Staying Grounded & Standing Firm In Your Convictions ft. Lecrae // Michael Porter Jr.

00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC]

00:00:10.000 | Man, I'm sitting here with Lecrae, bro, appreciate you.

00:00:12.480 | Absolutely.

00:00:13.480 | I've been a big fan ever since, I can remember it ever since I was a little kid, you know,

00:00:17.000 | I was listening to your music, I remember my dad put me on ever since I was like 5 to 7.

00:00:22.000 | So to be sitting here with you now, talking about-

00:00:24.000 | That's crazy.

00:00:25.000 | Everything's gonna be cool, man.

00:00:26.000 | That's crazy.

00:00:27.000 | Man, so first off, I just want to ask you, like, so you, you know, you in the celebrity

00:00:31.000 | spotlight, you in the rap culture, I'm in the NBA, how do you stay grounded and how

00:00:37.000 | do you not let, you know, whether that's social media followers, you know, people treating

00:00:41.000 | you like you're a guy at your concert, whatever it is, how do you stay grounded and just be

00:00:45.000 | like a regular guy with everything going on?

00:00:48.000 | Yeah, that's a good question.

00:00:49.000 | I think part of it is like making sure I keep some of the people I came up with in my circle,

00:00:55.000 | you know what I mean?

00:00:56.000 | People who are not impressed with any, it's like they're not impressed with me.

00:01:01.000 | They're like, "Man, I know you.

00:01:02.000 | What are you talking about?"

00:01:03.000 | Like, you know what I mean?

00:01:04.000 | And it takes some time, take your friends a little time to breathe the air that you're

00:01:08.000 | breathing, you know what I mean?

00:01:09.000 | It's kind of like, you know, "What?

00:01:11.000 | What is going on?"

00:01:12.000 | But they still see you as yourself.

00:01:15.000 | So I try to keep those people around me.

00:01:18.000 | Two, I just always remember that nobody wakes up humble, man.

00:01:24.000 | You don't wake up humble.

00:01:25.000 | You wake up every day and you got to chase humility.

00:01:29.000 | You know, you got to go after it.

00:01:30.000 | You don't wake up like, "Man, I feel humble today, boy."

00:01:34.000 | You know, you wake up like, "I'm the man out here."

00:01:37.000 | You know what I mean?

00:01:38.000 | So you got to go pursue humility and be reminded that it's not about you.

00:01:41.000 | And plus, it's a balance, for real.

00:01:43.000 | Especially with me, and I know it's the same over there.

00:01:46.000 | When you trying to be the best and you still trying to stay humble, it's like you got

00:01:50.000 | to have almost like a healthy ego.

00:01:52.000 | That's a balance you got to...

00:01:53.000 | Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:01:54.000 | You got to stay humble on the court.

00:01:55.000 | And it's sometimes hard to think like humility when my ego want to tell me like, "No, I'm

00:01:59.000 | better than every single person on the floor."

00:02:01.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:02:02.000 | Yeah.

00:02:03.000 | So in your industry, it's so counter Jesus.

00:02:06.000 | And you obviously are...

00:02:09.000 | You don't consider yourself a Christian rapper per se, but you follow Jesus.

00:02:14.000 | And how in your industry do you do that and not like lose yourself or not kind of adapt

00:02:22.000 | to the people you're around?

00:02:23.000 | How do you stay following Jesus?

00:02:25.000 | And do you have to like put parameters around you?

00:02:28.000 | What do you do?

00:02:29.000 | Yeah.

00:02:30.000 | Everybody...

00:02:31.000 | It's funny we was talking about this, but it's like, I think everybody is a werewolf.

00:02:35.000 | You know what I mean?

00:02:36.000 | Like everybody got a full moon.

00:02:37.000 | And when that moon comes out, you're going to turn into an animal.

00:02:40.000 | You got to know what your full moon is.

00:02:42.000 | So let's say, you know, you have an addictive personality and you know if you get to drinking,

00:02:48.000 | you're going to end up wilding out and going too far.

00:02:51.000 | So obviously your full moon is alcohol.

00:02:53.000 | So it's kind of like if you around it, you know, you might spaz.

00:02:56.000 | So it's like either A, don't put yourself in positions where you're going to be around it.

00:03:01.000 | Or B, have somebody with you who knows how you get down and knows when you're around it,

00:03:06.000 | that it could take you down the wrong path.

00:03:08.000 | And so it's just always trying to be like that.

00:03:11.000 | I mean, obviously as a Christian, I believe that I have a power within me to like, you know,

00:03:17.000 | a supernatural power to keep me and hold me down and keep me from making bad decisions.

00:03:21.000 | But I'm still a human.

00:03:23.000 | So, you know, part of it is knowing your own struggles, your own vices.

00:03:27.000 | And then two, count the cost.

00:03:28.000 | That's what I feel like a lot of people don't do.

00:03:30.000 | They don't count the cost.

00:03:31.000 | Like you could ruin a movement over a moment.

00:03:34.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:03:35.000 | And that just happens all the time.

00:03:36.000 | You got a whole movement going on and then one moment and it's over.

00:03:40.000 | And it's like, man, it's not worth it.

00:03:42.000 | You know what I mean?

00:03:43.000 | Nah, that's facts.

00:03:44.000 | But for me it's like you just said, is it an investment or is it taken away from what I'm trying to do?

00:03:49.000 | But like you said, every human get in certain moods where it's like if you don't have certain parameters in place,

00:03:55.000 | you're going to do something messed up.

00:03:57.000 | So for me it's like I know like over time making the same mistakes, going through the same cycles,

00:04:02.000 | I know my vices now at this point.

00:04:04.000 | So it's like I know what I got to stay away from.

00:04:06.000 | Like part of the reason I'm on social media is because I know like for me when I'm feeling down about whatever,

00:04:12.000 | a game or whatever, I'll run to social media, run to that attention.

00:04:16.000 | Whether that's women's attention or just the approval of others.

00:04:19.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:04:20.000 | To give me that boost.

00:04:21.000 | And that wasn't really something I was trying to do.

00:04:25.000 | So like for me it's just something I had to take out of my life.

00:04:30.000 | And I'll go back.

00:04:31.000 | Like after a while I'll get off of it, get back on it.

00:04:34.000 | And it's cool for a little bit, but then like it creeps back in.

00:04:38.000 | It creeps back up.

00:04:39.000 | And to me social media has like a lot to do with the problems in this world.

00:04:43.000 | And it's tough because like it can be a positive thing.

00:04:48.000 | For sure.

00:04:49.000 | But like you said it's an investment for me.

00:04:52.000 | Like I know myself.

00:04:53.000 | It's just one of my downfalls.

00:04:56.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:04:57.000 | A lot of people's man.

00:04:58.000 | Like social media is rough because you know what I mean?

00:05:03.000 | It's kind of like this false sense of identity for a lot of folks.

