The 116 Life Ep. 1 - Foundations with Lecrae & Ben Washer

he is on my side this is Marcus Hollinger and this is the 116 live show on holy culture radio Sirius XM channel 154. if you're just joining us this is our very first episode Marco hosts a series and I are talking with Ben washer and LeCrae founders of Reach Records we're talking about 20 years of Legacy we're talking about success we're talking about disappointment uh so let's just jump in bro uh let's let's start with Ben for for people because business is very special uh for you to make you know appear like this you know you really as a co-founder and co-owner of reach you've really kind of maintained sort of a background type of presence so for those who don't really know you why don't you why don't you introduce yourself yeah Ben washer started 20 years ago with Reach Records she one of the founders met Lecrae a couple years before that and uh we've been doing it ever since that's crazy 20 years and for those who have been living under a rock or hiding themselves from All Things who who is this who is this Superstar first of all let's let me just say I don't think I ever use the word inaugural so I just wanted to say it go ahead and go ahead say it man be inaugural inaugural yeah it's the first shot of everything ignorant eggnog spell inaugural I'm just glad I got to use it so 2023 I've already got to use that word nice nice yeah um man I am um fortunate to be able to create music within the the environment that is reached records that was established 20 years ago it's been a it's actually been a a great place of Solace and Community inside these walls without not without its issues there's no issues yeah but yeah perfect ride all the way but it's been a blessing man to be able to do the things that we've done and um outside of Grammys and Billboard charts to inspire people all over the world to be unashamed of their face so that's amazing I love that I love that and again for those who are listening in we really want to be able to say that you know this is something very special it's our first and I use the word inaugural earlier this is our first episode of the 116 life it's a brand new uh foray into US broadcasting live with holy culture on SiriusXM and what a better way to start this new program yeah for sure I think it's super cool because I I don't know if people like get to hear these conversations um in a way that they have before I think it's super refreshing and honestly haven't been watching the building my man stays in the shadows so I think they're gonna be in for a really dope really dope conversation yeah you guys are in for a treat and LeCrae kind of alluded to this or hinted at this that this is 20 years this year marks 20 years of Reach Records it's crazy I mean how many record labels Still Standing I mean when you really break down like a hip-hop or whatever it's a big it's a big deal it's a pretty big deal and so on this show we want to cover Faith culture music all things that kind of fall under those those branches so who better than to bring the pioneers of you know uh the pioneering leaders if you will of Faith culture music to be our very first it's like man don't put that yeah it's a big deal it's a really really big deal to have you on here so you know we wanted to kind of shape this conversation and for our listeners to really bring them give them a past present almost future trajectory of Reach Records and really be able to kind of put this story down almost for for Legacy yeah to get this story with y'all have it down have it out there recorded so that you know as time goes on people can look back and see so let's just really Jump Right In on trying to discover the the beginning let's start with the beginning or the origin Of Reach Records now I've been here almost 10 years and you know the way I kind of have it Legend has it that Reach Records started because you all were working at a camp together and created a song for the camp so why don't y'all bring us in on that moment maybe clarify was is that where it begins you know it but there's a there's an origin story yeah okay let's let's dive in let's dive in there where what was the first almost like inkling that music partnership like what yeah what was that first moment where it was like okay we're doing something together you gotta talk about how you even met Chris Carrick Okay so if we take it all the way back one of my buddies from college Chris carricker and I joked about starting a record label kind of half serious we were at a friend's wedding this was like how old were y'all oh three I think yeah and uh and it was to you know the idea was like we we love music we didn't know what we were talking about but we were just like oh that'd be cool to start record label and so um this was after program um in 2002 Lecrae and I started this program in Denton Texas where we went to go study the Bible with his Pastor so I became a Christian College so Trey got serious about his faith in college and so we both wanted to learn the Bible we didn't know each other and so I get there the first day and lecrae's sitting next to me in this class it's like 40 people okay and we're just there just to learn so it's six to eight in the morning hours basically right so we're getting up early we're doing that and then we're also volunteering at a halfway house for kids together so we would do work there we tutor them we'd throw church for him Lecrae you know would do songs for him and uh and so it's just real organic like we were just connecting off of our faith and love for music and all that and I worked summers at kids Across America which is a sports camp for uh what do you say Urban kids yeah yeah at the time at the time we said innocent at the time but inner city yeah yeah right right right right right so it's a youth camp so it's a youth campus yeah and it was out in the middle of nowhere but I was in charge of all the entertainment at camp and so we had to do a uh we had to do a theme song and so I talked to Lecrae and he did