music | Pedestrian God

Music Review: Rend Collective’s Good News

Mar 06 2018

Three months ago, Spotify offered me three months of their premium service for just 99 cents. I decided to give it a try. And as a result, I have listened to nothing but Spotify at the office since December. I was able to listen to entire albums without ads (I didn’t realize how annoying ads were until they were suddenly gone!).

A couple weeks ago, I noticed that Rend Collective had posted a new album, Good News. So I listened to it once. Then twice. Then every day for the past two weeks. I was hooked.

I’ve previously been a fan of Rend Collective, primarily “You are My Vision” and “Build Your Kingdom Here.” But there’s something special about their new album. Something that makes me listen to the entire album on repeat for days.

So let me walk you through the first half of the album to display what continues to draw me back to it.

1. Life Is Beautiful: The intro music is a bit fanciful, like a dream. Then the opening lines are beautiful poetry:

Painter of skies, maker of stars
Holder of seas and all our hearts
Artist of life, father of lights
When I’m with you my soul ignites
You see my sin but love me the same
Breathe on my hurt and raise me again
Up from the ash, up from the dust
You’re recreating us

I will not waste this day you’ve made
I will be glad

Rejoice, rejoice

2. I Will Be Undignified: The singer is dancing like David danced and proclaims, “I will be undignified. I will praise the Lord my God with all my might. I will leave my pride behind. I will praise the Lord my God with all my life.” This song makes my Baptist-raised heart want to lift my hands and dance along with him!

Book Review: Unashamed

Sep 07 2016

When Lecrae Moore watched his son take his first step, he knew it would be followed immediately by a fall. One step. That’s all his son could take. In the process of learning to walk, falling and injury were expected. This is how Lecrae’s faith in God developed also. One step followed by tumbles and stretches of time refusing to get back up.

But today, Lecrae is known for his commitment to his faith and as a hip-hop artist. Among numerous accolades, he is a two-time Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist whose studio albums and mix tapes have sold nearly 2 million copies. His 2014 album, Anomaly, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Many of us know the Lecrae who achieved musical success. In his recent autobiography Unashamed, Lecrae recounts the painful years of his life spent for his own glory.

Lecrae writes openly about his rebellious childhood filled with poverty, physical and sexual abuse, drugs, and fights. But through a college Bible study, he came to know a personal relationship with God. It was a shallow faith that he packed full of legalistic rules.

In fact,he threw away his secular CDs and taped the empty cases together into a 5 foot pillar in his room to brag about how great of a Christian he was since he sacrificed so much. Reflecting back, Lecrae calls it “a monument to my own self-righteousness.”

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