00:05:07.000 | Myself included, you know what I mean?

00:05:09.000 | So you got to fight against that all the time.

00:05:11.000 | I definitely know what you mean.

00:05:12.000 | Yeah, for sure.

00:05:14.000 | And going off of identity, I was telling her before we talked,

00:05:19.000 | your song "Identity" and your "Rebel" album,

00:05:21.000 | one of my favorite songs you talk about.

00:05:23.000 | You go back?

00:05:24.000 | My ears go back.

00:05:26.000 | No, your "Rebel" album, that's my favorite album you ever dropped.

00:05:29.000 | And that song you just talk about how you try not to find your identity

00:05:34.000 | in the things or your career, your house, your success, whatever it is.

00:05:39.000 | You try to find your identity in God.

00:05:41.000 | But that's so much easier said than done,

00:05:43.000 | especially like when you're in the career or you're in these moments.

00:05:48.000 | It's hard not to find your identity.

00:05:50.000 | For me, I know it is.

00:05:52.000 | When I have a bad game and I see how down I get,

00:05:56.000 | I know I'm not really finding my identity in God.

00:05:58.000 | A lot of times finding it through basketball.

00:06:01.000 | And it's hard because that's all I do all day.

00:06:04.000 | But how do you think practically you can find your identity in God?

00:06:09.000 | Practically, a lot of it comes down to spending time with God.

00:06:18.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:06:19.000 | Because the more time you spend with somebody,

00:06:21.000 | the more their perspective informs you.

00:06:26.000 | You know what I mean?

00:06:27.000 | You feel closer to them, more connected to them.

00:06:29.000 | The less time I spend with God--and when I say spending time with God,

00:06:31.000 | it's just being still, being quiet, prayer, reading my Bible,

00:06:34.000 | whatever that looks like.

00:06:36.000 | The less time I spend with them, the easier it is for me to believe lies.

00:06:39.000 | The more time you spend with truth, the harder it is to believe lies.

00:06:42.000 | You know what I mean?

00:06:44.000 | It's like when I'm spending more time with God,

00:06:47.000 | then it's harder to believe the lies.

00:06:49.000 | It's easier to believe, "Oh, yeah, this is where my purpose is.

00:06:52.000 | This is where my worth is."

00:06:55.000 | For me, some little things that I do, I take a dry erase marker sometimes,

00:07:01.000 | and I'll write verses on my mirror so when I wake up in the morning,

00:07:05.000 | I see it and I'm reminded.

00:07:07.000 | You know what I mean?

00:07:09.000 | Just like, "All right, I'm God's workmanship creator for things he planned."

00:07:12.000 | So it's like, "All right, this is where my identity lies."

00:07:15.000 | Because like you said, everybody's on your head.

00:07:19.000 | Boy, people have been on my head for years about every little thing,

00:07:22.000 | and it weighs on you.

00:07:25.000 | People treat you like a product instead of a person,

00:07:28.000 | and you have to remember, "You know what, man?

00:07:32.000 | I'm not who they say I am. I'm who God says I am,"

00:07:35.000 | and just remind myself of that.

00:07:37.000 | Yeah, that's a big time because like you just were saying,

00:07:42.000 | it's about the input you put in.

00:07:44.000 | I know me, and I know a lot of people.

00:07:47.000 | It's really hard to will yourself to be a good person,

00:07:50.000 | to will yourself to grow every day.

00:07:52.000 | But the more you can fill yourself up with good stuff,

00:07:56.000 | the more you can spend time in the Word,

00:07:58.000 | spend time around good people, have good conversations,

00:08:00.000 | that's the only way it will overflow out of you.

00:08:03.000 | For so long for me, I was just trying to will myself

00:08:08.000 | to make the right decisions and will myself not to do certain things.

00:08:12.000 | But as a Christian, your life is kind of like you're always guilty

00:08:18.000 | because you're not going to be perfect,

00:08:20.000 | and when you're trying to will yourself to be better, better, better,

00:08:22.000 | then you trip, then you just back down in the dumps.

00:08:27.000 | That was a big problem for me for a long time.

00:08:31.000 | That's kind of how I shaped my faith.

00:08:33.000 | It was a wrong perception of God because it was me trying to just not do stuff.

00:08:40.000 | Instead of spend time with Him, learn to love Him,

00:08:42.000 | and then do stuff out of that.

00:08:45.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:08:48.000 | You talk a lot about how you lost your religion and you found your faith,

00:08:53.000 | and I feel like that's something that I'm in the process of doing.

00:08:57.000 | What do you really mean when you say you lost your religion and found your faith?

00:09:01.000 | Religion, like you said, is when you are following rules

00:09:06.000 | in order to be accepted by God and accepted by people.

00:09:09.000 | Right.

00:09:10.000 | Faith is what it takes--sorry, I'm popping up on my phone.

00:09:15.000 | [laughter]

00:09:17.000 | No, faith is when you have to believe that there's nothing you could do

00:09:23.000 | to make God love you more or make God love you less.

00:09:26.000 | The work has already been done.

00:09:28.000 | And so I think about it like this.

00:09:33.000 | It's like I went on a cruise one time, my first cruise I ever went on,

00:09:37.000 | and before I got on the cruise, I was excited.

00:09:41.000 | I was like, "Man, we're going to be on this cruise for five days."

00:09:43.000 | And then I started thinking to myself, "All right, I got to pack for this--

00:09:45.000 | five days on this boat in the middle of the water."

00:09:47.000 | And I didn't know any better, so I'm packing snacks, all kind of stuff,

00:09:51.000 | because I'm like, "You know how the food might be?

00:09:53.000 | I don't know what the food situation is going to be like."

00:09:56.000 | I'm just bringing all this stuff.

00:09:57.000 | And they was like, "You know you don't got to bring all this food."

00:09:59.000 | And I was like, "What you mean?"

00:10:01.000 | They said, "All the food is covered on the cost of the cruise.

00:10:04.000 | It's already been paid for."

00:10:06.000 | And I think that's how we treat our faith is we try to add

00:10:09.000 | all this extra stuff to it instead of realizing,

00:10:12.000 | "No, the price has been paid. Go enjoy the food.

00:10:15.000 | Be free to enjoy what's going on. Stop trying to earn it.

00:10:18.000 | Stop trying to build up."

00:10:21.000 | And because you're an athlete, that's all you know.

00:10:24.000 | You know if I work hard, I get results.

00:10:27.000 | But it's different with God.

00:10:29.000 | It's more like you get to work hard.

00:10:32.000 | You get to practice. You get to enjoy Him

00:10:36.000 | instead of like you have to.

00:10:39.000 | For sure. I feel like, too, like Christians,

00:10:42.000 | that makes a lot of Christians...

