Trip Lee interviewed by XXL magazine


XXL

Hip-Hip publication giant XXL caught up with Trip Lee to talk about a variety of topics including his new album "The Good Life", acceptance from mainstream, and more. Check out this nice interview:

On the response to The Good Life:

With every album that comes out, I’m always blown away by the responses. This one, more than any other, I’ve gotten incredible responses. Before it came out, the dudes I roll with, everybody told me they thought it was my best record. Then when it came out, it seemed like all the fans thought it was my best record, too. To see it up on the iTunes charts and then to hear how well it did on the Billboard charts, it just blows me away and excites me. I work hard on the music and I want people to enjoy the music. At the same time, I talked about stuff that matters, so I’m hoping it helps people to think and that it’s an encouragement to folks.

On finding God in his life and music:
I was always a music lover ever since I was a little kid. My dad was playing soul and [other] stuff that he grew up on. I fell in love with hip-hop at 10 or 11, and then started writing raps. Jay-Z was the dude that influenced me the most, because he was one of the first dudes that made me pay attention to the lyrics and realize how thoughtful he was. When I was 14, that’s when I had this heart change, where I wanted to stop rapping about myself and how tight I was, and started to see the world differently. When I had this heart change, that’s when I became a Christian and started following Jesus. I started to think, “Okay, what does my writing have to do with what God said in His Word?” From that point, I was rapping at different spots around Dallas and recorded a little mixtape in my room. I met the dudes at Reach when I was about 15 or 16 years old. I built a relationship with them and have been rolling with them since then. Started my first album when I was 17. It came out just a couple days after I graduated from high school and I’ve been able to keep going. This is my fourth one.

On the overlap of Christianity and hip-hop:
I don’t think there’s anything about hip-hop culture itself that’s opposed to Christianity and Jesus. I think just so many times, dudes who do love Jesus, and dudes who are Christian and do follow, haven’t had much space made for them. I even get this with a lot of Christians and church folks saying, “You can’t be Christian and do hip-hop; the two don’t go together.” And I don’t believe that. That’s just not true. Anybody from any culture can be a Christian, but I just have to push off the stuff that doesn’t agree with Jesus. I don’t think it’s cool for me to say I’m a Christian and rap about sleeping with chicks in my music. That’s not who I am. God is not cool with that. I want all of my life to be consistent, including my music. I’m a Christian within hip-hop culture, and I think you’re going to be able to see that in my music.

Read the full interview on XXL directly

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Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

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