the theme song and it turned out to be crossover which is on his first album oh wow so crazy so crazy I almost to kind of bring you in here so as as it sounds like y'all are sitting next to each other in this class this Bible study class bins got this other thing going on with this Camp they need a theme song he talks to you right now were you doing music before that like what why why why talk to Lecrae okay so so there was a campus ministry that I was a part of uh first was impact then it turned into Plumb line and basically it was like you know this young African-American campus ministry and I was like the The Unofficial DJ for all of our events so I was always scouring trying to find the dopest you know Christian hip-hop music okay and then I was also I did the the theme song for our campus ministry so I I would you know I wanted to produce more than anything I was like I rapped as a kid but I want I like Pharrell and produce did you have any songs that you had wrapped and recorded by then or you want yeah okay okay yeah they were terrible well I still have them I still have them oh we might maybe we might bring them up for the 20th celebration let the people hear these terrible songs that we can bring those out nft so you're so you're DJ so you already in Ministry DJing uh curating yeah producing yeah and Ben hits you up yo hey well well somebody told me about Ben because because the Sports Camp was like all the hood kids from around the country would come to the sports camp Kaa and Ben was was a was over the programs and Ben really loves like Ben loves like affecting the culture like seeing the culture engage and move and so he was like he was studying and it was like what songs work and so he was keyed up on the the latest in like Christian hip-hop that these kids would gravitate toward he put me on new stuff I was like I never heard of these kids oh wow those Memphis rappers and uh yeah like he was putting me on stuff and so yeah all of the FTF from New Orleans um so my man Anthony was like you got to meet Ben washer like he knows you're big into it he's big into Christian hip-hop y'all gotta meet so I'm expecting like wow yeah I mean I don't know what he looked like I didn't have a I didn't he yeah because so so you so you then you meet Ben and I was like but he knew his stuff and he was passionate about it and he was like yeah but it wasn't I mean he obviously loved music but it was more like he just loved infecting the culture he loved like seeing people like grow change develop and it was that and and doing it in a creative way was like like that was his thing so yeah it was like man you know we hit it off just from sitting there talking I love that and so then it kind of sounds like there was this Opera this opportunity to do this the song for the camp right so kind of bring us back into that moment yeah so I remember uh listening to my voicemail at the time and you put the beat to cross over on the voicemail and I was like what and he recorded the song we took it to Camp it was a hit at camp and I had packed CDs with some of his old songs that shall never be heard again but back then they were nice together you had a little my rap name was Vision what do you mean what do you mean oh wow telling on yourself whoa but I had I had made CDs like burn CDs and then had somebody design a cover and slipped it in there and we sold them out the camp store and that went on all summer and it was great and then my buddy and I Chris carricker we talked about starting a record label at the end of that summer okay and it was it was thinking of Lecrae but also thinking of some other friends that did some like you know acoustic kind of okay worship Rock stuff right so we uh we prayed about it talked about it and then in I think it was October we registered the company with the state of Tennessee in Nashville so okay I have a question because this is what prompted the name Reach Records because I feel like was yeah record label names are extremely important and I felt like the name is just iconic like it just goes like a Christian and was it was that did you know did you know no I mean the truth was it was the one that you registered was that retrace yes yeah that was yesterday yeah so where did that name so there's a in my journal I remember the page I had all these names of possible names of record labels and so we were just trading ideas back and forth and that one kept coming you on the cray were trading Heyman Chris and Chris okay and so reach just kind of kept coming back to the top of the pile so what were some others what were some good ones Vision records I wish I could remember so you registered you you registered the company with in Tennessee yeah and what was going through your you know you prayed about it had the name you went what were your I guess what were your expectations when you registered honestly it wasn't I mean we did like spreadsheets on how this thing could perform we had no idea we had no experience I mean you would laugh at those things yeah they were so naive I had no idea about how how hard it would actually be or you know what really goes into it but we had enough passion and desire and really it was about impact it was about what this music could do in the culture and it you know it was about getting behind like how God can use music in people's lives and so we just went for it we had no idea what we were doing and I had it no it was was the idea for it to be hip-hop as the leading thing that was it was both okay just okay Christian music essentially yeah okay okay uh and then it ended up not working out with the other guys okay and and so uh hip-hop was working the hip-hop was working but it was also kind of like where my heart was okay and so then we signed after Lecrae we signed Tadashi was that right see the next one yeah lecrae's roommate yep that's how she was my roommate that's so Random wow yeah and then we signed Trip Lee so were you a part this is all in 2000 were you a partner at this time so I'm gonna give you some I'm gonna