Speaker 1: My next guest is one of the most popular Christian
Speaker 1: hip hop artists in the rap industry. He has won
Speaker 1: five Grammy Awards, including one win for Best Gospel Album
Speaker 1: which is Awesome, fifteen Double warves, and one Billboard Music Award.
Speaker 1: Here's a philanthropist and I called him a social entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that in the minute. Is one of
Speaker 1: the best in the rap game. Please welcome to money
Speaker 1: making conversation. The Craiz. What's going on? What's going on? Okay?
Speaker 1: First of all, the Craig Houston, Texas. That's where you're born,
Speaker 1: young man. Okay, cool, That's where I'm from. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm from War, Texas. Brother just was gonna lockdowns of
Speaker 1: information about each other. Get our gps together here, Okay, Now,
Speaker 1: I was sir, yes, sir, right there, collins Worth right
Speaker 1: out fifty nine brother right there, Russell and Bain Street.
Speaker 1: That's where I was born. Right there. Now, he is
Speaker 1: my folks from Live Oak off in third ward. There
Speaker 1: you go, there you go. Come on, now, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get We're gonna get so, we're gonna be in so tune.
Speaker 1: You and I we're gonna be friends from life after
Speaker 1: this interview. Now here's the beauty of our relationship. Okay.
Speaker 1: I was at the Super Super Bowl Gospel celebration taping
Speaker 1: and I was sitting on the front row. Uh, because
Speaker 1: when you're big, that's where they put you on the
Speaker 1: front row and just set you on the front room.
Speaker 1: And so and so this young man came out, you know,
Speaker 1: uh because I believe demands were hosted. David talond Man
Speaker 1: was hosting that year, and they introduced this young man
Speaker 1: called look Crazy. I didn't even know his name. All
Speaker 1: I knew is he came out and he was rapping,
Speaker 1: and I was turning next to the person. I was saying,
Speaker 1: who is that dude? Because first of all, he looked
Speaker 1: good and he see here's the thing about his gifts,
Speaker 1: because see, gospel is rooted in you know traditional look,
Speaker 1: you know singing, you know, you know you you road
Speaker 1: gotta have that choir, gotta how to conductor. Here he
Speaker 1: was out there on that stage by himself, rapping and
Speaker 1: he I remember, I remember something he did. He told
Speaker 1: her about to raise their hands and everybody and this
Speaker 1: this this performance at Lakewood as Joel Osteen's Church. Now
Speaker 1: that's that's a former home or the Houston Rockets. You know,
Speaker 1: you're talking about people up in that join and all
Speaker 1: of them raised their hands. I look around, who is
Speaker 1: this dude? And then but better than that, his what
Speaker 1: he was saying said something to me. His beat says
Speaker 1: something to me. And I became a fan of your
Speaker 1: talents from that day. And you didn't even know that,
Speaker 1: young man, You didn't even know that you affected a
Speaker 1: person like me ra Sean McDonald based on your skill set.
Speaker 1: I didn't know you from Houston at the time. All
Speaker 1: I know is that when you still on that stage
Speaker 1: and then you walked off that stage and walked down
Speaker 1: those aisles, you walk right down my aisle. I went,
Speaker 1: I wonder who managing him? Because brother, you got it, man,
Speaker 1: tell us about that journey a little, just just just
Speaker 1: at a bit about that journey. Because of the fact
Speaker 1: that when I was watching California Dreams Dreaming, it said
Speaker 1: that it seemed to say that you grew up in California,
Speaker 1: but then by bio, your bio says that you were
Speaker 1: born in Houston, Texas. Can you help me out there, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So my uh, you know, I got a military family,
Speaker 1: so of course we spend a lot of time in
Speaker 1: different places I was. I was my family originates in Houston, Texas,
Speaker 1: so that's where most of them live. That's where, you know,
Speaker 1: my mother's firm, That's where I was. I started out at,
Speaker 1: but were moved around, so I spent the time in
Speaker 1: San Diego in California, and I spent the time at
Speaker 1: Denver and in Dallas. Right So, but but Houston has
Speaker 1: always been, you know, kind of the origin. The rum
Speaker 1: ain't nothing wrong and there's nothing wrong with having Houston
Speaker 1: is your origin, my friend? Yeah, where was where was
Speaker 1: established that Reach Records, your record company. Reach Records is
Speaker 1: actually established um right outside of Dallas and ben Texas.