00:10:45.000 | From the outside looking in, I feel like people really think

00:10:48.000 | Christians could be the most miserable people

00:10:50.000 | because they're not living in freedom.

00:10:52.000 | It's like they're in chains, but they're trying to do good,

00:10:55.000 | but they're not necessarily doing good.

00:10:57.000 | So it makes this perception like Christians

00:11:00.000 | is just like always feeling guilty, always down.

00:11:03.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:11:05.000 | And honestly, that could be the truth.

00:11:07.000 | And I think that's why the Bible is saying

00:11:09.000 | it's better to be hot or cold,

00:11:11.000 | either be all the way in the world doing everything the world do

00:11:14.000 | and be guilt-free, or be all the way for Jesus.

00:11:17.000 | But I don't think by "all the way for Jesus,"

00:11:20.000 | that means don't do anything wrong.

00:11:23.000 | It just means like...

00:11:25.000 | My dad brought up a quote the other day.

00:11:27.000 | It was a quote of someone that said,

00:11:30.000 | "Love God and then do what you want."

00:11:32.000 | But, like, really love God,

00:11:34.000 | and that's going to change what you want to do.

00:11:36.000 | Big facts. Big facts.

00:11:38.000 | When you start with that,

00:11:40.000 | everything else after that, it makes sense.

00:11:43.000 | Love God, love your neighbour, and do whatever else you want.

00:11:46.000 | Because if you're loving God,

00:11:48.000 | you're not going to do stupid stuff

00:11:50.000 | that's stupid and harmful to you.

00:11:52.000 | You're going to do things that are helpful.

00:11:55.000 | So how do you think the message in your music has changed

00:11:58.000 | as you've kind of come to this reality?

00:12:00.000 | Like, early on in your faith, you know, you talk about, like,

00:12:03.000 | you was probably more like me in the beginning.

00:12:06.000 | And now it's more you've come to this realisation.

00:12:09.000 | You just dropped this Restoration album.

00:12:11.000 | You talk about that.

00:12:13.000 | How do you think that that has changed through your music?

00:12:15.000 | Like, what was you really talking about early on,

00:12:17.000 | and now what are you more trying to focus on?

00:12:19.000 | I think early on, man, you know, I was real self-righteous.

00:12:23.000 | Just real, like, look at how I move.

00:12:26.000 | Look at how I do this. I don't do that. I don't do this.

00:12:29.000 | I don't do that. I don't do this.

00:12:31.000 | I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do...

00:12:33.000 | You know, it was all about what I didn't do.

00:12:35.000 | Look at me. You know what I mean?

00:12:37.000 | Look at how I'm trying to follow God.

00:12:40.000 | And even though I was trying to encourage people

00:12:44.000 | to push and to fight, you know,

00:12:46.000 | to be what God created them to be,

00:12:49.000 | I think what I didn't understand

00:12:52.000 | is that I was more devoted to my devotion

00:12:55.000 | than how devoted God was to me, you know what I mean?

00:12:58.000 | So now I'm not so much, like, telling people to get like me.

00:13:03.000 | I'm telling people, "Look, I understand it's hard.

00:13:05.000 | "I understand that it's tough,

00:13:07.000 | "but you got to keep going, keep taking steps.

00:13:10.000 | "God is going to be with you in that whole process."

00:13:12.000 | Instead of, like, trying to will yourself to do it,

00:13:15.000 | like you were saying, it's leaning on God

00:13:17.000 | to be able to get you through.

00:13:20.000 | Because that's another thing I don't want.

00:13:22.000 | When you have that culture of, like, get like me,

00:13:26.000 | when I'm making them type of songs, people love it,

00:13:29.000 | but then when they mess up, they don't want to come around you

00:13:32.000 | 'cause they feel like, "Oh, y'all going to look down on me.

00:13:34.000 | "I don't want to... I can't be around them."

00:13:37.000 | But when you write from the standpoint of, like,

00:13:40.000 | "Hey, you know, there's mercy, there's goodness,

00:13:44.000 | "and there's another way to live,

00:13:47.000 | "and if you fail, it's OK, get back up,

00:13:50.000 | "'cause there's another opportunity for you to keep...

00:13:53.000 | "You know, restoration is available to you."

00:13:55.000 | And that's what I always want people to understand is, like,

00:13:58.000 | you know, God is always available for your restoration.

00:14:02.000 | If you really want to change, He's here,

00:14:04.000 | no matter how bad it has been in the past.

00:14:06.000 | So I think that's how the music has changed.

00:14:08.000 | 'Cause I've made a lot of mistakes, too.

00:14:10.000 | When you make some mistakes, then it's like, "All right, yeah."

00:14:13.000 | Right.

00:14:14.000 | You know what I mean? Like, "All right."

00:14:16.000 | - That's a fact. - Yeah.

00:14:18.000 | Yeah, that's a fact. So how do you relate to people?

00:14:21.000 | When you're in this world of, like, living in the rap world,

00:14:24.000 | you got a lot of friends who are living probably, like,

00:14:27.000 | way different than you,

00:14:29.000 | how do you relate to them to a point

00:14:32.000 | so that you can be an influence to them, but also stand out?

00:14:36.000 | So, like, I know, you know, some pastors

00:14:39.000 | or some people that want to reach certain people

00:14:42.000 | that are living way different,

00:14:44.000 | but you want to, like, blend in a little bit,

00:14:47.000 | but still differ from them.

00:14:49.000 | - Yeah. - How do you do that?

00:14:51.000 | You know what's funny, man?

00:14:53.000 | People make it rocket science sometimes.

00:14:56.000 | I think what folks don't understand is

00:14:58.000 | people will respect you for being yourself.

00:15:00.000 | You know what I mean?

00:15:02.000 | People think, like, you know,

00:15:05.000 | everybody got, like, a vegan friend,

00:15:07.000 | and it's like, you know they vegan.

00:15:09.000 | It doesn't mean you're not going to hang with them no more.

00:15:12.000 | You just know when y'all go out, it's like,

00:15:14.000 | "Oh, yeah, they ain't going to eat no burger."

00:15:16.000 | They might got Impossible Burgers, though, bro,

00:15:18.000 | if you want to get an Impossible Burger or something like that.

00:15:21.000 | But they're not hiding the fact that they vegan.

00:15:24.000 | This is what they about,

00:15:26.000 | and this is how they move and they function.

00:15:29.000 | And I think that's where my freedom was found,

00:15:32.000 | is I'm going to be myself, you know?

00:15:34.000 | I'll be around you.

00:15:36.000 | "Oh, man, my bad, I'm smoking."

00:15:38.000 | Smoke? I'm not going to, you know what I mean?

00:15:40.000 | And I'm not going to judge you.

00:15:42.000 | I'm not going to condemn you for what you're doing,

00:15:44.000 | because at the end of the day,

00:15:46.000 | I'm not here to point out all the little things

00:15:48.000 | that you're doing wrong.

