Reach Records Roster Answers Fan Questions in Atlanta for Unashamed Forever

In case you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on in CHH recently, Lecrae, Andy Mineo, KB, Tedashii, Trip Lee, Gawvi, 1K Phew, and WHATUPRG have joined forces to perform across the nation in the Unashamed Forever Tour 2019. The tour, which is one of the biggest to ever hit the CHH scene, began a few weeks ago and still has several dates left.

Before the Atlanta, GA, show on March 17th, the artists sat down for a short Q&A panel. Topics ranged from branding to culture to personal health. Here are some highlights:

Question: Tell us how you make [creative] decisions as an artist?

Andy Mineo: One of the weird things about being an artist … is that you want to have a sense of individuality so that when people think about who you are, they think of something unique and they want to come to you for something. I feel like a lot of artists end up trying to duplicate something that’s already out, and when you do that, you just become the “diet” version of something else. And so why would I go to the diet version if I could just go to Migos or whatever? I think that’s one of the hardest things to do because I think a lot of people would rather do what works than do them.

Question: What topics (outside of Christianity) do you think need to be addressed in music?

WHATUPRG: I think for me it’s just been realizing how much in common our struggles are even when we think we’re worlds apart. Everybody goes through ups and downs and when you can just share your story and be authentic and transparent it’ll speak to anybody.

As far as issues, I wish there was more representation for everybody. Not just for immigrants, but I think we need a woman in the roster too. It matters you know?

Trip Lee: When we put out music that hits on stuff that’s really big in conversation at that moment it’s never because we’re thinking, “this seems like a hot topic, let me jump on this hot topic.” The stuff we put in music is stuff we’re passionate about. We never want to just go around trying to chase hot topics that won’t come off authentic. But often you will hear us talk about stuff that’s in cultural conversations, but it’s because we’re passionate about it and we think God has something to say about it.

Question: Are you going to try to make music your whole life or stop at a certain point?

Lecrae: I always want to find a way to be involved in culture and music and pushing a Kingdom agenda. And that doesn’t have to be with the microphone, that can be from behind the scenes. We need more managers, we need more agents, we need more promoters…Everybody wants to be on the stage with a microphone, but truthfully this is like being a professional athlete – you have a window. Some people get longer windows than others, but if you own the Atlanta Falcons, you own them till you die. It’s better to be an owner than a player sometimes.

Question: Trip, I hear you talk about your health in your music, I wanted to ask you how you’re doing?

Trip Lee: People don’t know I have an illness…chronic fatigue syndrome. I never feel rested. Health-wise, I’m doing about the same as I’ve been doing for the past several years. It’s the hardest part of every part of my life. In times of suffering, we can either just tolerate it or we can allow it to do its work in us in the way it’s supposed to. So, one of the ways you can pray for me … is that I would endure that suffering in a way that honors Him … and that the Lord would use that to make me a more effective servant for Him.

You can watch the full video of the Reach Records Q&A session below:

Darius Mullin
Darius Mullin
Darius Mullin is a contributor at Midnight Donuts, FiveTwenty Collective, Rapzilla, the Union University Library blog, and Marble Garden Radio. You can often find him reading a book, making music, playing a board game, or looking at a cool bug. You can connect with him on Substack @dariusmullin
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