Grammy Award win for Gravity

On Feb 10, 2013, at 4:22 PM, God answered the last unfulfilled promise He made to me when I was homeless 11 years ago by blessing Lecrae, and my team thebridge as producers and songwriters, to win Best Gospel Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards during the Pre-Show telecast. When Lecrae's name was called as the winner of the Grammy, he was outside on the red carpet waiting to take a picture with 2 Chainz and Nas, and missed the opportunity to give what I'm sure would have been an eloquent and inspirational accceptance speech; instead, my big bro, Reach Records Head of A&R Torrance "Street Symphony" Esmond and Reach Records co-CEO Ben Washer raced up to the podium and accepted the award in his stead. History was made yet again as Lecrae was the first Christian Hip Hop artist to be nominated for or win a Best Gospel Album Grammy (he is not, however,  the first Christian rapper to ever win a Grammy; that honor goes to dc talk, who won back in 1994). Suffice it to say that when we won, I have never felt a feeling like that in my whole life. Tears were shed and praises were given to the Most High God for this amazing thing that He saw fit to do on our behalf.

I spoke with Def Jam A&R Rod Anthony, who brought me to the label, immediately after our win, and he said that he'd already let the label know we won, and that they are ready to move forward with the launch of my debut Christian album, Marathon, whenever my team thebridge and I are ready...it's almost time.

We (Reach Records and my team thebridge) are now anxiously awaiting the debut album of the next Christian Hip Hop megawatt artist, Andy Mineo, whose project Heroes For Sale drops April 16, 2013. My team thebridge co-produced the record "Curious" with my bro Steeet Symphony's Heat Academy team, and the record is fire. Commercially, Andy has the potential to eclipse even Gravity's sales impact,  and provide another landmark album for the CHH community; undoubtedly,  this will be our next Billboard and iTunes #1 charting album. We are also now getting back to work on records for Tedashii, a Dove Award nominated phenomenal artist on Reach, and for the homie Derek Minor, who is not only a great rapper but a superb record producer in his own right.

Stay tuned, as the next major post on this blog will be tied to the release of my own album Marathon, which we believe has the power to be to the R&B world the same thing that Gravity has been to the Hip Hop world (a viable, quality, well produced Christian alternative), but have an even greater impact due to the forces God has aligned to support my team and I in our efforts. I was told by the label yesterday that we will likely have a couple of multi-platinum stars featuring on two of the key records from the album,  which is extremely exciting for me and will serve to further validate what we already believe to be a phenomenal album.

The craziest thing to me is that, for the rest of our lives, when people in the media or industry refer to us from now on, they will preface it with "Grammy Award winning". That is a dream come true, and an incredible honor, one I don't take lightly. God has done just what He said He would...now it's time to take this platform He's given my team and I and take the Gospel to the ends of the world. Get ready for the Marathon.

#thebridgelife