- Something you said,

that I agree with.

"Not my favorite Kanye album,

"but certainly, love the content."

What is your favorite Kanye album?

- I think, in terms of musicality,

and in terms of the skill set,

because a lotta times, Christians,

we can't delineate,

we can't separate thequality of something,

from the content of something.

We struggle with doin' that.

So, when we're talkingabout the skill set,

the quality of the work,

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,

I felt like was very well put together.

The musicianship, the writing,

the way things flowed together.

A good friend of mine,

S1, produced a song,

Power, and just knowing

the work that went intoit and it's like watchin'

an incredible athlete play phenomenally,

regardless of their intention,

regardless if they want all the glory

and all the fame,

you can't deny theyplayed an incredible game

and that's what I felt like happen

on that particular album.

But, Jesus is King.

You gotta love content that sounds

like sincere, passionate faith.

It sounds like,

to me, a new believer who just met Jesus

and is like,

I cannot mute thisnew-found love that I have,

and I love that about this.

- I love it, too.

Now, your favorite album,

though, from Kanye?

- Yeah, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

- Got ya, okay,

gotcha, gotcha.

Turning now to the work that you're doing.

New music coming?

- Absolutely, yeah--

- How soon, what can you share? (laughs)

- I've been workin' onit pretty tirelessly

for a while now,

and I think

the crockpot is just about done cookin'.

- Yeah.

(light laughter)

- So, I'm excited to,

I would like to see somethin' out

by the end of the year.

If not, definitely the top of the year,

but I've been growingthe scruff on my face,

just as a symbol of hard work.

I've been workin'.

(light laughter)

- If it's a clean-cut Lecrae,

that means the album's not ready.

(light laughter)

- All right, and it's called, Restoration?

- Yeah, so the album

is called, Restoration.

The story around that is just,

is man, I've really,

truly, been restored.

God has done somerestorative work in my life,

over the last few years

and I've gone through a lotta turmoil

and pain behind the scenes.

And people, they know some of it,

but they don't know howit truly effected me

and my family.

And so, a lot of that will be shown.

And just, people will be able to see

that some relationshipshave been restored,

some perspective has been restored,

and my faith has definitely been restored.

- Lookin' forward to that.

You took a trip to the Holy Land,

during this time, as well.

What was that like?

- It was phenomenal.

It was like the cap-off

of the restoration process, honestly.

Just to be able

to walk in the places where

these biblical characters walked.

To see David's templeand his dwelling place.

To see the garden tomb,

where it's believed Jesus resurrected.

That kind of stuff just invigorates

and re-energizes your faith in a way,

that I can't even explain.

So, the Bible will neverbe the same for me.

Man, it was a beautiful experience.

Yeah, I literally have no words.

- Followed you on social media

during that process.

Lot to take away, really beautiful.

So, now we call you Professor Lecrae?

(light laughter)

- Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, I was a visiting lecturer

of Stanford University.

I had the wonderful opportunity

of teachin' a class there,

called, Controllin' The Narrative.

And, there's somethin'

that I've always wanted to do,

I've always wanted to be involved

in higher education,

and especially,institutions like Stanford,

which are just renowned

for their incredible scholarship.

And so, for me,

that was a privilege and a honor.

And, just workin' with the students

and helpin' them to create some tools

and some design work that will

help further underrepresented

children and young people'sstories being told.

'Cause I see this gap

of underrepresented people,

whether that'd be minorities or women,

or whoever they may be,

their stories are not being told in media,

in society, in the workplace.

And, why is that?

And so, these Stanford students got

to kinda sit

and hear how they can use their time

and talents and their skill sets

to help these stories become unearthed.

And so, we partnered with some non-profits

and worked with some youth,

and it was phenomenal.

It was just a great time.

- Awesome, awesome, so I imagine

we're gonna see some stories

come from that, as well.

- Oh yeah, absolutely,

absolutely.- Beautiful.

One more thing,

before I let you go.

Your book was one of those that,

when I closed the last chapter,

I was wanting more

and I understand,

you're going to deliver.

- Yeah, yeah, I do have another book

in the works.

It should come out next year, as well,

And yeah, I definitely felt like

there was some lessons that I've learned

and some things thatpeople need to process.

And so, I wanna take people through

a healing journey.

Healing from relational battles,

political battles, racial

battles, economic battles.

How do you heal from these types of things

and what does that look like for me?

And so, that's kinda thepremise of this book,

and hopefully it'll bea blessing for anybody

and everybody who reads it.

- Lecrae, thank you for your time.

Thank you for your obedience

to the call.

You truly are blessingmany, including myself.

Thank you.

- God bless you, as well.