Christian rapper Lawren released his latest record Pieces on August 12, and with it revealed a song by song look into his life. The tracks switch from deeply personal, to introspective, and even a narrative of certain instances. Lawren gave Rapzilla a play-by-play of the “Pieces” in his life.
First Day
“I wanted to come out really aggressive and set the tone. It’s not heavily conceptual, but it does set the tone. There are some pretty decent soundbites in there concerning faith.”
One Day
“‘One Day’ is where I was at as a person before I was a Christian. For me, I’m saying one day I’m going to leave this life of sin, and one day I will follow God. That’s the concept that I took but I also wanted it to be open-ended. I wanted it to be open for interpretation.”
“Beleaf is talking about God’s provision and trials and I’m talking about one day I’m going to leave and this is where God is taking me. I’m ready to take that next step in my relationship with God.”
Pieces
“All these little pieces in my life are a picture of how broken we are without Jesus. I am a sinner, I am a broken person, and I really wanted to be a transparent person on the song.”
“These pieces that I have that are broken, I really wanted to share with people. It’s the story of how my daughter was born. I am already a Christian, I’m serving in pastoral ministry. And I’m still susceptible to sin. I’m struggling with sexual sin at this point.”
“Unfortunately, what happened, happened, and God still showed His grace in my life with my largest rebellion. I am a Christian now serving God completely but yet I have this little entrance that I allowed Satan to come into my life. I really wasn’t disciplined, I really wanted to hold on to this idol, and through all that, God still showed me grace by allowing me to have a daughter through rebellion. I hid so much from people, I lied, I played it, the typical hypocritical thing. Through all that, I was still able to really rejoice.”
“Granted when we first found out we were having a baby, it really wasn’t the greatest thing. I already knew that I was going to lose my job. It was really stressful, but the day she was born I already knew that it was a lesson that God already taught me and I knew that he was going to use my testimony for good.”
I’m On It
“When I say that I’m on it, I mean I’m on it for the kingdom. I know it sounds so corny but it’s true. Matthew 28:19 says, ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…’ That’s the command, I’m on it.”
Another Day
“It literally is just that. Like when people say, ‘It’s just another day in the hood’ basically what the song is about. I’m speaking from the perspective of before I became a Christian, not knowing what I was doing and how my actions can affect people outside of the life that I was doing.”
“I really illustrate that by including a clip about a kid who passed away in Miami. It really broke me when it happened. I’m still broken about it. A 6-year-old kid who had nothing to do with whatever was happening was a victim of these people doing what they were doing. That’s basically the concept of the song – me sharing what I used to do and then really just pointing to Jesus. Our frustrations, our weaknesses, all of our gripes, all of our pain, all of our suffering, at the end of the day, it’s still nothing in comparison to what Jesus faced on the cross.”
“So I’m saying God, you are the best sympathizer. He went through something that none of us could ever go through, so he knows the life of a human. He understands pain, he knows what it’s like to lose somebody. It’s my favorite song on the album.”
“As for the clip at the end of the song, at the time a lot of teenagers and kids are getting shot. That was a town hall meeting where a kid was just sharing his frustration with the people and the adults in the neighborhood. It was really powerful what he said. I wanted to put that in there so people could really feel the reality of it. This is actual pain, this is what somebody felt.”
“I was crying while I was recording that in the booth. I have young kids, and imagining the pain of losing a child.”
Castro
“The song means a lot to me, it means a lot to my family, it means a lot to Cuban exiles. This topic I’d say has not been covered by many people. I’m probably the only Christian rapper who will ever talk about this, or has. The topic, in general, hasn’t been hit on.”
“My dad was in prison by the Castro regime because he didn’t want to fight in the army. My dad was not a Communist, and since he was not a Communist you were an enemy of the state and they locked him up because of that.”
“My sister tried to leave Cuba a couple of years back but the government actually shot at her while she was trying to leave. She’s in her 40’s now and still hasn’t left and she probably never will because she’s so frightened.”
Read the full story about Lawren’s Cuban roots here.
One Day Part 2
“I gave everyone creative liberty. I talked about the same things as the first one. Nobigdyl went in a different direction. Jav Mendez went, one day the hood’s gonna get better, one day everyone on the block is gonna get saved. Dre Murray went after hypocrisy in the church and how we’re living a double life. B Copper was talking about his wife.”
“One of those songs where it was meant to showcase lyricism.”
Last Day
“The making of the song was difficult. I had a way longer verse, and had a beat that was like ‘Another Day’, but didn’t like that it was so close.”
“I called up Kevmo, and asked him to make me a beat two days before I had to turn in the masters and mixes. I sent him the vocals and he made the track around it. Then I made a totally new verse for it.”
“I wanted to showcase what people have heard of me in ‘HVNTS’. This was different in tone, and I wanted to go back. It is punchline-driven, and there are things that people won’t catch.”
Check out Lawren’s Pieces for free here.