00:15:50.000 | I'm here to be a picture of how good and loving God is,

00:15:54.000 | you know what I'm saying,

00:15:56.000 | and how my relationship with him

00:15:58.000 | has made some things better in my life, you know,

00:16:01.000 | a different look at peace and joy.

00:16:04.000 | So that's really...

00:16:06.000 | I'm just there to be a light in those dark places.

00:16:09.000 | So when I'm around folks, man, I just try to be real.

00:16:12.000 | I don't try to be holier-than-thou.

00:16:14.000 | I don't try to do any of that stuff.

00:16:16.000 | You know, I was in a studio with, you know,

00:16:19.000 | lots of rappers that people would be like,

00:16:21.000 | "What you doing hanging out with these folks?"

00:16:23.000 | But that's why they love me,

00:16:25.000 | is because I don't mind being around them.

00:16:27.000 | You know what I mean?

00:16:29.000 | You think early on, like, with that,

00:16:31.000 | you had to be careful about how much time

00:16:33.000 | you spent early on in your walk with God,

00:16:35.000 | because you got to really be like,

00:16:37.000 | I'm not hung with the sinners,

00:16:39.000 | but it's because his faith was so strong.

00:16:41.000 | But early on, like, in someone's faith walk,

00:16:43.000 | they might have got to be careful

00:16:45.000 | being around those dark places,

00:16:47.000 | because it might bring them down.

00:16:49.000 | You think, like, you evolved to that spot

00:16:51.000 | where nothing can shake you no more?

00:16:53.000 | Or you think it was always like...

00:16:55.000 | Nah, nah, nah, nah. I had to...

00:16:57.000 | You know, you grow there. You grow into that space.

00:16:59.000 | Like, early on, I made a lot of mistakes

00:17:01.000 | because I thought, like you said, I was invincible.

00:17:03.000 | Like, I can do this.

00:17:05.000 | But now everybody's saying, man,

00:17:07.000 | they see you on the court, and they're like,

00:17:09.000 | "I can do that." You know, they're watching you.

00:17:11.000 | They don't know how many hours of practice you put in.

00:17:13.000 | They don't know how many shots you get up

00:17:15.000 | when nobody's looking.

00:17:17.000 | They don't know how many plays you're memorizing.

00:17:19.000 | They don't know all of that.

00:17:21.000 | So a lot of times, people are like,

00:17:23.000 | "Oh, yeah, I could go to the BET Awards.

00:17:25.000 | I'd be straighter. I could go hang with these people."

00:17:27.000 | And it's like, you don't know how much,

00:17:29.000 | you know, meditation and prayer I done put in,

00:17:31.000 | how much studying of my word I done put in,

00:17:33.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:35.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:37.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:39.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:41.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:43.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:45.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:47.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:49.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:51.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:53.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:55.000 | how much meditation I done put in,

00:17:57.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:17:59.000 | how much prayer I done put in,

00:18:01.000 | God put it on the earth, so like,

00:18:03.000 | as long as I'm not addicted to it

00:18:05.000 | and I'm moderate in it,

00:18:07.000 | what do you think of it?

00:18:09.000 | Or like, even drinking.

00:18:11.000 | I know people that use drinking

00:18:13.000 | way too far, and they take it way too far.

00:18:15.000 | But like, you know,

00:18:17.000 | for me, it's not that.

00:18:19.000 | But like, all in all, what do you think

00:18:21.000 | about the drinking and the smoking?

00:18:23.000 | Yeah.

00:18:25.000 | You know, I gotta, I mean,

00:18:27.000 | here's the thing.

00:18:29.000 | It first comes down to,

00:18:31.000 | are you,

00:18:33.000 | are you a Christian, right?

00:18:35.000 | 'Cause if you're not, then there's different,

00:18:37.000 | then you following a whole different set

00:18:39.000 | of beliefs and views and values.

00:18:41.000 | So if you say, yeah, I'm a follower

00:18:43.000 | of Jesus. Okay, cool.

00:18:45.000 | So then I can use the Bible

00:18:47.000 | as our kind of

00:18:49.000 | north star, in a sense, to talk

00:18:51.000 | about stuff. Cool, alright, bet.

00:18:53.000 | So let's look at that then

00:18:55.000 | and see what that says for us.

00:18:57.000 | And what I

00:18:59.000 | understand is, you know, obviously,

00:19:01.000 | the Lord tells us to be sober-minded.

00:19:03.000 | And the idea of being sober-minded

00:19:05.000 | is just, man, are you always

00:19:07.000 | ready to

00:19:09.000 | withstand the darts the enemy's

00:19:11.000 | going to throw at you? 'Cause if you're drunk, you're not

00:19:13.000 | ready. You know what I'm saying?

00:19:15.000 | You're not ready. Them darts is coming and you

00:19:17.000 | out of there, champ.

00:19:19.000 | So it's, are you sober-minded?

00:19:21.000 | And, you know,

00:19:23.000 | all throughout the Bible it uses,

00:19:25.000 | you know, Jesus turned water into wine.

00:19:27.000 | It doesn't condemn alcohol. It condemns

00:19:29.000 | drunkenness, you know what I mean?

00:19:31.000 | So it comes down to you

00:19:33.000 | being able to

00:19:35.000 | follow your convictions 'cause you got your own

00:19:37.000 | internal convictions about. And if you

00:19:39.000 | are doing something you feel is wrong,

00:19:41.000 | then you sinning against your own conscience

00:19:43.000 | in that moment. 'Cause you know you feel convicted

00:19:45.000 | about it, so you wrong.

00:19:47.000 | You know, and Romans 14 talks about,

00:19:49.000 | you know, some people are weaker in this area,

00:19:51.000 | some people are not in this area.

00:19:53.000 | So when it comes to

00:19:55.000 | smoking,

00:19:57.000 | I feel like

00:19:59.000 | anything that enhances your

00:20:01.000 | ability to be

00:20:03.000 | a light and to represent the

00:20:05.000 | kingdom is,

00:20:07.000 | I don't have a problem with it, right? If it's enhancing

00:20:09.000 | your ability to be a light and it's not

00:20:11.000 | a detriment, you know what I mean?

00:20:13.000 | It's not tearing you down, hurting you, hurting

00:20:15.000 | other people. It's not illegal.

00:20:17.000 | Cool.

00:20:19.000 | But at the same time, you gotta have your own

00:20:21.000 | barrier. You gotta know where that line is

00:20:23.000 | drawn for you. I personally,

00:20:25.000 | I'm not a smoker.

00:20:27.000 | You know what I'm saying? But I have

00:20:29.000 | friends who are. I have friends who are Christians

00:20:31.000 | and they smoke.

