Lecrae captures life’s complexities in music

The rapper Lecrae is both a confessor and a storyteller, the kind of songwriter whose work is reflective of both his own experiences and the issues impacting the world at large. He’s just as likely to drop an introspective character piece as a loud-and-proud manifesto about his own life and beliefs.

“I’m a binge writer,” Lecrae said during a recent phone interview. “I’ve been doing writing exercises. I’ll stare at a church building and just start writing about who I think is in there and what these peoples’ lives look like. I spend a lot of time talking to people. There are a million stories in this world, and most of them go untold. I’ll listen to stories, and then I sit down to write and it just comes pouring out.”

That approach is best represented in “Welcome to America,” one of the rapper’s signature songs, which features an inner-city kid, a war veteran and an immigrant all “wrestling with what it means to be an American.” Those big ideas are typical of Lecrae’s rhymes, which often grapple with racism, stereotypes, gang and drug culture, masculinity and religion.

“The music has grown more complex, because as you get older, you become more complex,” he explained. “There’s no way I can travel to Tokyo and spend a week there and come back the same person. There’s no way I can go on the road with rock bands or the Wu-Tang Clan or Kendrick Lamar and come back the same.

“And genres have become passe. I mean, what’s hip-hop? Is hip-hop Macklemore, or is it OutKast? Is rock Arcade Fire or is it Foo Fighters?”

Originally from Texas and currently based in Atlanta, the rapper, real name Lecrae Moore, says he grew up in a musical household.

“My mother would play music from sunup to sundown, mostly soul and R&B,” he said, “and I was introduced to hip-hop by my cousins.”

He went on to attend performing arts schools and later graduated from the University of North Texas, co-founding his own label, Reach Records, in 2004. Lecrae converted to Christianity as a young adult, and his lyrics often address his faith.

“I’m a really transparent person. If it’s real to me, I’m going to talk about it,” he said. “If I’m depressed, you’re going to get a song about depression. If I’m battling with addiction, you’re going to hear songs about that. So if I’m going through a spiritual transformation, that’s going to be in my music.”

Since his last well-received LP, 2014’s “Anomaly,” Lecrae has been signed to Columbia Records. He dropped a mixtape earlier this year, but he hopes to have a full collection of new songs completed soon.

“I’ve been working on that extensively, but I just want it to be right,” Lecrae said. “It’s vastly different. ‘Anomaly’ was a little darker because of what I was experiencing then. On this album, I’m a lot more confident in who I am. … I’m excited about what’s coming to fruition right now.”

Lecrae is traveling to Spokane on a co-headlining tour with alt-rockers Switchfoot, and his live show promises to be as stirring as the subjects he writes about.

“It’s two different styles of music, and two artists who have their respective supporters,” Lecrae said. “It’s intense, but engaging and fun and thought provoking as well. There’s room for you to enjoy yourself and to get involved, and there’s room for you to just sit back and watch the fireworks.”