By: James Southworth
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Rap is a genre that I've always felt works incredibly well or entirely horribly depending on who the rapper is. There are actually several rappers that I love, but the one that was my gateway into getting into more rap was Lecrae. I've always had so much respect for this man, as he was the first Christian rapper to really begin bridging the gap between Christian and secular circles. Even in his early years when his lyrics were much more explicit about his faith, I would still find that my friends who didn't believe in God loved to listen to him. With his popularity increasing, it wasn't surprising to me that Lecrae began wading in the water of the mainstream with his album "Anomaly" in 2015. It's actually one of his best releases with a diversity of interesting content. If "Anomaly" was wading in the mainstream, Lecrae is taking a full dive into it with his new album "All Things Work Together". It's clear that Lecrae wants to reach a larger audience, and that makes some parts of this album work for the better. However, other parts of the album are weakened significantly in comparison to his previous releases.
This album starts off excellently with its first three tracks, all of which are significant highlights. While "Always Knew" isn't close to the best intro track Lecrae has done, I still enjoy it quite a bit. It has a nice, smooth backing beat to it which creates a relaxing atmosphere. Lecrae's familiar raps come in strong in this song, as he is humbly discussing how his success in the Christian and secular industries has made him be under more scrutiny. Lecrae is very honest in addressing how he should be considered a Christian, and just because he interacts with people like Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, his faith shouldn't be invalidated. I love that Lecrae isn't trying to please anyone in this song, instead offering his opinions clearly. One of Lecrae's strongest tracks to date, as well as the best song on this album, comes in the song "Facts". I was blown away when I heard this song, as Lecrae is speaking incredibly boldly on racism and oppression. Now I will say that I critiqued Lecrae in the past on speaking about political issues in "Welcome to America", but that's because I felt the way that song was executed was awkward and one-sided. "Facts" gives the listener politics in context of personal experiences: "Know you never knew that, know you think I'm too black/I just think I'm too real, I grew up on 2Pac/You grew up thinkin' that the Panthers was some terrorists/I grew up hearin' how they fed my momma eggs and grits". I'll admit this song is a challenging listen. This song also really represents the controversy Lecrae has been under as of late because of being more outspoken on political issues. But I think Lecrae is a very important voice, and this song balances his politics with his faith. It's clear that his faith is what impacts all of his beliefs. That makes them more than just political assertions. Musically, this song has an intense beat, and Lecrae just spits out bars in incredibly interesting varieties. I love this song; it may be one of the best songs of the year.
"Facts" sets up a high bar for the rest of the album, and it actually made me excited to see if the rest of the album would be just as challenging and hard-hitting as that one. While it was a little disappointing to see this album significantly mellow out and become more R&B and trap influenced throughout the rest of its run time, the album still has several different highlights. If you had told me that "Broke" was a Lecrae track, I would've told you that you were wrong (that response goes for a lot of these songs, and I'll get to the bad side of some of the songs not sounding recognizably Lecrae's style later). This song really surprised me, as it's just a bit odd for him. But the off-kilter vibe of this song, particularly in the chorus, actually gravitated me towards it and makes it another favorite of mine. The subject matter of being rich in other ways despite being broke monetarily sounds a bit cliched, but the way Lecrae addresses it is fairly unique and interesting. Even though trap is probably my least favorite genre to come out of hip-hop, I still can admit that there's something strangely enjoyable about "Watchu Mean". Perhaps it's because this song doesn't really take itself seriously; it is legitimately a lot of fun. I also don't mind Aha Gazelle's feature at all; I may even listen to him at some point. "Can't Stop Me Now (Destination)" was a single that I initially dismissed, but coming back to it, I actually like it a lot better. It's inspirational without forcing it, and Lecrae sounds really natural on the track. His rapping style flows super well here.
Most of the closing tracks on this album are solid as well. "I'll Find You" is easily the strongest single on the album, as Lecrae and Tori Kelly have a great chemistry. Kelly's voice sounds great in the chorus, and Lecrae's rapping style evokes his album "Rehab" (my favorite Lecrae album, so definitely a good thing). This song has a clear Christian concept in its subject matter of God finding a person through their insecurities. It makes me happy that the track is getting so much mainstream attention. "Cry For You" is a powerful and haunting track, with Taylor Hill's vocals in the chorus giving me cold chills. This song provides some of the most powerful and Christ-centric lyrics on the album: "But somehow I end up killing everything/I cry for you/If you feel a dark, twisted, heart-wrenching, hate-to-see-your-own-reflection/Praying for an intervention, feeling guilt and feeling shame/I just call on Jesus' name". This song is another favorite of mine, as it provides some weight in an album that overall doesn't delve much into tough subject matter. The closing track "Worth It" has a nice gospel feel, and all the features on it are great.
There are some definite issues I have with this album that really keep it from being among Lecrae's strongest work. I think the negative side of Lecrae going into the mainstream is that this album is sometimes way too tame, both lyrically and musically. "Blessings" comes and goes without doing a single interesting thing. I don't know if I necessarily detest it. It's just completely unmemorable, so it is sort of bad in that sense. I know there was a lot of controversy with Ty Dolla Sign being featured on this song, and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it either. I understand that he could bring more people to the song, and Lecrae is surely a good influence on these secular artists (he doesn't have a single Christian feature on this album, not even from 116, which was really disappointing for me). But on the other hand, it can seem like Lecrae is validating their lifestyles by having them featured. I'm a bit conflicted on it, but it doesn't factor significantly into my overall feelings about the album. Now that I'm done with that tangent, let's talk about what is one of my least favorite Lecrae tracks ever, "Hammer Time". Man, this song made me cringe when I listened to it. Lecrae is heavily autotuned- something that happens unfortunately several unnecessary times in the middle part of this album. I also can't stand 1K Phew's feature; the way he makes his voice have this high raspy quality at the end of all his verses is super annoying. The chorus also repeats way to much and has a droning, robotic feel to it that is just awful. Tracks such as "Come and Get Me" and "Wish You The Best" make the middle half of this release a bit generic, as these songs are clearly geared for Billboard Top 100. Nothing about these songs really caught my attention. "8:28" is disappointingly underwhelming as the title track of the album.
Overall, my opinion of "All Things Work Together" is very middle of the road. While this album boasts two of Lecrae's best songs to date in "Facts" and "Cry For You", I just can't say that many other songs on the album left huge impacts on me like a lot of songs from his backing work did. There are other certainly other good tracks on the album, but they aren't good enough for me to come back to them over and over again. Besides "Hammer Time", the weaker songs on here aren't terribly offensive, but they are not very memorable either. I would recommend giving this album at least one listen, as it is pretty interesting to see how very different this release is in comparison to other Lecrae albums. While this is easily Lecrae's weakest release, it isn't by any means horrible. And it's inspiring that, even when he's going mainstream, Lecrae still clearly has his passions in a particular place: turning other people towards the God he loves.
Favorite Tracks: "Facts", "Cry For You", "Always Knew", "I'll Find You", "Broke"
Least Favorite Tracks: "Hammer Time", "Blessings", "8:28"
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