00:20:33.000 | That's not a line I dabble with because

00:20:35.000 | I don't know. Like,

00:20:37.000 | alcohol, I know one shot, alright, two

00:20:39.000 | shots, and then it's a wrap. Like, now

00:20:41.000 | I may be going past my limit.

00:20:43.000 | Smoking, it's like,

00:20:45.000 | I don't know how much took me past the limit.

00:20:47.000 | You know what I'm saying? So, but

00:20:49.000 | that's me. That's where I'm at with it. But at the end of the day,

00:20:51.000 | I think you just gotta abide by your conscience.

00:20:53.000 | And then, I don't try to look for

00:20:55.000 | how far I can go

00:20:57.000 | before I'm too far. I try to look for how close

00:20:59.000 | to God I can be. And that's what I always try

00:21:01.000 | to strive for. Yeah, that's the idea.

00:21:03.000 | That's the ideal way. See how close you can be.

00:21:05.000 | But I like what you said about

00:21:07.000 | the conscience because I've had this conversation with a lot of people

00:21:09.000 | and I think, like,

00:21:11.000 | there's a lot of things in the Bible that's black

00:21:13.000 | and white. Like, you can do this, you shouldn't

00:21:15.000 | do this. And there's, like, there is some

00:21:17.000 | gray areas. And, like,

00:21:19.000 | as Christians, you might have a conviction

00:21:21.000 | that someone else don't have.

00:21:23.000 | And I don't really,

00:21:25.000 | I don't like when, like, Christians

00:21:27.000 | try to judge other people because,

00:21:29.000 | just because their convictions are different than another Christian's.

00:21:31.000 | Because, like, people

00:21:33.000 | struggle with different things. We talked about this before we

00:21:35.000 | started the interview. But just, like,

00:21:37.000 | knowing yourself and knowing your own vices,

00:21:39.000 | what you would run to when you're feeling,

00:21:41.000 | like, down or something.

00:21:43.000 | Like, if that's something you would run to,

00:21:45.000 | I would probably stay away from it because,

00:21:47.000 | but, like, if it's just something that you're using

00:21:49.000 | in moderation, like, I feel like

00:21:51.000 | it's good. Moderation is key, baby.

00:21:53.000 | Food, alcohol,

00:21:55.000 | sugar,

00:21:57.000 | moderation, baby.

00:21:59.000 | Shrooms, LSD. I don't know.

00:22:01.000 | That's eight hours, you're gone.

00:22:03.000 | You're out of there for eight hours. I don't know. Can you replicate

00:22:05.000 | your kingdom? I just

00:22:07.000 | want to try it one time. I'm cool.

00:22:09.000 | I'm actually really good on that.

00:22:11.000 | I don't want nothing controlling me

00:22:13.000 | for eight hours. I'm good.

00:22:15.000 | Let me off the bus. Let me off the bus.

00:22:17.000 | I feel you on that.

00:22:19.000 | Man, last thing I really

00:22:21.000 | want to talk about was just your,

00:22:23.000 | like, how

00:22:25.000 | big you are into, like, the social justice

00:22:27.000 | and, like, that seems like that's something

00:22:29.000 | you're really into right now and pushing for right now.

00:22:31.000 | How, what do you see

00:22:33.000 | in our world is the

00:22:35.000 | biggest way that you can help and the biggest

00:22:37.000 | issues in our world right now

00:22:39.000 | in that area? Yeah. Well,

00:22:41.000 | one is,

00:22:43.000 | man, we don't listen to each other, you know

00:22:45.000 | what I'm saying? At all. We don't listen to each other. We don't hear

00:22:47.000 | each other's stories. We don't try to

00:22:49.000 | see where other people are coming from. We don't try

00:22:51.000 | to learn. We just want to talk

00:22:53.000 | over everybody. That's why I don't like Clubhouse,

00:22:55.000 | you know, the app. I heard about that.

00:22:57.000 | What is that app? It's basically like, it's social media

00:22:59.000 | but everybody's talking, you know what I mean?

00:23:01.000 | So instead of, like, typing or posting

00:23:03.000 | pictures, you just talk. And it was dope

00:23:05.000 | at first, but then everybody just started talking over each other.

00:23:07.000 | Nobody's listening to each other. Everybody an expert

00:23:09.000 | in their own little spaces. And so

00:23:11.000 | if you're a learner, you

00:23:13.000 | know you can learn from people and learn from

00:23:15.000 | their perspectives. But if you think you've got

00:23:17.000 | it all figured out, of course

00:23:19.000 | we're going to end up like this.

00:23:21.000 | Because now what you're saying is

00:23:23.000 | I have nothing to learn from you, you know

00:23:25.000 | what I mean? So even

00:23:27.000 | people I really disagree with, I

00:23:29.000 | just like to know why they believe

00:23:31.000 | what they believe. You're just trying to learn.

00:23:33.000 | Yeah, exactly. So I can say, "Okay,

00:23:35.000 | I see where you're coming from. Have

00:23:37.000 | you considered this?" You know what I mean?

00:23:39.000 | And I think that creates a lot of

00:23:41.000 | problems. And so

00:23:43.000 | you know,

00:23:45.000 | when we don't listen to each other,

00:23:47.000 | we're not learning from each other

00:23:49.000 | and we're not learning what different issues are

00:23:51.000 | and different problems. And when you're on the top, you know

00:23:53.000 | what I mean? Like, when you don't need

00:23:55.000 | people, and when I say need, like

00:23:57.000 | I'm making money.

00:23:59.000 | I live in a nice

00:24:01.000 | neighborhood, whatever.

00:24:03.000 | I don't need

00:24:05.000 | the people in the hood or

00:24:07.000 | in the projects. I don't need y'all. So I'm not

00:24:09.000 | listening to y'all. Y'all don't have nothing to offer me.

00:24:11.000 | Y'all need to listen to me. I'm the one with the

00:24:13.000 | money and the nice house. And that's where the problem comes.

00:24:15.000 | Because they're trying to tell

00:24:17.000 | me what's going on in their world

00:24:19.000 | and I'm saying,

00:24:21.000 | "I know better than y'all. Y'all don't know what's going on."

00:24:23.000 | And I think that just creates a lot of tension.

00:24:25.000 | You know what I'm saying? With race

00:24:27.000 | and ethnicities too. Nobody's listening.

00:24:29.000 | We're trying to tell y'all this.

00:24:31.000 | It's like you can't have an opinion no more.

00:24:33.000 | Nope. Or they'll cancel you.

00:24:35.000 | You canceled yourself. You took yourself off social media.

00:24:37.000 | Go right on, bro.

00:24:39.000 | Man, speaking of that,

00:24:41.000 | I remember

00:24:43.000 | that situation with George

00:24:45.000 | Floyd and

00:24:47.000 | how that went down and how

00:24:49.000 | heartbreaking that was. And I remember seeing that video

00:24:51.000 | and being in tears, being

00:24:53.000 | devastated. And I remember tweeting,

00:24:55.000 | there was three tweets.

