Lecrae Moore, who is known by fans simply as Lecrae, snuck up on rap fans this year with his No. 1 album, Anomaly. A Christian artist, he's been slowly ascending the Billboard 200 over his past several releases, including a No. 3 slot for 2012's Gravity. But this year, he really made a mark on the music scene -- his single, "All I Need Is You," is nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 2015 Grammys.
Speaking with The Blaze, Moore discussed what it's like to reach national prominence after a decade of plugging away in the hip-hop universe.
"The 'Best Rap Song Performance' is like a milestone for me," he said. "It's more about the mission than it is kind of the award for me and what it is, is the mission of just saying that a voice that is not for the degradation of humanity is in the same pipeline with everybody else."
The Houston rapper and co-founder of Reach Records stirred the pot in August when he tweeted: Dear Hip Hop, we can't scream "murder, misogyny, lawlessness" in our music & then turn around and ask for equality & justice."
Given the amount of social dischord that's occurred since then, it's no surprise that Moore's still barking up the same tree.
"I think thre's just a huge, huge lack of civil conversations," he said. "I think that everyone loves to jump on their soapbox and blast out their analysis of everything, but I think we fail to realize that we all see life through a paradigm, through a particular bias."
He has an interesting take on Ferguson, Garner, etc., one that offers itself to understanding and sympathy.
"I always struggle when people say, 'This is a hate crime' ... no one knows the hearts of men," he said. "We don't know what's going on in the hearts of individuals and [what] leads them to do something. I'm not in a position to say."
The 35 year old will be in Los Angeles this February to hear his name get called during Best Rap Performance nominations, but he's a long shot in a group that includes Eminem ("Rap God"), Drake ("0 to 100/The Catch Up"), Kendrick Lamar ("i") and Childish Gambino ("3005").
Check out Lecrae's tune below:
