Lecrae continued, “So when you say, ‘I can’t listen to secular music,’ what that also says is that I’m not interested in hearing people’s story. Some people’s story is in their music. Some people are telling you their pain, their struggle, their suffering in their music.”
“Now, I think it is healthy to say, ‘I struggle with listening to some of these stories, because they incite me toward doing things that are disrespectful to God.’ Or, ‘I can’t stomach hearing the godlessness,’ right?” said Lecrae. “But I would hope that Jesus sat and listened to Mary as she talked about her escapades as a prostitute and how she struggled and was beaten and all of those particular things…Or when he talked to the woman at the well.”
“We have to hear their stories so that we can respond with the gospel truth,” said Lecrae, clarifying, “I’m not telling you to go listen to secular music.”
Specifically with regard to the question of whether Christians should listen to music generated by AI, Lecrae said, “[AI]’s not going anywhere. It’s a thing.”
“Now, I don’t think we should be supporting AI artists. I do like AI but not in the creative space. Because it is not a creator. It cannot create,” Lecrae argued. “Human beings are creating things. We are called to create. God put us on the planet to be creators, cultivators, to subdue the earth.”
“And when we eliminate that human element of acting like the greatest Creator in existence by creating beautiful things—I think when we’re relying on that to come from something manufactured, it cheapens it,” he said. “It flattens it.”
Nevertheless, Lecrae said, “I’m not mad at us using technology to do different things and to wield different tools. I just don’t want to demonize this for that reason. I don’t like it because it takes away from us as creatives. It takes money out of people’s pockets, food out of people’s mouths.”
“But it’s not a spiritual thing for me,” he added. “Because if we’re honest, y’all, your favorite Christian songs out there—the song ‘Hallelujah’—that was not written by a Christian. That man did not have the Holy Spirit when he gave us that song. But we sing it.”
“And so I just want us to just pause on some of this type of stuff, be consistent,” urged Lecrae. “It’s okay not to like Christian AI music or any kind of AI music for that matter. But I just don’t want us to make it a supernatural thing.”
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“So, no shade, all love. Y’all gonna come for me. Come for me. It ain’t no hate. It’s love, alright? I love you. I love all of you who don’t listen to secular music—Forrest included,” Lecrae said to conclude. He added, “They gonna be mad at me for that one!”
