'Restoration' Review: Lecrae candidly offers the perfect pill for 2020 using hip-hop to restore faith and heal
Lecrae's new album 'Restoration' was released on August 21 via Reach Records. The Christian hip-hop artiste teased his ninth studio album on Instagram on August 20 with a message of faith. "Restoration is here at Midnight. I pray that God uses it to lift you up, meet you where you are, inspire you and restore you. #ThisIsNotTheEnd I’m grateful for the journey and I am grateful for who I am because of it," he wrote in his caption.
According to The Christian Beat, the rapper spoke about the album's inspiration in July. "Restoration is coming! There is healing on this album, but you have to be willing to admit you're broken in order to be healed." The album features renowned artistes across all genres including John Legend, Kirk Franklin, YK Osiris, Jozzy, Dani Leigh, Marc E Bassy, BJ The Chicago Kid and more.
With the LP's opener 'Restore Me', it is clear Lecrae is unafraid and unwavering for his faith. For those familiar with the hip-hop artiste, this is no secret, yet 'Restore Me' shows both Lecrae's vulnerability and warrior spirit to overcome entities that bring him down. The verse reveals Lecrae's testimony while the chorus lets out the anthem for the entire album, "Use all this pain, use all this hurt to grow me. If that's what it takes to know what I'm worth. Restore me, yeah, yeah."
One of the album's highlights is 'Drown' which features John Legend. John belts out his vocals on the chorus intro, "Tell me that You'll never let me down (Down). Down (Down). 'Cause You're my final breath before I drown (Drown). Drown (Drown)" and you know from the moment you hit play that you are left with goosebumps. Lecrae spoke of John Legend's contribution, saying, "I'm excited for you to hear 'Drown' ft my brother John Legend. We labored on this one. Even after the initial session, we jumped on FaceTime to tweak it. The man is as equally talented as he is humble. His gift and passion bleed through this song."
One of the notably catchy tracks with Lecrae flexing his rapping chops is 'Self Discovery'. Lecrae mixes up the rhythmic patterns and tempos over a traipsing beat and minimalistic instrumental layers of piano and brass. The result is a satisfying sound of old-school with Lecrae rapping about his Jamaican heritage and faded history from his father's side: "Um, never met my daddy's side so I couldn't tell y'all if I'm Zulu or Xhosa."
Sonically, the textures, effects, rhythms, rapping and vocals are all stunning. Tracks like 'Saturday Night' (featuring Jozzy), 'Wheels Up' (featuring Marc E Bassy) are rich and vibrant in instruments and effects and others like 'Over The Top' or 'Keep Going' understand the need to scale back to let the lyrics come to the fore. There are also notably genre change-ups, leaving the album's 14 tracks more unpredictable than monotonous.
'Still' featuring DaniLeigh is a midtempo and buttery smooth R&B bop. The YK Osiris collab, 'Set Me Free', gets a touch of trap tones and 'Over The Top' hits like a hot gangsta rap number.
As a Christian artiste in hip-hop, Lecrae's music can contend with the best of secular artistes and doesn't come off as holier-than-thou preaching or spiritually overboard, but feels like both a diary-entry and an album with power. In short, it is not a flaunt of religion, but an LP coming from a down-to-earth place with an emphasis on faith to transcend higher than one's own troubles. 'Restoration' is the perfect pill for the unpredictable and difficult year of 2020.
Lecrae is also releasing a documentary also called 'Restoration' and his second book, 'I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion, But Found My Faith', a follow-up to his New York Times bestseller, 'Unashamed'.