Speaker 1: And uh, basically what had happened was a friend of
Speaker 1: mine and I, you know, we were at the University
Speaker 1: of North Texas UM and and that's kind of where
Speaker 1: I had a spiritual transformation and just kind of realized, man,
Speaker 1: I may need to use my gifts for you know,
Speaker 1: bigger purpose and UM and so from there we began
Speaker 1: to start putting out the music independently. And uh, and
Speaker 1: it you know, Texas is almost like its own country.
Speaker 1: So just touring the state of Texas and and and
Speaker 1: traveling through our Texas had had so many people supporting
Speaker 1: the music, and it just kind of spilled over from
Speaker 1: there and and into the to the rest of the world,
Speaker 1: and so you know, year after year, Uh, things just grew.
Speaker 1: You know, we started off independently. I remember taking my
Speaker 1: CD into Stories and selling them on consignment. And you
Speaker 1: don't know what consignment is that when you convinced the
Speaker 1: store they need to buy some of your music. And
Speaker 1: I was sending my friends in the store to go
Speaker 1: buy the music that they bought, and then they would
Speaker 1: buy some more from me and so uh literally at
Speaker 1: the trunk of my car. And we did that for
Speaker 1: years until things just kind of group beyond having to
Speaker 1: do it that way. Well, you know, look crazy, It's
Speaker 1: really a blessing to have this conversation with you because
Speaker 1: the fact that you affected me and it's such a
Speaker 1: positive way. And that's what I really love about gospel
Speaker 1: music and in your case, hip hop music and rap
Speaker 1: because of the fact that I'm of old school. You know,
Speaker 1: I tupas my man Okay, you know, I grew up
Speaker 1: with at the comedy club in Houston, hip hop comedy
Speaker 1: stop Back, and so my whole, my whole flavor is
Speaker 1: tied to what you're doing. Even though I'm an R
Speaker 1: and B guy, you know, I'm I'm an old Jay's guy,
Speaker 1: you know, Marvin Gay, I'm all that. And so when
Speaker 1: I so when I see you, I see I see
Speaker 1: a very gifted young man that that really is kind
Speaker 1: of like touching a person that that's in my age group,
Speaker 1: but also younger people too. Tell me to talk to
Speaker 1: us about the responsibility of what you're delivering with your music. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I um, you know, I spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time with my grandmother, who's basically like the spiritual
Speaker 1: matriarch of the family, and so there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of an old soul in me as well that that
Speaker 1: helps me to connect to people, you know, outside of
Speaker 1: my you know, typical age range or or you know, demographic.
Speaker 1: But then at the same time, you know, I was
Speaker 1: raised in the streets and I ran ran the streets
Speaker 1: as a as a kid, and so I was influenced
Speaker 1: by a lot of that type stuff. And so for me,
Speaker 1: I think about how do I take the wisdom that
Speaker 1: folks like my grandmother had instilled in me and uh
Speaker 1: and how to apply it to folks who grow up
Speaker 1: like me who you know, we're looking for godance and
Speaker 1: looking for you know, different uh models, because I didn't
Speaker 1: grow up having models in rowd models. By the time
Speaker 1: I was a grown man, you know, Marty Luther King
Speaker 1: was gone and so you know, all we had was
Speaker 1: a lot of confused individuals who were doing the best
Speaker 1: that they could, but you know, they didn't know which
Speaker 1: way was up. So for me, the responsibility is to
Speaker 1: use my music and my gift as a tool to
Speaker 1: uh to help people see their guy given potential and
Speaker 1: to understand that, you know, that they were created for
Speaker 1: a bigger purpose than what they may know. Well, you
Speaker 1: know the interesting thing about let me just talk about
Speaker 1: before we go to break about his his media reach,
Speaker 1: you know, his social his social media reach okay, as
Speaker 1: well as hiss a YouTube breach since his Reach Records
Speaker 1: has seven hundred and forty two thousand subscribers Reach Records,
Speaker 1: which is really important. And then his brand Lacrai has
Speaker 1: five and one thousand subscribers. His Facebook has over two
Speaker 1: million followers, Instagram over one point five million followers, Twitter
Speaker 1: one point six million followers. Prior to my introducing him,
Speaker 1: I talked about the Muhammad Ali era That's exactly what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. This This this amount of media control
Speaker 1: allows him to shout out his brand, promote his talents
Speaker 1: that could not happen ten years ago, could not happen
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. Corporation has only had that ability to
Speaker 1: be able to communicate now because of individuals like him
Speaker 1: were smart enough to control their brand and massive, massively
Speaker 1: put it out there. Because the saying you've got the
Speaker 1: YouTube channel that is so smart. I have to say
Speaker 1: that publicly because a lot of people artists don't do that,
Speaker 1: and they should do that, especially the gospel arena. We
Speaker 1: will come back. I'm gonna have more to talk to
Speaker 1: him about. I'm just a fan of Lokraize Man Rashawn
Speaker 1: mcdom Money Making Conversation. We'll be back with more. Hi.