give you some real game this is this is a testament to and I he probably don't want me to tell it but I'm gonna tell you has it ever been said public what you about I don't think so uh we getting for one six life yeah I don't think we're getting an exclusive he probably wants public but this is a testament to to and it's how I wish that people would do business right it's unheard of it's unprecedented I got signed to two other 20 year old 22 23 year olds and and we're putting out this music I'm signing I'm getting I'm basically a r and I got my roommate I got this young kid I'm discipling I got my other homeboy show Baraka who I'm in school with I'm going to St Louis I'm grabbing Thizzle and Flame we're putting together all this stuff and Ben is like it's not right that all of this effort and energy that you're contributing to the label is like you're you're doing all this stuff but you're just an artist you need to be a partner wow and he was like I want you to be a partner in the label wow crazy now I mean did I is that how would you yeah I mean we so Chris ended up wanting to stay in Dallas because we were moving to Memphis Yeah Chris is going to stay in Dallas and sort of bow out focus on Advertising career that he was doing and so we we were all moving to Memphis together to go for it and so Lecrae stepped in as partners partner at that point yeah and so that our so now we kind of have the core team you mentioned Ben and LeCrae as partners you mentioned Tadashi who was your roommate you mentioned Sho Baraka this kid you were discipling triply triply and is that at that point was that the core yeah and I mean that was the core but then I think we were we didn't know we didn't have a we were just like whatever yeah it was like boom we got some artists we got it we gotta we got a thing so it was fun it was good because we didn't know enough about what we were doing to know if we were succeeding or failing it all felt like success every step yeah was we never taken that step so it was a win yeah so what was what was what was maybe one of the first steps that felt like a tangible success man I mean you know it's funny I have this memory in my head when you ask that this memory pops up I'm going to Baton Rouge and we were in the hood in Baton Rouge off guard Deer Lane I think that's where I'm from and we walked around and handed out flyers for people to come to the show we were doing at this like Community Center and we get there and there's like 30 40 people maybe and LeCrae stands on a little wooden box it just goes for it and that's what's great about Lecrae it doesn't matter if there's 10 000 people in a room or 10 people he goes hard the whole time anyway I just remember feeling like on top of the world like this is the most successful that is amazing I think because he hadn't been poisoned by success yet we're able to just celebrate the Liberty win yeah I remember one of the things that really was a big thing for me that I'll never forget my wife wasn't my wife at the time we weren't even dating she was just my homie and I remember being at Chris's apartment in Dallas we were mailing CDs we were labeling them and mailing them around because people had to order them and we were the distribution so we would literally physically mail them to people and I thought that was so dope that we were all doing this but the wildest thing was one of the addresses that I had to write was to Australia and I was like someone in Australia now to me that was success like that so I so I have a question um from an artistic standpoint like how and when did you get the 116 logo when was it created like because these are like iconic uh art pieces to me yeah how did that 116 was a thing before Reach Records Was a thing okay say more about that so Lecrae BJ who else initially it's just me and BJ okay they would go down to this area in Dallas and just share the gospel in the streets there's like the clubs down in Dallas anyway they were just like living their faith out and I remember I can't remember when y'all called it 116 click do you remember I remember I don't know exactly but I remember like it was just you know we're like in college in college a lot of suburban kids but we're coming from a more like Hood background so you're trying to like integrate some of that into this and it's like we're gonna be a Christian Clique you know I mean like 116 click and we went to Hobby Lobby got some iron on shirts with like 116 click on it and it was just like we would be on campus like yeah sharing the gospel waited one one six yeah sharing the gospel it was about sharing the gospel okay it wasn't about rapping initially yeah no it was about that's amazing yeah I went to a I went to a camp that the college Ministry did and um and the preacher there was Ambassador from Cross movement oh wow so he was preaching and then I was a fan and I was like can you sign my Bible and he signed his name and then he put Romans 1 16 and I was like huh what's this he put different scriptures on different you know whatever I looked it up I was like oh blah blah shout out ambassadors yeah yeah Ambassador that's dope oh what a shame one one six one one six click yeah I told BJ about it I went and got the shirts I was like we representing all I needed was another gang member so so I kind of want to ask this because it they're under underneath everything so you got the label you got the 116 click it's it that Ministry is kind of running up underneath this in Lecrae Ben kind of said it you know whether it was 10 or a thousand whatever you was just always going for it and you you know Ambassador signs your Bible and now you're you get these t-shirts made and you said it you know we going out sharing the gospel I'm I'm curious for you Lecrae what was sort of going on with you where it was this thing that's like I gotta go share because it's just almost like this like Scrappy like I gotta get this out you know what I'm saying I gotta go I gotta go I gotta share but then you're pulling on creativity art like what what