Walk-up songs, Christianity, and collabs
An interview with rapper Lacrae
Credit: Milan DiLeo
Grammy-winning Christian rapper Lecrae is debuting his latest project, Get Well Soon! — a joint effort with energetic Bay Area rapper Miles Minnick — at a listening party in Los Angeles.
The baseball diamond seems very far away as heavy bass thumps through The Gathering Spot on West Adams. Lyrics boom: If I’m the one, then I gotta be the one; I’ma rep where I’m from, I’ma step where I’m from.
Lecrae, born and raised in Houston, became the first hip-hop artist to win a Grammy for “Best Gospel Album” with his 2012 album Gravity. Over the course of his career, he’s released 10 albums and three mixtapes, has co-founded record label Reach Records, and taken part in the Christian hip-hop collective 116 inspired by (the Bible verse Roman 1:16).
The songs on Get Well Soon! feature beats and bars inspired by multiple rap genres, and it’s very likely that a track off this album could fill a stadium in the near future.
Pirates outfielder and five-time MLB All-Star Andrew McCutchen has consistently used Lecrae’s music for his walk-up songs. Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcìa walks out to the Lecrae's “Spread the Opps.” Dodgers shortstop Mark Ahmed has showcased his fandom of the rapper, too, saying during a 2023 interview that he’d love for him to do his walk-up music.
In the following conversation, we explore how baseball has touched Lecrae's music career — and what could be coming next.
Credit: Milan DiLeo
I know your background is in basketball, but what’s been your experience with baseball?
I have some good friends playing baseball. One of my good friends, Andrew McCutchen, is playing for the Pirates. (Former MLB player) Chris Coghlan, a lot of other guys like that. They taught me a bit about baseball.
When you first started noticing that your music was resonating with athletes, what did that awaken in you? How did that feel?
The irony of that is, how we recognized it was players started using my music as walk-up songs. That was the first recognition of it. Then it turned into NFL and NBA players using it for various things.
I think the walk-up song is a way for athletes to say, this is who I am. This is what I'm about. This is what inspires me and for me, it just made me feel like, wow, I'm creating something that's inspiring people to be great. When your gifts inspire other people to use theirs for greatness, there’s nothing better.
What are some moments in sports, or maybe baseball, specifically, that inspire you?
Shout out to Andrew McCutchen, specifically, for him walking up to bat all the time, consistently playing my music. You know what I'm saying? (Royals pitcher) Michael Lorenzen, he came up with our 116 tat, which is a tattoo for our world and our community.
Michael Lorenzen coming up with the tattoo just demonstrated to the world as he's out there playing baseball with this tattoo that says, hey, Lecrae is an inspiration to me — that blows my mind to see them do what they do and to see them be great out there. That inspires me to be great.
Credit: Milan DiLeo
You spoke about the Christian renaissance tonight. How is sports an avenue for you to reach a whole new audience?
The thing about sports is that it doesn't discriminate. Age, sex, gender, whatever — it doesn't discriminate, so you're allowed to reach a wide audience just in a snapshot. I think there's a marriage there because our music speaks to the whole family. Sports is a family-oriented thing. A lot of times there's faith and family nights where we get to combine our gifts and see athletes use their gifts to spread their faith to their fans.
Do you have any dream collabs with athletes or teams that you haven’t already done?
I really want to play for the Savannah Bananas. That's my dream collab. I think I can handle that. The others, it gets a little too chaotic out there (laughs). But, man, the Dodgers are always doing their thing, and it's a beautiful thing to see the legacy that they have. Even to be connected to or associated with something that great and that long-standing is always a blessing.
How Chuck Styles captured Negro Leagues history at Rickwood Field