Gravity is the sixth studio album by American Christian hip hop artist Lecrae, released on September 4, 2012. The album features appearances from Big K.R.I.T., Mathai, Ashthon Jones, Sho Baraka and Mali Music, along with labelmates Trip Lee, Andy Mineo, Derek Minor, who was formerly known as PRo, and Tedashii. Producers on the album include DJ Khalil, Street Symphony along with his production team Heat Academy, and The Watchmen. The first single off the album, "I Know", was released on July 24, 2012, and was followed by "Tell the World" featuring Mali Music on August 15, 2012, and "Mayday" featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones on August 30, 2012. Reach Records released five music videos for the album: "Lord Have Mercy", featuring Tedashii along with No Malice of Clipse, on August 1, 2012, "Tell the World", featuring Mali Music, on October 19, 2012, "Mayday", featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones, on December 13, 2012, "Fakin'", featuring Thi'sl, on February 1, 2013, and "Confe$$ions", featuring David Banner, on April 30, 2013.
The first week of sales for the album set a new record for Lecrae, with Gravity debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 72,000 units sold, and was the biggest sales week ever for a Christian hip hop album. The bonus track "Fuego" featuring KB and Suzy Rock from the iTunes deluxe edition of the album peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Songs, No. 13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital charts, and No. 64 on the Hot Digital Songs charts. Critically, Gravity was very well received, and is considered Lecrae's strongest, most mainstream work to date. It won Best Gospel Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards and Best Rap/Hip Hop Album at the 2013 Dove Awards.
Background Gravity is a follow-up to the mixtape Church Clothes, which was released earlier in 2012, and Lecrae's two previous studio albums, Rehab, which was released in September 2010, and Rehab: The Overdose, which followed five months later. The Church Clothes mixtape was released for free on May 10, 2012, and was hosted by DJ Don Cannon. It was considered Lecrae's step into the mainstream due to his collaboration with artists such as No Malice of Clipse and the producers 9th Wonder, Boi-1da, S1 and Street Symphony. The featuring of mainstream artists, particularly Don Cannon, was controversial within Christian circles. The mixtape was downloaded on DatPiff.com almost 100,000 times within 48 hours and in less than a month reached 250,000 downloads, a platinum rating on DatPiff.com.
Lecrae said to AllHipHop: "With the release of Gravity, I really wanted to expand on my previous work while still making sure to keep it all very authentic to who I am as an artist as well as a person[.] When I released Church Clothes earlier this year, it was the precursor of what's come with this album. It introduced my music to new audiences, allowing me to impact others."
Recording and production Lecrae stated in an exclusive video with AllHipHop that after recording Church Clothes in March, he was on the road before beginning recording for Gravity in May. In an article by SOHH, Lecrae revealed that he had started work on the album in February, then wrapped up recording during the mid-year. The album was recorded over the next couple months at Music House Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. On July 10, 2012, Christian hip hop website Rapzilla reported that Lecrae had shot a music video with No Malice of Clipse and with his labelmate Tedashii. The report included photographs from the video set.
Much of the production on the album was handled by producers with whom Lecrae has worked with in the past, chiefly The Watchmen and Heat Academy. The Watchmen consists of the producers J.R., Alex Medina, and Wit while Heat Academy is led by Street Symphony. DJ Khalil, whose past production work includes Recovery by Eminem, produced the track "Mayday", which features Big K.R.I.T. and American Idol season 10 finalist Ashthon Jones. Tyshane, who previously contributed to a track from Church Clothes, co-produced the song "Violence" with ThaInnaCircle. Other producers include Dirty Rice, DJ Official, Dru Castro, and Joseph Prielozny. Walk with Me", featuring Novel, included a sample of "I Want Jesus to Walk With Me" by Solomon Burke. The producer, Alex Medina, waited 9 years to use the sample.
Besides Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones, the album also features appearances by The Voice finalist Mathai, Mali Music, and Reach Records artists Trip Lee and Tedashii. On working with Big K.R.I.T., Lecrae stated to Billboard that K.R.I.T. had already reached out to him before the collaboration to show his appreciation for Lecrae's honesty. In an interview with AllHipHop, Lecrae mentioned that both he and Big K.R.I.T. have similar backgrounds, having both grown up in the Southern United States and struggled with religion under the influence of a religious grandmother.
Promotion and marketing On May 31, 2012, Rapzilla posted an article featuring photos and tweets from the Gravity recording sessions. A teaser video for the album was released on YouTube on June 20, 2012, and announced that the album would be released in the latter half of 2012. On July 10, 2012, Family Christian made the album available for pre-order, and Rapzilla used this information to announce the following day that the release date was September 4, 2012. Also on July 10, Lecrae posted photos from his video shoot with No Malice and Tedashii. Rapzilla responded a few days later with speculation over the possibility that in one photo Lecrae's T-shirt bore the logo of Gravity.