was what was kind of pushing you you know what I'm saying to really want to carry yourself that way if you will I was I mean I was younger newer in the faith it was fresh um we were really influenced by this this uh evangelist at the time uh hell's best kept secret they come from Ray Comfort yes and his big thing was the Gospel to you know it's like you know he was he'd be on the streets in Venice Beach and he'd be sharing people so he's a huge influence on us at the time because you know we're on a college campus and and to us I don't know it was just everything was centered around evangelism you know what I'm saying so yeah so we were just trying to think of like what does this look like in an urban context because people aren't getting this and I was like nobody ever shared this with me nobody ever came to my neighborhood and told me about this so I was like we need to go to the club we need to go to the hood we need to go so we would we would do freestyle battle we would battle people in the streets and then like share the gospel with them we would we got spit on and his lines at the club and we were like yo we would pretend it was so crazy and it was silly but we was trying to be elaborate and it would be like I would pretend I didn't know God BJ would be trying to share with me in front of the whole line at the club oh wow yeah I'd be like yo I ain't trying to hear this bro you know what I'm saying and stuff like that and then I remember one time a dude was like he got mad at me for trying to share with uh somebody a girl or something he was like yo man shut up no one wants to hear this and he spit at me what and um man that's all I know I was saved did you turn the other cheek because I turned the other cheek for real so I knew I was safe because I was like this is not could you do that today I don't I think I think I'm you wash his feet today wouldn't you I don't know what I would do but yeah the point is is just we were so zealous yeah you know just zealous and we just and everything worked together Ben was in his he was working in his um his closet right is that where you where's no I mean it was like a office like out in the country in this ranch place and another room with some when you design this boy yeah were you trying like are you trying to design a look what what prompted I don't remember why I just remember like 116 was like this rallying thing in Denton and we felt like we wanted it to be a part of what we were doing I I just was like made a made a logo for it and showed it to him one day in his apartment and he liked it I was the anr Ben was the creative director yeah that's kind of how which is and it's kind of cool I loved it I love the I love that those terms a r creative director are kind of in the mix you know what I mean but uh but also I think what what I'm kind of enamored by is there was almost this this thing that was that was out in front you hear a lot about the about Founders stories and a lot of what they're trying to they're trying to start a business and they're trying to figure out how can I make a business make you know set it up and be successful but it really sounds like there was something else going on where and I think Lecrae you kind of talked about it y'all were trying y'all were trying to y'all were trying to put the gospel out in a in a in a way that people could get it like if you look at the first Real Talk CD and you can get those liner notes I mean I have no idea where one would be it's probably ten thousand dollars on eBay right now but anyway maybe you get the liner notes you look in there and there's a there's a thing about 116 click so we were really pushing that because we wanted people to like be motivated and encouraged and like yeah part of what was going on yeah to set like some context and shout out to my guy Dr Bobby Manning for like helping paint this picture better but uh to you gotta think like we're like the oldest Millennials youngest gen xers right the Gen X generation was about making everything Christian Club Christian like they wanted everything to be Christian like but they became The Gatekeepers of it so that Gen X era those those folks were like we're gonna do Christian rock and we're going to do Christian this and they were creating all these things but they were The Gatekeepers Millennials and us being like the youngest the the oldest Millennials we're more like well we don't really care about creating a Christian club we just want to be as Christian as we can be in these environments got you so we'll go to the club but be very Christian at the club okay guys we'll get within hip-hop and be very Christian within hip-hop guys we weren't really concerned with gatekeeping we were more concerned with infiltrating you know what I'm saying so I think our mindset was just how do we infiltrate infiltrate infiltrate infiltrate infiltrate culture infiltrate Society infiltrate art world and so that was kind of more the mindset it wasn't about like trying to create this alternative world as much as it was like infiltration I love that I love that Paradigm of infiltration and gatekeeping and sort of like that generational kind of like time stamp right I'm curious for for you all as you kind of think about where things began and there's so much in that right like already like we're gonna have to have y'all back to to to layer this story somewhere because there's so much that we just couldn't get to but maybe zooming head ahead a bit can you think about recent moments bring us into recent moments what was a recent moment in the in the 20-year Journey that that made you all feel hopeful about where this thing is and where this thing is going um I mean for me what comes to mind is an unashamed tour we did earlier this year so we had the whole label out on tour and it was seeing the new artists really shine and seeing them really connect with everybody yeah and you're watching that transition from like Old Guard to new guard that was really cool to see though yeah is there a moment within that show or