00:24:57.000 | The first one

00:24:59.000 | was just like, "Man, that's murder.

00:25:01.000 | You witnessed murder." The second one

00:25:03.000 | was like, "That's

00:25:05.000 | heartbreaking. It brings tears to my eyes watching that

00:25:07.000 | video." Something else. And then the third

00:25:09.000 | one was like, you know, because

00:25:11.000 | when you see stuff like that, you know, you go

00:25:13.000 | to the barber shop or wherever where there's a lot of black

00:25:15.000 | people and then they're all talking about that.

00:25:17.000 | It can cause black people, when you

00:25:19.000 | see stuff like that, to have a hatred towards

00:25:21.000 | white people in a way.

00:25:23.000 | When I see stuff like that,

00:25:25.000 | that's kind of what starts to

00:25:27.000 | creep into your head no matter how hard you try

00:25:29.000 | not for it to. And so then I

00:25:31.000 | remember thinking like, "Man, but what would

00:25:33.000 | God say?" And I remember the third tweet I tweeted

00:25:35.000 | was, it was

00:25:37.000 | you know, as much as you pray for like

00:25:39.000 | George's family and how heartbreaking it is,

00:25:41.000 | also pray that God would change the

00:25:43.000 | hearts of these police officers

00:25:45.000 | that would even have the

00:25:47.000 | intent to do that. And you know, that tweet,

00:25:49.000 | the first for a little while,

00:25:51.000 | you know, it was just my followers that seen it. And it was like

00:25:53.000 | like, "Man, that's big time, bro. Good

00:25:55.000 | perspective." Then some people

00:25:57.000 | saw it and were like, "Hold on, he's talking about pray for

00:25:59.000 | the officers that just murdered this dude?"

00:26:01.000 | Man, like, when I

00:26:03.000 | went there, then some famous people started

00:26:05.000 | having backlash on it. And then after

00:26:07.000 | that, everybody talking crazy.

00:26:09.000 | And you know, everybody saw it and people was really

00:26:11.000 | hurt by it and not understanding

00:26:13.000 | what I said.

00:26:15.000 | And not understanding the tweets that I had tweeted

00:26:17.000 | prior to that.

00:26:19.000 | And you know, that was

00:26:21.000 | hurtful for me just because

00:26:23.000 | of how much that stuff

00:26:25.000 | affects me and what I see when I

00:26:27.000 | see that video. But I just remember you hitting

00:26:29.000 | me. Do you kind of remember

00:26:31.000 | like what your thoughts was in that situation?

00:26:33.000 | What you were thinking? Some of it.

00:26:35.000 | I remember saying

00:26:37.000 | there's a few things that come to mind.

00:26:39.000 | One is just like, man, you know,

00:26:41.000 | it was the timing.

00:26:45.000 | You know what I'm saying? It was just the timing.

00:26:47.000 | And you know, everyone's grieving George

00:26:49.000 | Floyd's death.

00:26:51.000 | And sometimes truth

00:26:53.000 | isn't received when it's received

00:26:55.000 | in a time

00:26:57.000 | where people aren't prepared to receive that.

00:26:59.000 | You know what I'm saying? And so it's kind of like

00:27:01.000 | you know, if your mom

00:27:03.000 | or dad or

00:27:05.000 | cousin

00:27:07.000 | got locked up and you're sad

00:27:09.000 | about it, but they really committed the crime.

00:27:11.000 | And someone's like, yeah.

00:27:13.000 | You're not trying to hear nothing.

00:27:15.000 | It's like, you know,

00:27:17.000 | they're locked up.

00:27:19.000 | It was more of the timing.

00:27:21.000 | You know, obviously

00:27:23.000 | social media

00:27:25.000 | is the place where people are going to misunderstand you.

00:27:27.000 | And especially you coming from

00:27:29.000 | a Christian perspective

00:27:31.000 | where love is our

00:27:33.000 | North Star, it's really difficult.

00:27:35.000 | Because when you try to promote

00:27:37.000 | love, some people hear acceptance.

00:27:39.000 | It's like, so you're saying,

00:27:41.000 | hey man, love your enemy. So I need to accept what they did

00:27:43.000 | to me? No, we're not saying accept it.

00:27:45.000 | We're saying love.

00:27:47.000 | Love doesn't tolerate

00:27:49.000 | injustice or

00:27:51.000 | accept it. Love

00:27:53.000 | still hates

00:27:55.000 | what's done, but it still

00:27:57.000 | tries to

00:27:59.000 | flesh out

00:28:01.000 | what it looks like to be consistent.

00:28:03.000 | No, I definitely

00:28:05.000 | like the timing thing, I definitely was

00:28:07.000 | feeling that. If I could take it back, it probably would

00:28:09.000 | have been based on the timing. But at the time it was

00:28:11.000 | like, it was

00:28:13.000 | to my followers. You know what I'm saying?

00:28:15.000 | It wasn't like, I didn't know the whole

00:28:17.000 | world was going to see that, Joanne.

00:28:19.000 | Oh, they did.

00:28:21.000 | That's why I called you, because I was like, man,

00:28:23.000 | everybody's just going to say something

00:28:25.000 | and no one's going to... I hate that.

00:28:27.000 | Just talk to me. Talk to me.

00:28:29.000 | Don't come at me on social media.

00:28:31.000 | Yeah, so

00:28:33.000 | sometimes in Jesus'

00:28:35.000 | way, this happened back then, and I feel like

00:28:37.000 | it's even more prevalent now.

00:28:39.000 | What Jesus would preach was so

00:28:41.000 | counter-cultural to what people thought was

00:28:43.000 | right. It was like, he

00:28:45.000 | was killed for it. He was killed for the message

00:28:47.000 | he was speaking. Even though it was

00:28:49.000 | about love, people don't know how to receive

00:28:51.000 | that. I feel like that's another thing wrong

00:28:53.000 | with the world today.

00:28:55.000 | People don't even understand.

00:28:57.000 | It's almost like God

00:28:59.000 | said in the end days, good

00:29:01.000 | is going to become evil, and evil is going to

00:29:03.000 | become good. I feel like we're getting close to that almost.

00:29:05.000 | So,

00:29:07.000 | do you see that in this culture

00:29:09.000 | today? Oh yeah, absolutely.

00:29:11.000 | Without a shadow of a doubt. You know, it's just

00:29:13.000 | a society now where

00:29:15.000 | I think

00:29:21.000 | we tolerate

00:29:23.000 | everything.

00:29:25.000 | When you tolerate everything, some things are

00:29:27.000 | not good. You know what I'm saying?

00:29:29.000 | They're wrong.

