Following up his overwhelming victory in a rap battle with Drake earlier this year, and the news that he would perform at Super Bowl LIX next February, Kendrick Lamar dropped a surprise single last night, mentioning Christian rappers Lecrae and Dee-1 in the song.
The song, which was released to Instagram at 8 p.m. EST, coinciding with the start of the MTV Video Music Awards, was posted without a caption and with an obscure photo of black Nike Air Force 1s as the cover. On the music app Genius, the song was tentatively titled “Watch the Party Die.”
In the chorus, Lamar prays to God.
God, give me life, dear God, please give me peace
Dear God, please keep these lame n----s away from me
Dear God, keep me shining, the f--- do they really think?
Pocket-watching, you must be the police
God, bless these words, dear God, bless how I think
Dear God, draw the line, they tryna confuse 'em with me
Dear God, please, forgive me, you knowin' how hard I tried
I think it's time for me to watch the party die
In the third verse, Kendrick twice wonders “what Lecrae would do,” starting the verse:
Sometimes I wonder what Lecrae would do
F--- these n----s up or show 'em just what prayer do
I want to be empathetic, my heart like Dee-1
But I would—[pause]
It's time to get these devils out the way
It’s not the first time Lamar has been involved in Christian hip-hop, appearing as a cameo in Lecrae’s 2012 “Church Clothes” music video. Lecrae has spoken discreetly about their long friendship, telling HipHopDX that Lamar was one of his favorites “because early on, he was really transparent and honest and allowed me to just be a voice in his life.”
Who is Lecrae?
Lecrae is the most successful Christian rapper, with over 3 million record sales, a number one record on the Billboard Hot 200, and four Grammy awards and nine nominations. His first album, Real Talk, released in 2004 on Reach Records, the label Lecrae co-founded. An instant success, his early music was associated with the “young, restless, reformed” movement which repackaged conservative Reformed theology with greater cultural relevance and legibility.
Over the next decade, Lecrae was unashamed to speak out about police brutality, racial justice, and racism among white evangelicals, challenging what was often considered acceptable in contemporary Christian music. He collaborated with artists from beyond the world of CCM with prominent artists like 9th Wonder, Big K.R.I.T., B.o.B., and many others. Simultaneously, Lecrae sowed his success into Christian hip-hop as a genre, signing artists to his label like Andy Mineo, KB, Trip Lee, WHATUPRG, and Anike. He toured with numerous other artists in Christian hip-hop and Christian music generally, including Dee-1 in 2013.
In recent years, Lecrae has returned to sharing conservative expressions of faith, saying he deconstructed and reconstructed his faith. While still expressing his firm opposition to racism, sexism, and abuse of power, he has criticized forms of deconstruction that leads to “adopting cultural norms that are not endorsed by God.”
Professionally, Lecrae has taken to promoting voices associated with the “ex-gay” movement, including on his podcast and signing Jackie Hill Perry to Reach Records. He has questioned whether the Enneagram is demonic and in his songs drew equivocations between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and 2022 Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
Who is Dee-1?
Dee-1, whose legal name is David Augustine, has been equally a mainstay in the Christian hip-hop genre, with multiple charting albums and touring with numerous high-profile artists. A New Orleans native, he was also appointed by former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards to the state’s Council for the Success of Black Men and Boys.
His 2016 song, “Sallie Mae Back,” about paying off student loans, was met with critical acclaim. He signed to RCA in 2013 and returned to releasing music independently in 2019.
Dee-1 has earned honors from the NAACP in 2020, was the 2022-23 Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at Harvard’s Hiphop Archive & Research Institute, and was an “artist-in-residence” at Tufts University.
What do the lyrics mean?
It’s not unusual for Lamar to reference his Christian faith in his music, having entire albums full of references to God, scripture, and his own prayers. But it’s a first for the rapper to reference the sub-genre of Christian hip-hop. Overall, the song is aimed at critiquing commercialism and hedonism in hip-hop.
A simple reading of the lyrics is that Lamar aspires to the Christian “holiness” of Lecrae and Dee-1. While both rappers would deny that they are any less sinful than Lamar, the Compton rapper is likely drawing on comparisons between his motivations and theirs.
But in 2023, Dee-1 was a vocal critique of Lecrae, with the two posting videos on social media responding to each other. As reported by Rolling Out, Dee-1 criticized a “Righteous & Ratchet” merchandise line that Lecrae sold.
“When I saw he used his large platform to publicly push, promote and glorify a lifestyle of being righteous and ratchet, I was like, ‘nah,’” he said. The New Orleans rapper said Lecrae was “putting business before ministry,” after saying the two talked privately but Lecrae kept selling the merch.
“It seems like sometimes, people try to make customers of all the nations, before disciples,” Dee-1 said. “If things get put out publicly, I’m going to address them publicly.”
Rapzilla, a Christian hip-hop news site, reported that Lecrae had defended the merchandise saying that “Being righteous and ratchet is not reveling in sin and making up for it with strong declarations of faith. It’s about understanding we are all nuanced individuals, not defined by our appearance and accepting of the imperfections we have.”
He also responded to Dee-1, saying that “I’m sure they called Jesus ratchet. He came from Nazareth,” though he eventually took down the merchandise.
Could Lamar be intentionally juxtaposing the two rappers in a verse about how one chooses to love one’s enemies? Lamar is known for deeply layering his lyrics, particularly in his recent releases of Drake disses and even his Super Bowl announcement.
Regardless, the public call-out to Christian hip-hop's biggest start indicates that the genre — which once struggled to gain respect in either Christian music or mainstream hip-hop — has become a key influence on both traditions.
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