within that tour where you remember thinking to yourself This is the new guard there's a transition happening uh I don't know if I'm I mean few starting off as oh yeah yeah there's just so many good moments you know RG really capturing the heart of everybody in there Hovey I mean one day I mean it's just they're all killing it yeah I I think for me it's um it's like um the return it's like full circle back to just authentic faith and when I see that you know just just leaving Nigeria with with limo and just just the it was just so pure you know just like sitting with his Pastor talking and him dreaming and his it's like man I remember this just this purity of wanting change and you know he's not thinking about like he's just like yeah they flew me out I'm like they flew you out like on their schedule he's like yeah I just jumped on a flight that they booked I said no no you gotta you gotta tell them when you want to get They're Gonna Fly you at six a.m they're gonna put you the cheapest flight but he's not thinking about anything he's just like I just want to serve I just want to you know so it's just like that's beautiful and for those who for those who are listening in and may not know this uh limo Blaze is one of the newer artists on a label who was signed last year he's from Nigeria and currently living in the UK so that's that's who Lecrae is talking about there and Craig I just want to maybe tap in on something that you said there you said this return to authentic Faith that's such a yeah it's like there's like that's such a pregnant statement hey could you say a little bit more about what what you mean by a return yeah I mean like like Ben's was saying earlier that that people haven't been like we we initially weren't like burned by success or I think you know you you have a burden to impact people and then these arbitrary goals start popping up and and they look great but what to what end you know what I'm saying it's like what now why do we want this like what is the goal of this like you and you can make up something you can say well we wanna win the best studio award because it helps people see yeah that yeah you know what I'm saying and it's not that that's wrong it's just that it you get deterred so quickly it just easily deters you from the the main thing and I think um you know it's like man that was never the goal the goal is never to be the biggest the best the fastest the most impressive the goal was to reach people and change the way that they see the world you know I have a question about that speaking of the goal like I know you guys obviously stood a lot like I mean 20 years record label Fame business like what what are some of the things that specifically around Reach Records that like I know we have a lot of positive things we can share and we're all like you know uh adoring all the things you guys have built over the 20 years but what are some things that makes you kind of like scared keeps you up at night about Reach Records concerned and I I just want to like because I feel like people publicly probably don't see what that feels like to I guess uh carry all this burden you know what I'm saying and even as like employees we can you know be here and have this conversation but I'm at the end of the day this is something you guys founded and are essentially held accountable to Steward what are some things that like man presently like man hey this keeps me up at night or this this puts a little fear in me about having all this you know safe space my deepest fear is I mean I think there's there's two sides to it there's like Vision fear um there's like concern that we won't fulfill the Mission Vision we can get sidetracked from that or you know as we bring on the new is it going to be the same thing what's it going to look like you know we had this thing for so long does it does it need to shift a little bit in order to accommodate what's what's happening now yeah then there's business stuff I mean like you're never on the other side of risk so if you're trying to grow and you're trying to push you know you're always going into the next year like what do we need to do to press the pedal down some more yeah and that means you have to deal with things like budgets and income and revenue and staff and you know like all this stuff you have to Steward all that too so that that's not just a walk in the park you know and speaking of speaking of sort of budgets impact kind of Trent business Trends and things like that there was something that I was reading about coming out of last year into this year was sort of this there's this large Market change that's kind of happening where for maybe like the last you know two or three years it was like three or four years like what yeah but yeah maybe like the last three or four years hip hop had kind of like reached this place where it was the the the the dominating genre across all music but but maybe in the last year so it's kind of started to you know Peter off is it's kind of how it's being portrayed so as independent hip-hop label owners and kind of even referencing the Genesis of hip-hop kind of being the heartbeat is that something that like what's y'all's reaction to that that outside like can't control that type of thing in terms of Mission Vision business yeah we talked about that a few days ago it's like if you look at this top of the Spotify charts there's not much hip-hop compared to what it used to be it used to just be like and now it's it's like a whole bunch of other stuff and some hip-hop sprinkled in yeah and so you go all right what's what's shift and what's going on here it doesn't mean hip-hop's not big I mean it's like country music's not up there either and it's yeah it's big too no doubt um so it's not something to be like scared about but it also means like where is culture going what are people into you know um is there other types of music we need to entertain we have you know we signed some of that before so yeah yeah I would agree country artist on the way is what I'm saying Yeah