On July 17, 2012, Lecrae performed with his labelmate Andy Mineo at an Apple Store in SoHo, New York City. The performance included live renderings of songs from Rehab and Gravity. The following day, Lecrae held an exclusive preview session of the album at The Cutting Room with his industry friends and select publications including AllHipHop and Billboard. The cover art to Gravity was revealed the day after, along with an official announcement of the release date.
The lead single from the album, "I Know", was released on July 24, 2012, as a complimentary free download upon pre-ordering of the album. On July 27, 2012, Billboard reported about Gravity in its daily news show The Beat. Rapzilla also made the single available for streaming on SoundCloud. On the same day, the album's tracklist was revealed. The music video for "Lord Have Mercy" was released on August 1, 2012. On August 7, 2012, a deluxe version of Gravity was made available for preorder on iTunes. This version includes three bonus songs featuring appearances from Suzy Rock, Tenth Avenue North, and KB, and according to Rapzilla, the album already reached the No. 9 spot on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Chart. Later the same day, the deluxe version moved up the No. 2 spot on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Chart and No. 18 overall on iTunes. On August 14, 2012, Lecrae launched a website for the album, and released the single "Tell the World" featuring Mali Music on August 15, 2012. According to a photo posted on Lecrae's Instagram account, on August 15, 2012, Lecrae held another private listening session at New Era Flagship Store in Atlanta. On August 23, 2012, Rapzilla reported that Lecrae had shot a music video with Mali Music for the single "Tell the World". The following day, a promotional video for the album, entitled "It All Comes Down", was released. The fourth single for the album, "Mayday", featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Ashthon Jones, was released on August 30, 2012. The music video for "Tell the World" was released on October 19, 2012, and announcements were made that Lecrae had filmed music videos for "Fakin'", featuring Thi'sl, and "Mayday". The video for "Mayday" aired December 13, 2012 on the MTV Networks channels MTV Jams, mtvU, and MTV2. On February 1, 2013, Lecrae released the music video for "Fakin'" on MTV and MTV2, and it quickly reached No. 1 on the MTV.com Top Video Picks. Lecrae released the fifth and final music video from the album, "Confe$$ions", on April 30, 2013, on BET's 106 & Park It features an acting appearance by David Banner.
Lyrics and style When asked what sets Gravity apart from his previous releases, Lecrae stated that "Obviously, there's more risk involved in terms of just making more mature music that's not as straight [and] explicit. it's dealing with bigger issues. People may have to think a little bit more. The production is a lot bigger and more advanced than it's been. Lyrically, as an artist, I think I've written some of the best lyrics I've ever written." Lecrae provided insight into the album's concept during an interview with Family Christian, stating that "Gravity is loosely based on Ecclesiastes and I think what Solomon was trying to do was bring some weight to life and that’s really what I want to do, to paint some sober pictures." He described that "there’s a sober picture of how it’s only for a short period of time, it’s short-lived, or that we still have Jesus. So that’s what I would call a weighty part, a gravitational pull to remind us of who we are in Jesus." Billboard stated that Lecrae increased his level of production for Gravity and "mixed reggae and soul influences with his signature brash sound." AllHipHop described the album as opening with "an influx of instruments like violin, drums, guitars". "I Know" was described as having one of the hardest beats on the album, while "Mayday" was considered one of the most "organic" sounding tracks. "Violence" was considered one of the most energetic tracks, and was described as "caribbean-esque" with a dancehall vibe. After the music video for "Lord Have Mercy" was released, an article in The Christian Post article compared the song to the Kanye West single "Mercy", both in its title and musical style. The article elaborated that "like Kanye West's song, "'Lord Have Mercy' features slowed down sampled vocals for its chorus along with heavy bass and an overall dark tone." It noted the appearance of No Malice in the video, stating that "the chorus seems to sample his voice."
Artwork and packaging In a blog for the Houston Chronicle, hip-hop writer Sketch the Journalist posted an article on the cover and promotional artwork for Gravity. He compared the cover as a combination of those from Quarantine by GRITS and Get Rich or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent, and compared the promotional art to that of Braille and S1's CloudNineteen. Sketch subsequently updated the post based on a reader comment, and added the cover of De La Soul's AOI: Bionix in combination with the promo art for CloudNineteen in his comparison of Gravity'''s cover art.
Touring Three release parties were held for the album. The first occurred on September 28, 2012, in Manchester, United Kingdom, followed by Denver, Colorado on the 27th and Houston, Texas, on the 28th.
In support of the album, Lecrae toured with his entire label roster, consisting of Tedashii, Trip Lee, KB, Andy Mineo, and PRo, along with special guests Propaganda and Thi'sl. The tour ran from October through November and stopped at 30 cities across the United States and Canada.
Reception Commercial reception