Award-winning Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae has weighed in with his thoughts on the chart-topping AI generated-Christian artist, Solomon Ray. Lecrae agreed with fellow Christian artist Forrest Frank in his general opposition to AI-generated music, but he differed with Frank on the reasoning behind that opposition.
Last month, Frank took to social media to inform his fans that the “No. 1 album right now for Christian music on iTunes, and the number two top singles over Elevation, Brandon Lake, whoever, is AI.”
“At minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it,” Frank warned. “So I think that’s really weird to be opening up your spirit to something that has no Spirit.”
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Late last week, Lecrae weighed in with his own thoughts in an episode of the “Deep End” podcast.
“Let me start by saying this: I don’t like AI artists. I don’t like them. I don’t,” Lecrae said. “But I have a lot of reasons why I don’t like them. But I also don’t fully agree with what Forrest is saying.”
Lecrae joked, “I know. Now, they’re gonna hate me, ‘cause like you can’t disagree with Forrest Frank.”
“Forrest, we did a song together. It’s all love. But I’m just keeping it 100,” he added.
“One of the things [Frank] said is, ‘You’re opening your spirit up,’” Lecrae said. “And I’m kind of like, well, if the only thing you open your spirit up to are songs done by people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, how are you checking and balancing that?”
As an example, Lecrae indicated that he wouldn’t refuse to let a non-Christian loved one sing him “Happy Birthday.” He added, “I just think that there’s some inconsistency when we get there.”
Referencing the fact that Frank also said that he doesn’t listen to “secular” music, Lecrae said, “Here’s the thing with Forrest: Forrest is a very influential person. He can’t give an opinion without people taking it as, ‘I need to do this as well.’ I know that, because I’ve been that person in my heyday.”
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“So I think we gotta be careful as influencers of saying certain things, because now everybody’s gonna turn and take it as law versus like, ‘This is me,’” Lecrae said. “And that may have been his motive. I don’t know his motive. He only knows his motive. I just know the effect of it,”