Yeah country song on the way country album Reach Records can't yeah yeah yeah and yeah and even outside of country it's like limo Blaze being scientists yeah it's afrobeat it's not hip-hop you know what I'm saying so it's like like did you guys see like I think I think the limo Blaze signing is a big moment did you guys I know kind of talking back to when you got that uh CD from or sending that CD to Australia did you guys see like back then someone being on the roster with International footprint uh even doing after that this is like presently is that like a wow factor and like you know talk a little bit about the present day of having like an international artist and what that means like the mission and what we're trying to build and all that yeah I think on my healthiest days I want to see the entire world impacted with like I want to see the truth of God like just immersed in their space and culture right right on my unhealthiest days I just want global domination yeah yeah that's that that's that 20-year speaking that that comfortability yeah to sort of be to sort of be honest about that but I do think that's interesting to what Ace has kind of called out is that at the very beginning you know you were shipping CDs to Australia from from your house and now in more of the present days things have happened where yeah there's an artist who's not even in America that's signed who's you know producing from a whole another country right there have been uh Latin you know we've we did a whole lot and you guys participated in a whole Latin project that was a collaboration with folks that out of Puerto Rico there was the there are these sort of these bigger moments you know where the music has been in Netflix movies and LeCrae at the beginning of I think it was 2020 your PlayStation launched their new console with the Spider-Man game using two tracks of your music so at least in terms of present day that's crazy how how is that you mentioned it on my healthiest days versus sort of uh you know this other tension how are you kind of processing those larger impact moments and maybe kind of keeping the mission and vision in mind I've had too many unhealthy days so not to say I'll never be unhealthy like that again but I just I just have seen the detriment and the the Beauty and the health is far more like rewarding it's just far more rewarding so for me it's like that's cool I appreciate it but then I'm always the question I'm always asking is to what end like what's the why I like how you you know what I'm saying to what end like what is the goal here yeah you know and so is it just like this functional you know like oh monetary thing uh numbers thing like we create these arbitrary goals and so and it's like why did what is why do we want this yeah we want to sell two million albums why yeah because we want to man yeah I'm saying so so for me it's like when there's a real vision and Mission behind some of these things I get more excited it's more rewarding when you're realizing like you're providing opportunities for people in Puerto Rico and and that you know the vision and Mission is spreading and just like you're you know what God is doing through this music is happening while you're asleep in other parts of the world is amazing yeah you know just to be able to be up to play a part in that yeah yeah I mean it's it's truly special I can say from a personal perspective real quick I I the gospel came to me in a radical way when I was in college and I remember it was the rehab album that was probably it was probably already out for some years by the time it got to me but I never I didn't know Christian hip-hop was a thing and so I remember on days where I couldn't get out of bed without listening to that music because my whole world was like my whole world had just gotten flipped upside down so I'm like man I can't even walk think talk whatever you know um and now you know fast 40 that for me that was something like 12 years ago very close to the time I started to work here and in that same time I mean I think I can count maybe six plaques and for those who don't know what that means that's about six times we've sold at least 500 000 albums and in one case a million and so that's that's like you know just for my short time uh but for you all and being you kind of mentioned it there have been you know coming in hot was the top song on Instagram in 2020 for a period of time Lecrae you have now won two Grammys and I mean things just can things just continue to sort of post and build then you mentioned Vision with all of those accolades and the shared success how would you all communicate the vision that's kind of keeping those things intact like what is the vision that's from you all's perspective that's keeping those things in context yeah I mean the vision is what it always has been from the beginning and we we talked about this we kind of framed it and 2000 nine or ten or something like that but we said you know it's to change the way people see the world so we want that the way you see life to have a Biblical christ-centered God-fearing sort of lens on it and so that's been the mission and there's all these other things coming at you that are like dangling the temptation to go chase all the time and so the challenge is like keeping an ever-growing machine on track you know your own heart but also just kind of the whole building and everything going on yeah um even like a song this is kind of like some critics may be like hey a song like coming in hot viral utility Kim Kardashian Instagram reels how does that song which is light-hearted and fun like how to speak about how the vision of what you guys are doing and maybe the content in that song the success of that song how do those things reconcile because I think sometimes the outposts can look at that song that success and all this plaques and everything and look at the start and say well hold up that something ain't I don't that's not what it sounds like what you guys are set out to do even though obviously we all