Speaker 1: This Rashan McDonald and you're listening to Money Making Conversation
Speaker 1: my guests on the phone. L Craiz born in Houston,
Speaker 1: texas As. He said, uh, military child for a little
Speaker 1: time in California a little time, and Dallas a little time.
Speaker 1: And Colorado. One of my favorite stags is Colorado. Um,
Speaker 1: he said. He said that Reach Records just a little
Speaker 1: know what that guy from in bio. We got into
Speaker 1: this because we love hip hop and we love Jesus.
Speaker 1: Long before awards, plaques, chart positions in radio play, a
Speaker 1: few guys from Texas started using music to express their
Speaker 1: new found faith. That's that's power. And how how old
Speaker 1: were you at that time? Look great, I was so
Speaker 1: my faith transition app but I was eighteen and then
Speaker 1: we really, you know, kind of got things moving around
Speaker 1: twenty two, when I was about two years old is
Speaker 1: when things started taking off. Yeah, it's really amazing when
Speaker 1: you become a brand, because you are a brand, and
Speaker 1: I know you're recognized in that industry. So a lot
Speaker 1: of people started coming to you two your opinions and
Speaker 1: stuff like fristance. Uh. I read an article where you
Speaker 1: had expressed an opinion of your thoughts that was all
Speaker 1: positive about the Kanye West album being dropped out Jesus
Speaker 1: Is King, and then you had can you state your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that because it's all positive, it's all good,
Speaker 1: and but I just won't let everybody know that. You
Speaker 1: become the center of conversation because of your brand and
Speaker 1: who you are, and it takes a lot of responsibility
Speaker 1: when people come to you wanting quotes or statement or
Speaker 1: writing an article. That's a lot of responsibility. Yeah, absolutely
Speaker 1: it is. And you know I have I have to
Speaker 1: constantly think to all that you know, UM and and
Speaker 1: and you want to be transparent and you want to
Speaker 1: be honest, um, but you know every platform is not
Speaker 1: the perfect platform, and give your full, your full thoughts
Speaker 1: on everything you know. And so for me, I knew
Speaker 1: that the bigger picture that I wanted people to know
Speaker 1: as far as Kanye's albums concern was because we're not
Speaker 1: talking about his political stances, we're not talking about some
Speaker 1: of his commentary and media. We're talking about the album specifically.
Speaker 1: And as far as the Altbom's concerned, I thought that
Speaker 1: it was a um, a very sincere project, and I
Speaker 1: appreciated the content. I also thought that there's a lot
Speaker 1: of intersectionality between you know, the community of hip hop
Speaker 1: artists UM that acknowledge their face and what Kanye is doing.
Speaker 1: And I think that gives a lot more freedom. A
Speaker 1: lot of people don't recognize to realize that, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a place in a space for what
Speaker 1: you're doing, regardless of what it is, you know, artistic.
Speaker 1: To me, there's a space for it, and that's what
Speaker 1: we had to realize. A lot of people thought there
Speaker 1: was no market for what we were doing, but we
Speaker 1: knew that was a market for it because we were
Speaker 1: the individuals who were longing for it. And so we
Speaker 1: created the very thing that we had a demand for.
