As a part of his project, “Church Clothes,” Lecrae recently dropped the third installment to the series. Released on Jan. 15, Lecrae’s latest album consists of 10 songs and features other artists such as, John Givez, Propaganda and KB.

Lecrae is best known for his songs, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” “I’m turnt” and “All I Need is You.” His previous album, “Anomaly,” was released in 2014 and was awarded the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. His latest album, “Church Clothes 3,” was an unexpected release, but in my opinion did not meet expectations.

The first mistake that I see with this album is that it does not represent who Lecrae really is. I think that he tried to step out of his comfort zone and deliver something new or unique. I personally was not a fan of his album, “Anomaly” as well. His songs are usually upbeat and and contain high tempo. More than half of the songs, in my opinion, are slow and dry.

Lecrae is also known for naming God or Jesus multiple times in his songs to deliver a good message. That is not the case for this album. In his songs, “Can’t do You” and “Gangland,” Jesus, God or the Lord are mentioned only three times combined. I believe that he tried to mirror other Christian rappers such as, NF or Canon. However, these two rappers are lyrical masterminds and Lecrae failed to draw me in with his lyrics.

I am personally a fan of songs that talk about the artists’ life whether it be about their childhood or current life. A rapper that does a great job of doing this, Reconcile. In most of his songs, he talks about the struggle of his childhood. “Can’t Take this from Me” and “Numb” both do a great job of explaining his childhood. On top of the song, the music video completes it and really makes you feel for Reconcile and what he has gone through. — Nick LeBlanc

The second problem I have with the album is that Lecrae does not connect his music with himself. What I mean by this is that fails to relate an aspect of his life to his songs. He does not make his songs personal. This is not a problem that is just found in this particular album, but throughout all of his albums.

I am personally a fan of songs that talk about the artists’ life whether it be about their childhood or current life. A rapper that does a great job of doing this, Reconcile. In most of his songs, he talks about the struggle of his childhood. “Can’t Take this from Me” and “Numb” both do a great job of explaining his childhood. On top of the song, the music video completes it and really makes you feel for Reconcile and what he has gone through.

Lecrae does have one song that describes his childhood. “Just Like You,” talks about his father not being there for him, and his uncle having to take care of him. In my opinion this is Lecrae’s best song.

Despite the negative points, there are a couple of good notes to this album. His song, “Sidelines,” in my opinion, is what all of his songs should sound like; an upbeat and positive song. Also, despite most of songs not being about Lecrae himself, multiple songs talk about the problems of the world today. “Freedom,” talks about the issues of slavery, while “Gangland,” address the problems of gangs.

Even though I do not find his new album very appealing, many people have positive things to say about the album. Damien Boyce, ’17, is one of those people. In love with the first track, Boyce thinks that Lecrae can be influential to everyone.

“I think Lecrae is a good, spiritual rapper,” Boyce said. “He stays true to himself and doesn’t hold anything back. Church Clothes 3 is a great album. I love his songs, especially the first track. I think he’ll be very influential to everyone and I think that he’ll come out with some very good things.”

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Although I am not a huge fan of this album, Lecrae is still very popular. I believe that if he can produce another good album, that he will still remain popular. Despite praise from others, I still feel that Lecrae came up short with this album and did a poor job of executing his music.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @nick_leblanc1 and via email: Nick LeBlanc.

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