benefit like tell me about the I guess the Dynamics and the success of that song and how the business still was maintained through something like that you know what I'm saying yeah I mean those songs happen it's like Christians have fun [Laughter] sometimes we just goof off right yeah like reading the Bible to each other that comes out I feel you that can come out in music I think there's this pressure back in the day where everything had to like share the completion message of God every song or you kind of worried that it was going out there without and now we're a little more flexible but even coming in hot I mean that was just created for a a summer playlist project I think it was a tour yeah yeah so it wasn't like engineered for social viral I mean it it was just something authentic and fun that ended up taking off Christians have fun basically yeah so I mean those things happen and it could be easy to say all right we're shifting everything just to try to make a hundred more coming in Hots because of all the success we've had from it I've tried but you have to I can't think it ain't hot yet it's not that easy it's not easy but also that's not our heart like yeah that's that's part of the soup but it's not the whole mission so we can't let ourselves get off track right just because of success that's easier said than done because it's really nice to get a plaque and to get you know revenue from that I think it's also a testament to you look great like having artists I mean artists that you Shepherd that you A and R that you've empowered or like writing like hit making records essentially like Andy are you you've essentially you know um you know developed those talents even like currently I mean obviously you said you were the youngest of the oldest Millennial we ain't gonna say how you know I'm saying but kind of where you are right now presently the current roster what is exciting for you in the future like talk about juande Hovey limo Blaze 1K Feud what up RG like I love that present day Reach Records how do you feel about the trajectory in the future of Reach Records in the hands of the the most recent signings I don't want to say younger but just the most recent signings like how do you feel you know what I'm saying I mean the future is as bright as they want to shine you know what I'm saying like we I really they could have it I I really would open up everything to allow them to to carry this torch forward as far as they want to take it um it just really depends on on what they want yeah you know what I'm saying like I'm I'm excited for them um um they are so talented their talent level is unmatched it's crazy and um and yeah I mean it's kind of like we didn't have that support system we had to kind of to to scrap and scrape to make it happen so you know we're we're putting it together but for us we're like hey we want to provide you the support system that we didn't have right and so you can carry this banner and um so to me that's exciting if you want to be a leader if you want to inspire the world um I get excited about that you know when I was just out in Nigeria I didn't realize the impact that limo had like I knew yeah I knew he was a leader I knew his music was impactful but to get out there and to see people like well they just were like man it wasn't like fandom it was like we value the words that come out of your mouth I mean just even to to add to that I remember when we went to London I mean we to to try to kick start his music we did a showcase that you know it's kind of see and the thing sold out in like right two three days and like just like a thousand people that inspires me and so for me it's like well of course I want to get behind that type of leadership um but it's also stewardship man and and I don't take that lightly I I I'm not just I guess I'm I I'm excited about the talent but there's a stewardship there's something that's been created and crafted and I want to be a good Steward of it you know I don't wanna I don't want to be a gatekeeper like the Gen X is where they didn't want to like yeah it's kind of like they're like this is ours just you know like get in it it was like I don't want to be that but I wanna I I want to say hey y'all you can have it just Steward it well because there's a lot of people listening a lot of people watching a lot of people looking for Hope and um yeah and so man just you know follow the spirit and and Steward it well you know yeah yeah Ben what what how do you feel about just the current state of the roster Reach Records looking back 20 years whether the artist roster stands right now how do you feel about where the new artists are going um and what is something that you know that you can probably give to them or just really any artist that's trying to make hip hop from a Christian worldview what's something that they can like take away right now you know what I'm saying that aligns with the Reach Records vision and that just gives them a little bit of Hope because I think it's just it's so different than where you got started it just looks so different and it's just it's still kind of like jarring to see to be present day so I just want to hear your thoughts on like the newer guard yeah I think going back to what Lecrae said a while ago I forget which episode now but uh it's the it's the kind of authenticity of the faith that I'm seeing in the in the new roster so it's not chasing success it's this kind of renewed uh spiritual energy about see an impact chasing the Lord using their music you know that's exciting and I think if they can if they can be in that space they'll be all right yeah you know and we're excited to support and promote that all day long yeah I love seeing where they're at personally this is the most exciting thing go crazy I'd be interested to hear you all's take on this we were we were out with some guys last night and one one of the one of the folks that we were with was another artist who's not assigned to our label but he is a friend sort of of what we've done he's he's a