Speaker 1: And because we knew there was a demand, we said, hey,
Speaker 1: this needs to be done, and we did it. And
Speaker 1: so but but like you said, I have to be
Speaker 1: very mindful of, you know, the different circles and series
Speaker 1: of influence. I think about just at home obviously my
Speaker 1: own family, then outside of my home, my employees, got
Speaker 1: you know, seventeen employees that have ten artists on my
Speaker 1: record label. And then there's the fan base outside of that,
Speaker 1: and so you're just constantly having to think through all
Speaker 1: those layers. And that's that's important to hear that now
Speaker 1: you're reachiningly got the Artists of the Year at the
Speaker 1: g M A Dove Awards. Congratulations, um, And then that
Speaker 1: then turn right around. You know, my man Kurk Franklin,
Speaker 1: who I could shoot a good friend. I read this
Speaker 1: article about how he sped. He has felt that and
Speaker 1: has publicly said that the last two appearances that he
Speaker 1: had on that when he made comments about uh police,
Speaker 1: police injustice. It's been cut away from his interview, and
Speaker 1: I watched his full post on social media when he
Speaker 1: said it, and I had no problems with what Kurt
Speaker 1: Franklin was saying. And again I asked Kirk what was
Speaker 1: the difference between he said, you know, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: gospel is kind of like the is set aside, like
Speaker 1: the R and B of gospel. Do you have the
Speaker 1: Christian music that's kind of like the Dove Awards. Stella
Speaker 1: Awards is gospel and the Dove Awards it is kind
Speaker 1: of like Christian music because it's all the same music.
Speaker 1: That's what he told me, and so so then then
Speaker 1: then I read all that we said after after Kirt
Speaker 1: Franklin said that you're going I'm out to even though
Speaker 1: you had just wonned this award. I last he said
Speaker 1: about brother about so too. But but but that's a
Speaker 1: powerful thing to say because it's all part of how
Speaker 1: you used to promote your brand and you're trying to
Speaker 1: make music. But there's a place where you have to
Speaker 1: take a stand, correct m hmm. Absolutely absolutely, And and
Speaker 1: you know when people people know you obviously, you know
Speaker 1: when you're talking about a brand. You're talking about who
Speaker 1: are your brand champions, who are the people that are
Speaker 1: your your stakeholders and that look to you to be consistent.
Speaker 1: And so if Mercedes is a brand and it starts
Speaker 1: putting out vehicles that you know are not uh built
Speaker 1: with craftsmanship or they're not um functioning within the within
Speaker 1: the integrity of that brand, and people start to turn
Speaker 1: aside eye. And so for me, it's you know, I
Speaker 1: know my brand, but my brand is an extension of myself,
Speaker 1: and authenticity is a big part of who I am,
Speaker 1: and so I have to be authentic, and so people
Speaker 1: are anticipating and expecting me to be authentic. If I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be authentic about my faith, I have to be
Speaker 1: authentic about my views on society and social issues and
Speaker 1: issues of justice. And so this is just an extension
Speaker 1: of who I am. And I knew that there were
Speaker 1: gonna be some people who may have seen it as
Speaker 1: um you know, like oh, what is he doing? Why
Speaker 1: is he doing this? Or just blindly following Kirk, But no,
Speaker 1: I was backstage Kirk and I had plenty conversations about
Speaker 1: them cutting these conversations and cutting some performances and we
Speaker 1: we're hoping that that's that this wouldn't happen again. I
Speaker 1: remember I was talking to Kirk as soon as he
Speaker 1: got off stage. He said, man, how do you think
Speaker 1: the speech? When I said that was beautiful? I said,
Speaker 1: I felt like it was all encompassing and you had
Speaker 1: some great things to say. And he said, uh, I
Speaker 1: hopefully they don't cut it jokingly. And I said they'd
Speaker 1: be crazy to do that, and low and be hoped
Speaker 1: it was cut and so h. So, you know, for
Speaker 1: for him, I understood his position, and I was upset
Speaker 1: because that's my friend and I've dealt with the same
Speaker 1: thing before, and uh, and I just thought this was
Speaker 1: an injustice. The man asked for a call to prayer
Speaker 1: for Tatiana Jefferson and and and in all the surrounding
Speaker 1: circumstances the officer of her nephews, And uh, if you
Speaker 1: can't ask for a call to prayer on a Christian platform,
Speaker 1: and I don't know where you can where else you
Speaker 1: can ask for it, you know, it's it's really Uh.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to bring those two things out just
Speaker 1: to show people the Ford scope of who you are,
Speaker 1: that you really are are uniquely as h crafted individual
Speaker 1: and I and more so that I when it comes
Speaker 1: to entrepreneurship, because we're gonna talk about their your involvement
Speaker 1: is in there in some of the projects in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I call you a social entrepreneur because of the fact
Speaker 1: that you go in and you're trying to change the community.
