My writing partner JayTel Vocals and I began work on the Rehab: The Overdose album with Lecrae and our big bro John "CheeseBeats" Williams in the summer of 2010...I never was a fan of Christian based hip-hop, because all the artists I'd come across up to that point were just....not....that...talented. But Cheese told JayTel and I that Lecrae was different, and asked us to contribute to the project. He sent us the original version of the song "Strung Out" (which is when I realized that Lecrae was a truly talented artist, but still didn't know how BIG he was or the career changing success we were all about to experience together), and we initially rewrote and recorded the entire hook in my studio and sent it back. We got a quick "NO" from the label, so we then went back and built a new version of the arrangement around the existing hook and added our own flavor to the song, and got an overwhelming "YES"! We did the paperwork with Cheese, gave all the info for the credits for the cd, and moved on to the next project.
Fast forward 6 more months to the third week of January, 2011, and Cheese hits me out of nowhere, saying, "Go to iTunes right now...you got the #1 record in the country!" I logged into iTunes and indeed, we had the #1 album on iTunes...a week later the Rehab: The Overdose album topped the Billboard Christian Chart, the Billboard Gospel chart, the iTunes Christian Chart, #5 on the Billboard Independent chart, #15 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and the #2 spot on the overall iTunes album chart (Dang Kanye and his Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy album lol), and within two weeks, the album topped the charts in the UK, Australia, and Japan. This in and of itself would have been groundbreaking, and we made Billboard history because the original Rehab album climbed back to the #2 spot on the Billboard Gospel chart while our album was #1, which made Lecrae the first Christian hip hop artist in history to hold the top 2 spots on any Billboard chart simultaneously. The story could have ended right there and we would have been more than happy. But God had other plans....
We found out that the album was nominated for a Stellar Award about a month ago, and were hopeful that we would pull out the win...the awards were held Saturday, Jan 14, 2012 at the Grand Ole Opry, and I was expecting to hear maybe Saturday night or Sunday sometime what the results were. I logged into my email around midnight on Friday night to check something else, and see an email from Cheese saying "Lecrae Rehab: The Overdose Wins Stellar Award"! My mom says I called her screaming that we won (which I'm sure I did but I REALLY don't remember), and I called JayTel twice before he called me back to congratulate him on us winning our first major music award! When you do this as long as we've done this, there will come milestones that you will always remember...the first time you hear your song on the radio...the first time you see your name in the credits on a cd cover...the first time you hit Billboard...your first #1...but winning a Stellar is one of those things that you hope for but know there are no guarantees you will ever win. It is overwhelming, and I'm sure when I get my physical award in my hands in a week or two I may have to take a minute to reflect over all of the challenges, over the struggles and hard times...over everything we've been thru to get to the point where we have accomplished so much. It's not us...it's all God.
I give all glory to God for the opportunity to be a part of the project...for Nick Velo introducing Jay and I to Cheese, and to Cheese for seeing something in us and wanting us to be a part of history, as well as to Lecrae for being the humble, grounded, and REAL dude that he is. We got to see him in concert a few months back and to see him on stage, ministering from his heart about his love for Jesus but doing in a way that made everyone stand up and take notice...He is a star who focuses his light on the TRUE star, Jesus Christ!
As I type this, it is the evening of January 16th. We heard that we may also be nominated for a Dove Award this year and stand a good chance of winning that award as well...we will find out February 22nd if we got the nod, and the awards are being held in Atlanta on April 19th, so that will be the first award show that we will ever attend, but this will always be the first award we've won. And so, this Stellar Award will forever hold a special place in my heart. #IMPECCABLEGRIND