collaborator collaborator and a contributor and one thing he talked about was sort of how when the vision and the commitment and all of those things are there but sometimes there's just this reality uh or even this fear that right away you may not see the reward of kind of having the right heart and the right intentions and it seems like that for a lot of people is a big one to that if you don't maybe you don't wrestle with that in the beginning but at some point along the way there is just sort of this reality that the right choices or the right heart the right intent may not always mean sort of the material or tangible things yeah how would y'all sort of speak into that tension yeah I mean I think it's an error theologically to say if you follow God you will be successful materially I don't think I don't think that's a promise I want to retweet that Ben yeah you know especially in for music it goes the same way so like you know you you have to pick what your vision and Mission are and follow that and that's the success is the Fulfillment of that or the taste of that yeah um so you know for people thinking about doing music or getting into it you have to know where you're headed or else you're just going to start heading somewhere and you're not going to have any directions yes yes you know and you'll be you'll be scrolling through social media getting messages about what's important and then that'll influence you and you'll say I got to do this I got to be like this person or whatever you know you got to kind of Pick Your Heroes and pick your mission and and no it's good where you're headed happens to me it's happened to me so many times yeah so many times yeah we don't say that like it's never happened to us I was gonna ask if we say that we're in the fight too I was gonna ask that because someone listening um could say well that's really easy for you to say because this worked out right maybe you've got this yeah you got employees you got these things right like you're Lecrae so it's easy for you to say that but I'm curious Lecrae when you say it's happened to me could you go into that a bit more yeah I mean I think um you know we didn't know that anomaly was gonna do what it did we we were realizing it as it was approaching that place but it was kind of like oh shoot this is the number one album and then I I just remember the internal tension of like well I had a number one album what do I do next right like it created this new standard or new like ladder that I felt like I had to like stay on top of instead of just being like man God did that and I'm not promised that again right but it was like this internal fight of like oh shoot all right it needs another Grammy needs to happen another like this this is supposed to keep happening yeah and it's not directly tied to my walk with the lord it's not directly tied to my faithfulness and I think like that's just because there's people who are very Unfaithful who win Grammys and get number one albums right it's like that's crazy and there's people who love God and they're not having that level of success and so I think I'm always challenged the the thing that challenges me the most is um when uh Jesus tells John tells the disciples that as great as John the Baptist is the least in the in heaven is greater than him and I'm like this man is John the Baptist and there's greater people like you know what I'm saying and so it's like all right he did not end well his story didn't end well he got his head chopped off he was like wondering is Jesus is this really I'm in prison and it's like that's the mindset I think you gotta have like God definitely gives us these principles of like if you plant the seed you water it you get it some sunshine it'll grow but yeah you're not promised to have the biggest Orchard well I think that's a great way to wrap this first episode of the 116 life and also I think it kind of for those who are listening you're probably like man I feel like there's so much more to this story there's so much that didn't get covered in your right and perhaps we can have y'all back to dig in some more and layer this thing out a little bit but before we let you all go again it's been said that this is 20 this marks the 20th year of Reach Records is there anything that you can share with our listeners that you're excited about or that's that's maybe on the horizon for that this 20 years I would just say we're talking about it right now we're planning we're uh we're scheming on what is a proper way to celebrate yeah okay two decades okay how about you look right and it's worth celebrating yeah it's worth celebrating it's worth putting time effort and energy into so you know I would just say that it's like we're not taking it lightly yeah so yeah so thank you so much for uh being here with us uh my name is Marcus Hollinger I'm your host you can find me on social media at Marcus Hollinger or Mark is the market on Twitter Ace how can people no thank you man it's been pleasure hosting with you man Ace Harris music on all platforms and uh thank you Craig and Ben man for your leadership and Ace Harris music DM all your songs yeah DM your records to Ace oh or just DM Lecrae he'll give you my email address yeah yeah and of course you can find you can find Lecrae uh at Lecrae right on all on all platforms and unfortunately you cannot find it in Washington unfortunately that is a fortunately you cannot find bin Watcher online but you can see his fingerprint you can see his influence email this man Ben washer aol.com yeah or is it Hotmail or netsuite thank you so much man thank you Ben uh thank you Lecrae thank you for uh to our listeners and if you if you've been with us my name is Marcus Hollinger and this is the 116 live show thank you uh we'll see you here every Tuesday at 8pm on holy culture radio Sirius XM channel 154.

Channel: Reach Records

Views: 21,666

Keywords: lacare, lacrae, lecray, one one six, 11 six

Id: bI9Vu3TZlMA

Length: 55min 54sec (3354 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 19 2023