Is Lecrae going to sign with Jay-Z?

When you talk about Christian Hip Hop/Rap it’s hard not to think about Lecrae… The first rapper to win a Gospel GRAMMY, which is normally won by heavyweight “Contemporary Gospel” artist, not a rapper.

Lecrae has had great success during his career, however the mainstream music world really started taking note after he appeared on the 2011 BET Awards Cypher and also his collaboration with Statik Selektah for the song ‘Live And Let Live’ taken from the ‘Population Control’ album.

A few weeks ago rumours started surfacing that Lecrae was to sign with Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, which some would claim to be a massive career move in terms of reaching a wider audience and making a bigger impact on the mainstream Hip Hop music world.

Lecrae responded to the rumours and claims in an Ebony.com interview saying, “[Laughs] At this point in time, no,” Lecrae told Ebony. “Essentially, he was looking for some conscious artists and my name was thrown into a pool of other artists and that’s as far as it went.”

With that said, Lecrae did make it clear that signing with Jay-Z was not something he would consider despite the obvious advantages of a move like that.

“Nah. For multiple reasons, but one majorly, I’m an independent artist, I’m a label owner,” Lecrae explained. “I love my independence. I love being able to create the story.”

Lecrae continued, “…I want to do in many ways what Jay-Z is doing for the mainstream. He’s inspiring a lot of people to think they can do something on their own. I want to inspire people that they can do it on their own and not compromise their faith and beliefs, as well. So, that’s what I stand for.”

Lecrae’s released ‘Church Clothes’ the Mix-Tape in 2012 which received in excess of 100,000 downloads on popular Mix-Tape website Datpiff.

Dubbed as one of “the most important albums in Christian Hip Hop history,” ‘Gravity,’ Lecrae’s latest album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top Rap, Christian, Gospel, and Independent Albums chart, and won the GRAMMY for “Best Gospel Album” 2013.