00:29:31.000 | When it's wrong,

00:29:33.000 | when it becomes wrong

00:29:35.000 | to put your foot down

00:29:37.000 | and say, "I don't agree with this,"

00:29:39.000 | then, like you

00:29:41.000 | were saying, evil becomes good, and good

00:29:43.000 | becomes evil. So, tolerating nonsense

00:29:45.000 | or foolishness becomes good.

00:29:47.000 | And then

00:29:49.000 | putting your

00:29:51.000 | foot down and saying, "Hey, we don't do

00:29:53.000 | this," becomes bad.

00:29:55.000 | And so, that's

00:29:57.000 | a unique place, man, where

00:29:59.000 | I think

00:30:01.000 | for me,

00:30:03.000 | there's a lot of things that

00:30:05.000 | obviously we all got a lot of learning to do, and

00:30:07.000 | unlearning to do. So, I'm always trying to

00:30:09.000 | learn and unlearn. But

00:30:11.000 | I can follow a person

00:30:13.000 | even-- Like, when people disagree with me,

00:30:15.000 | I can follow

00:30:17.000 | a person who stands by what they believe

00:30:19.000 | in. At least I know what you stand on.

00:30:21.000 | You know what I mean? And so,

00:30:23.000 | I'm like, "All right, cool. Now, can we have

00:30:25.000 | a discussion about it?" Because somebody

00:30:27.000 | may be looking at things from the wrong

00:30:29.000 | perspective.

00:30:31.000 | And when we can do that,

00:30:33.000 | then I'm like, "Good, but we not able to do that no more,"

00:30:35.000 | which makes me feel like, "All right, well, here we go."

00:30:37.000 | We get into that time period,

00:30:39.000 | wars, rumors of wars.

00:30:41.000 | I mean, Christ said--

00:30:43.000 | He said when He was alive

00:30:45.000 | that

00:30:47.000 | they were in the

00:30:49.000 | last days, and the last days are coming.

00:30:51.000 | So, I think it's just a long time period

00:30:53.000 | of us being in

00:30:55.000 | the last days. I don't know when

00:30:57.000 | He's coming back, but I do know

00:30:59.000 | it's been consistent.

00:31:01.000 | It's been consistent, but

00:31:03.000 | it ain't no way we're going to be here for more than, what,

00:31:05.000 | a hundred years. I think

00:31:07.000 | it's going to happen in our generation, to be honest.

00:31:09.000 | Well, we got some work to do then.

00:31:11.000 | You know what I'm saying? We got some

00:31:13.000 | promotion to do.

00:31:15.000 | We need to start promoting this kingdom.

00:31:17.000 | How much of, you know,

00:31:19.000 | that, you know,

00:31:21.000 | good looked at as bad

00:31:23.000 | and bad looked at as good do you think comes from, like,

00:31:25.000 | the music industry and the rap culture?

00:31:27.000 | You know, like, multiple women now.

00:31:29.000 | If you were a dude who only talked to one girl

00:31:31.000 | and you only got one girl and you ain't cheating on her now,

00:31:33.000 | you kind of looked at it like a square these days.

00:31:35.000 | Or like, you know, if you ain't doing this,

00:31:37.000 | now you looked at it as soft.

00:31:39.000 | If you ain't, you know, promoting violence or whatever,

00:31:41.000 | how much of that do you think?

00:31:43.000 | Because you in the music culture, how much

00:31:45.000 | do you think stems from that?

00:31:47.000 | Art imitates life

00:31:49.000 | that imitates art.

00:31:51.000 | So I think there are some parts

00:31:53.000 | of it that are real,

00:31:55.000 | but then when people learn,

00:31:57.000 | "Oh, if I rap about this,

00:31:59.000 | I make money, so I'm going to

00:32:01.000 | talk about it a lot."

00:32:03.000 | And then the world says,

00:32:05.000 | "Oh, well,

00:32:07.000 | I need to imitate what I just saw

00:32:09.000 | more." You know what I mean?

00:32:11.000 | So I think some of it is real

00:32:13.000 | and then music

00:32:15.000 | talks about what's real, but then

00:32:17.000 | when music does it, it glorifies it and then people

00:32:19.000 | really start imitating.

00:32:21.000 | Exactly. You know what I mean?

00:32:23.000 | So I think that's really what happens and I see it

00:32:25.000 | all the time where,

00:32:27.000 | I mean, even like myself,

00:32:29.000 | people just

00:32:31.000 | see something and they want that. Like for me,

00:32:33.000 | being a Christian and then

00:32:35.000 | breaking all these barriers and, "Oh, you doing

00:32:37.000 | BET and you winning the Grammy."

00:32:39.000 | First rapper to do all this

00:32:41.000 | stuff. A lot of young Christians

00:32:43.000 | who rap saw

00:32:45.000 | that and that's what they went after.

00:32:47.000 | Just the awards and the limelight

00:32:49.000 | and the fame and stuff and not

00:32:51.000 | the heart that went behind it.

00:32:53.000 | So yeah,

00:32:55.000 | you saw it all happen and you was like,

00:32:57.000 | "I need to be a part of it. I need to do this."

00:32:59.000 | And I think that's what happens a lot of times too.

00:33:01.000 | It's like some kid who never thought about being a

00:33:03.000 | gang member, never thought about none of that stuff,

00:33:05.000 | is listening to some Chicago Drills dudes

00:33:07.000 | and they like, "Yeah,

00:33:09.000 | that's what I'm on."

00:33:11.000 | And plus, it's way harder to make it

00:33:13.000 | the way you made it than it is

00:33:15.000 | to rap about what everybody else is rapping about.

00:33:17.000 | Way harder, bro.

00:33:19.000 | I'll be jealous. I'm not going to lie to you.

00:33:21.000 | I've been telling people like,

00:33:23.000 | "You're so lyrically genius.

00:33:25.000 | If you was a secular artist, you would be

00:33:27.000 | all the way up there."

00:33:29.000 | Bro, it's so easy to get in the studio

00:33:31.000 | and freestyle

00:33:33.000 | about anything.

00:33:35.000 | Oh my gosh, I could go for hours.

00:33:37.000 | I could make 50 million songs

00:33:39.000 | but to have to like, "Alright,

00:33:41.000 | I'm going to say this and I'm going to think through this."

00:33:43.000 | It's work, man.

00:33:45.000 | Is there any pressure that come with when people

00:33:47.000 | think of

00:33:49.000 | Christian

00:33:51.000 | rap, which you don't really like being put

00:33:53.000 | in a particular category.

00:33:55.000 | Is there pressure being like,

00:33:57.000 | "Dude, you..."

00:33:59.000 | When they think of Lecrae,

00:34:01.000 | is there pressure to come with that?

00:34:03.000 | It's pressure at first

00:34:05.000 | and then you own it.

00:34:07.000 | At first it's pressure, then you own it

00:34:09.000 | and it becomes, "This is what I do."

00:34:11.000 | You know what I mean?

