Grammy Award-winning rapper Lecrae, known for his visible Christian faith and music, is discontinuing a T-shirt saying Christians can quote the Bible and vulgar rapper Cardi B. Initially, Lecrae was called out by Louisiana emcee Dee-1 for his “Righteous & Ratchet” merchandise campaign. The campaign, launched by Lecrae, featured a shirt that read, “I can quote Cardi B and Corinthians.”
Dee-1 said he felt compelled to address the line because people should know that not everyone in Christian hip-hop co-signed the initiative. He said he and Lecrae agreed the T-shirt could be misleading when they discussed it privately. However, Dee-1 claims Lecrae “still chose to want to monetize the moment.” He admonished his career, implying his behavior was coming off as “lukewarm.”
In an Instagram video, Dee-1 said, “So now, it seems like you’re putting the business before the ministry, and we have to be careful of that in life. When you’re doing ministry and business, it should never be business then ministry.” He maintained, “The Great Commission calls us, as believers, to make disciples of all the nations. It seems like sometimes people try to make customers of all the nations before disciples. If things get put out publicly, I am going to address them publicly. I’m not going to let that slide, but it’s no hate.”
After several weeks and messages from people agreeing with Dee-1, Lecrae took to Instagram to address the controversial T-shirt. He said, “Enough people have been frustrated or upset behind that Cardi shirt, and I want y’all to understand my intentions in my heart. First of all, it will be discontinued, just so you know that. The shirt was not about promoting debauchery or worldliness. That wasn’t the intention.”
Lecrae continued, “I can own the fact that I should have put more thought into that before we dropped it. I didn’t even consider some of these realities. Context is king, and Christianity in major cities and places that I dwell is a hotbed for racism, political ideology, homophobia and anti-intellectualism. And I always want to push back on people when they think that because we’re not! That’s not what Christianity is, but a lot of people think that’s what it is.”
The Texas native said he’s always trying to help people understand that Christians are people and, regardless of their background, they can come to Jesus. “I can own that the shirt was thoughtless,” he concluded. “I should have put more thought into it.” In one of his past posts, which has since been deleted, Lecrae explained his definition of “ratchet.”
The “I’ll Find You rapper said, “Wretchedness comes from disenfranchised communities. It’s part of the culture that we are raised in, and there are some aspects of it that are redeemable, and there are some aspects that we have to let go. I wouldn’t be rapping if there weren’t some aspects of a wretched culture. Hip-hop was born in wretchedness.” Dee-1 stressed that because Jesus was Holy, He would most likely never be OK with the label “ratchet” either.