Speaker 1: You're trying to keep the community intact, but you're also
Speaker 1: trying to bring business and trying to upgrade because you know,
Speaker 1: once you increase the taxes, then guess what. Schools get better,
Speaker 1: policing gets better, the community gets better. And that's what
Speaker 1: social entrepreneurs do. Tell us about the English Avenue project
Speaker 1: that you involved in Atlanta. Yeah, so Els Avenue is
Speaker 1: uh historically doing uh you know, over the last decade
Speaker 1: or so, it's been a very tough area, you know,
Speaker 1: uh known as the Heroin capital of the Southeast and
Speaker 1: a lot of traffickings, a lot of you know, just
Speaker 1: uh tough activity going on over there. Hadn't been a
Speaker 1: school there, uh in years since a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: since nineteen ninety six. So there's more grocery stores. I
Speaker 1: mean there's not even there's there's no grocery stores, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's a food desert, it's a school desert,
Speaker 1: and UM, it's very unfortunate situation. And so a good
Speaker 1: friend of mine, Benjamin Wills, had a vision to uh
Speaker 1: to see some change in that community, and you know,
Speaker 1: I came alongside Benjamin Wills and UM and we worked
Speaker 1: hard to put a school in that community. And so
Speaker 1: Peace Preparatory Academy is in its fourth year now, UM
Speaker 1: adding a grade every year. So it's the first school
Speaker 1: it's been in the neighborhood since Nati six. I also
Speaker 1: took it upon myself to uh to you know, uh
Speaker 1: take ownership over some of the properties down there, because
Speaker 1: if you know, as a black man, I wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that the community was owned by somebody who
Speaker 1: cares about the community. And so UM, instead of just
Speaker 1: putting up, you know, random things that are not helpful
Speaker 1: for the community and just trying to profit off of them,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking through, how can we do something that is
Speaker 1: profitable uh as a business, but then also uh you know, sustainable,
Speaker 1: but it also helps the community. So things like that
Speaker 1: are you know, um, places that can house folks and
Speaker 1: they can pay rent at a lower at a lower price,
Speaker 1: but they can also work in the storefront, and so
Speaker 1: you just get different um circumstances and different things along
Speaker 1: those lines. So you know, there's um, there's there's stores,
Speaker 1: storefronts that provide healthier options for people, but that provide
Speaker 1: them at a at a cost that they can afford.
Speaker 1: And you hire people from within the community. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: that that becomes a part of the process of getting
Speaker 1: the shaft. That's what I stashed the Neighborhood Award. That's
Speaker 1: what the Hoodie Awards was all about when I dated
Speaker 1: for sixties straight years, about shining. That's that's the true
Speaker 1: stars of the community. There's the stars are built within
Speaker 1: the community. We don't bring them outside that they're they're
Speaker 1: gifted people within the community. We just got to shine
Speaker 1: a stronger light on it. I'll be remiss if I
Speaker 1: don't talk about it. Your music as we close out
Speaker 1: is California Dreaming. Is that's your new yest single video out?
Speaker 1: A new single out? Or or it's one that's come
Speaker 1: out after that? No, yeah, that's the latest one. We
Speaker 1: we we put that out as a summer project, you know,
Speaker 1: just something for the summer, playing paying, riding the speed bias,
Speaker 1: riding a little little banana bikes. Okay, now, alright, what
Speaker 1: you know about dominoes? Don't look crazy? That's what I'm
Speaker 1: lying to flag. Are you just are you just faking
Speaker 1: like you're playing dominoes? Or you really know how to
Speaker 1: play dominoes? Don't look they don't want it with me? Okay,
Speaker 1: now I would say, so it is the it's the
Speaker 1: real deal with my brother. Because I'm I'm I'm on Thursday.
Speaker 1: I'm a post collage on the dreaming on my social media. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm gonna posting on my social media.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you this. I live in Atlanta. I
Speaker 1: also have a home in Houston, so you have two
Speaker 1: places you can you can you can knock me out. Okay,
Speaker 1: you can knock me out. Mr Bones. Don't want none
Speaker 1: of me, Okay, don't want none of me. I'm talking
Speaker 1: to me, not you me, because because you're a special talent,
Speaker 1: you're special talent. Man. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on my show La Craze. And as you can see, man,
Speaker 1: I wanted to let you know that I am a fan.
Speaker 1: I wanted to do researching the brand. I wanted to
Speaker 1: tell some of your story and it's not enough enough
Speaker 1: time to tell you how great and it changes you're
Speaker 1: making in the community. Just do me a favorite. Though change,
Speaker 1: stay strong and keep being you Okay.