00:34:13.000 | It just becomes, "This is what I do."

00:34:15.000 | So let me make sure

00:34:17.000 | y'all get a good representation of this.

00:34:19.000 | You know what I mean? Because it's what I do.

00:34:21.000 | It's like being on a court.

00:34:23.000 | Is it pressure being at the

00:34:25.000 | highest level of basketball?

00:34:27.000 | And it's like, "Sure."

00:34:29.000 | But then it's like, "Man, I've been

00:34:31.000 | doing it so long.

00:34:33.000 | I've been playing so many games.

00:34:35.000 | This is what I do now."

00:34:37.000 | You ain't nervous no more.

00:34:39.000 | You said that in your music. You said, "I've been doing it so long."

00:34:41.000 | I don't get nervous.

00:34:43.000 | That's facts.

00:34:45.000 | I got one last question for you.

00:34:47.000 | Why you

00:34:49.000 | choose Jesus? Was there ever a period

00:34:51.000 | in time where you wanted to

00:34:53.000 | explore your faith?

00:34:55.000 | I went through this probably a year

00:34:57.000 | and a half, two years ago, where I didn't know what I

00:34:59.000 | believed. I didn't know what I wanted to believe.

00:35:01.000 | Why you chose Jesus instead

00:35:03.000 | of anyone else?

00:35:05.000 | I'm definitely a thinker

00:35:07.000 | and I remember

00:35:09.000 | studying world religions

00:35:11.000 | before I was

00:35:13.000 | landing my plane on the Christian

00:35:15.000 | faith. And I've had rocky roads and doubts and

00:35:17.000 | all that type of stuff in the journey, but really

00:35:19.000 | what solidified it for me was

00:35:21.000 | as I looked at the

00:35:23.000 | world's religions, and you can go through them all,

00:35:25.000 | which I did.

00:35:27.000 | I went through all the ones that I knew about anyway.

00:35:29.000 | When you talk to people

00:35:33.000 | and I have good friends

00:35:35.000 | who believe, who are

00:35:37.000 | Buddhists, who are Muslim, who are

00:35:39.000 | agnostic. I got some Rastafarian

00:35:41.000 | friends. When you talk

00:35:43.000 | to them all and you say, "Man, how

00:35:45.000 | do I

00:35:47.000 | get to

00:35:49.000 | God? How do I get to

00:35:51.000 | Him?"

00:35:53.000 | All of them will tell you

00:35:55.000 | there's something you've got to do.

00:35:57.000 | There's something you've got to do.

00:35:59.000 | There's

00:36:01.000 | you've got to do this, and then do this, and then do

00:36:03.000 | this, or you've got to do this. It's a performance. Exactly.

00:36:05.000 | You've got to perform.

00:36:07.000 | And I said, "Man, that's just hard."

00:36:09.000 | Who knows? No one knows.

00:36:11.000 | Everyone's dying like this.

00:36:13.000 | You know what I mean? I hope I get there.

00:36:15.000 | And

00:36:17.000 | Jesus is the only one that said,

00:36:19.000 | "All you've got to do is trust me."

00:36:21.000 | I performed already.

00:36:23.000 | So every other faith,

00:36:25.000 | you've got to reach up

00:36:27.000 | to try to get to God, but

00:36:29.000 | Christ reaches down

00:36:31.000 | and pulls you up to God.

00:36:33.000 | I was like, "I'm done," because I know I'll never be perfect.

00:36:35.000 | Man, you know how messed up you are, right?

00:36:37.000 | That's what it was for me, too. I know how

00:36:39.000 | jacked up I am, so if every

00:36:41.000 | other religion you've got to perform and do enough

00:36:43.000 | to make it, Christianity is the only one where it's

00:36:45.000 | like, "Nah, someone came and saved you."

00:36:47.000 | That's the one I'm

00:36:49.000 | rocking with. I'm rocking with it.

00:36:51.000 | And Christianity has almost become now, like we

00:36:53.000 | talked about this earlier, but it's almost become

00:36:55.000 | in this day and age, a little performance

00:36:57.000 | based. You know what I'm saying? But

00:36:59.000 | real Christianity, I mean,

00:37:01.000 | it's

00:37:03.000 | just about faith and believing.

00:37:05.000 | Not that weirdo stuff you

00:37:07.000 | see on TV, okay? Not that weirdo

00:37:09.000 | stuff. We're talking authentic.

00:37:11.000 | Sometimes I'll just be saying, "I'm

00:37:13.000 | a believer." I don't even want to say, "I'm a Christian," because

00:37:15.000 | people are like, "Oh, you're like them."

00:37:17.000 | I'm a believer.

00:37:19.000 | You know what I'm saying?

00:37:21.000 | In this day and age, some people just talk about God, too.

00:37:23.000 | They don't even mention what God. They say

00:37:25.000 | they believe in God. That's true.

00:37:27.000 | Or, I feel like a big movement

00:37:29.000 | these days, too, is

00:37:31.000 | the New Age type of religion, where you're

00:37:33.000 | kind of like almost your own God, like you're

00:37:35.000 | trying to become your own. Giving the universe all

00:37:37.000 | the credit. Yeah.

00:37:39.000 | I ain't gonna lie.

00:37:41.000 | I had dabbled in it a little bit. I was

00:37:43.000 | going to the crystal store to get my little crystals.

00:37:45.000 | I heard they was going like

00:37:47.000 | whatever.

00:37:49.000 | That, too,

00:37:51.000 | it's like, why

00:37:53.000 | make yourself your own God?

00:37:55.000 | Trying to will yourself

00:37:57.000 | to be better.

00:37:59.000 | I think God puts all

00:38:01.000 | those things here for us to

00:38:03.000 | enjoy,

00:38:05.000 | and they're useful in their own ways.

00:38:07.000 | You know what I mean? I agree with you.

00:38:09.000 | As far as meditation

00:38:11.000 | or yoga, all those things can be

00:38:13.000 | beneficial, but when it becomes

00:38:15.000 | God, then

00:38:17.000 | we're in trouble. I think even

00:38:19.000 | like you said, even astrology

00:38:21.000 | or something, there might really be some truth

00:38:23.000 | to them zodiac signs or

00:38:25.000 | a story told in the stars or whatever,

00:38:27.000 | but then when that becomes your basis for

00:38:29.000 | living in faith, that's when it

00:38:31.000 | becomes dangerous. Right. I agree with you

00:38:33.000 | 100%. Yes, indeed.

00:38:35.000 | Well, I appreciate you. This has been dope.

00:38:37.000 | We talked about a lot of stuff, and I appreciate

00:38:39.000 | you, my guy. My guy. Respect.

00:38:41.000 | This episode was sponsored by

00:38:43.000 | Lemon Perfect.

Staying Grounded & Standing Firm In Your Convictions ft. Lecrae // Michael Porter Jr.

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