To write an accurate history of Christian hip-hop, one must look at the founding relationship between The Cross Movement and Reach Records co-founder Lecrae. For years, rumors of a theological and interpersonal rift swirled through the community. Recently, Lecrae pulled back the curtain on his podcast The Deep End, opening up about the internal disagreements, business friction, and ideological shifts that led to years of distance.
Lecrae initially characterized the division as a fundamental difference in wiring, describing Cross Movement as “theologians” and “biblical scholars who rapped Ephesians from front to back,” while framing himself as a “missionary” and a “storyteller” who faced a sense of “shame” from the pioneers when he began collaborating with secular artists.
William “Duce” Branch, better known as The Ambassador, the prominent frontman of the group, issued a thorough, real-time response to those comments. The Ambassador offered a nuanced reflection on what transpired, unpacking the original intent of Cross Movement Records (CMR) and correcting the narrative surrounding their early partnership.
Now, the public dialogue has evolved even further, with Lecrae releasing a follow-up statement to clarify his intentions and address The Ambassador’s rebuttals directly.
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Seeking Camaraderie, Not Cookie-Cutters
Reflecting on the early 2000s when a 25-year-old Lecrae first burst onto the scene, The Ambassador explained that Cross Movement was never looking to force artists into a specific mold.
“…forming and expanding. So we were always looking for camaraderie and community. We were looking for others with a voracious appetite for the things of Christ and the express call to inject that into the culture. That blend of Christian hip-hop or Christ in hip-hop is rare, and so we were looking for others who were marked with a similar passion.”
While Lecrae recalled a feeling of systemic pressure to conform to CMR’s “gritty East Coast systematic theology,” The Ambassador emphasized that the label prioritized authentic partnership over creative control.
“But we never imposed it on anybody. We tried to spark a holy culture, yes,” he said. “We wanted to lock arms with people who were down with spiritual things, especially in the urban frame…But never make cookie-cutter rappers. And if that was your twist, if Christ and the cross were your thing, we were looking to lock arms and get busy.”
“He Came to Us”
One of the key points of clarification in The Ambassador’s response centered on how the relationship originally formed. While CMR re-released Lecrae’s debut album Real Talk in 2005 and subsequently distributed After the Music Stops, the initiative came directly from Reach Records, not the other way around.
“So when Lecrae came to me—because we didn’t go after him, so we didn’t go to make him something, he came to us—we figured it’s because he knew us and he felt like he was like us. I used to just see him in spiritual settings, hungry for the word of God, loving God’s people, not just the celebrities, but around regular people. And so I’ve always assumed…that he wanted this kind of thing for himself.”
The Ambassador recalled being the one who personally brought Lecrae’s music to the Cross Movement Records executive table to help “spread the aroma of gospel-centricity and hip-hop form.” What drew them to the young Texas-based artist wasn’t merely his potential for commercial success, but what appeared to be an intrinsic theological alignment.
“Lecrae came with that passion, but with the southern flair,” The Ambassador noted. “So it was not his rap talent that primarily caught our eye; it was the fact that his talent seemed voluntarily tethered to a serious commitment to proclaim the excellencies of Christ in hip-hop form.”
The Content Controversy: Theologians vs. Missionaries
On The Deep End, Lecrae noted that his transition into the Church Clothes era created a wide ideological gap, stating that the pioneers struggled with him when he “stopped rapping so explicitly scriptural.” However, the Ambassador countered that during the years they actively worked together on classic projects like Real Talk, After the Music Stops, and Rebel, CMR leadership never policed Lecrae’s creative output.
“Talented rappers are a dime a dozen in both regular hip-hop and Christian hip-hop,” The Ambassador said directly. “We never had a conversation about his content. Not Real Talk, not After the Music Stops, not Rebel. All the joints we had something to do with by either platforming him or helping produce it.”
Addressing Lecrae’s recent public statements where the Reach Records artist has looked back at his early, hyper-doctrinal anthems and suggested that style didn’t truly represent who he was, The Ambassador admitted the pioneer camp felt genuinely blindsided.
“And as you know, back in the early days, though now he says it wasn’t him, we saw him create some of the illest, venue-shaking anthems. We—I mean, we still are thankful for those joints. So when Lecrae says ‘it was not me,’ man, he fooled us all because we said that dude is graced to do it.”
He added: “We never lectured him about stories versus scripture, or doctrine versus pragmatics. We didn’t seem to have to. He looked cut from the cloth. Biblical scholar? Pfft. I just remember him always in a Bible study, always looking like the scripture was his thing, staying up late with others to talk about Jesus and the scriptures.”
Lecrae Responds: “I Genuinely Meant That as a Compliment”
Following the Ambassador’s public response, Lecrae issued a statement seeking to clear up any misunderstandings, explicitly stating that he values the dialogue and has never tried to tear the group down. He quickly clarified that he never meant the “theologian” label as a slight.
“Appreciate the dialogue. And while I hear you saying there’s no beef, it did seem like you weren’t too pleased with me calling y’all theologians,” Lecrae stated. “I genuinely meant that as a compliment, not a put down…If saying y’all could rap Ephesians sounded like I was calling you corny, that wasn’t my intention either. Was actually saying you were gifted in a way that I wasn’t. I wasn’t saying your approach was better or worse than mine. I was saying it was different than mine, and I respected it.”
Lecrae also made a distinction regarding why he eventually distanced himself from the camp, separating business grievances from artistic ones. “I also want to clarify something. In that same interview, I said the reason I left was because I didn’t feel taken care of. I wasn’t saying I distanced myself because of theological differences. Those are two different things.”
However, Lecrae stood by his recollection that the early atmosphere brought artistic discouragement, even if those discussions happened away from the microphone.
“From my perspective, I could point to several moments that gave me the impression that songs were expected to be more theological. That said, there were definitely conversations over the years, whether they were directed at me or not, where artists and styles of Christian music that I genuinely enjoyed were criticized behind closed doors. Hearing that consistently discouraged me from making some of the music I felt called to make, especially as I became friends with some of those artists.”
Moving Forward in Reconciliation
Concluding that these details are “probably a better conversation for a phone call than an online back-and-forth,” Lecrae emphasized his ongoing respect for the legacy builders, pointing out that he was “literally just on the Boyz II Men podcast with Shawn Stockman talking about y’all with respect.”
The core mission of Cross Movement, as The Ambassador reiterated, was to “influence the appetite of a generation and galvanize a movement of Christ lovers who thought that hip-hop culture’s greatest need is a robust representation of Jesus.”
By all metrics, that blueprint worked. The artists who stood on the shoulders of the Cross Movement went on to popularize the genre on a global scale. “And what’s ironic is it worked,” The Ambassador acknowledged. “Most of the dudes who actually went on to raise the roof and raise the bar have succeeded. They’ve popularized CHH…And so, arguably, no one has succeeded more than Lecrae at that.”
Though business disputes and changing paradigms caused years of friction and bitterness that Lecrae himself publicly repented of harboring, both pioneers agree that the story ultimately lands in a positive place.
The Ambassador closed his initial remarks with a direct message of peace to his former label mate: “So again, Crae, even if you see this, I look forward to whatever God does. Again, I never meant and don’t recall trying to make you something you weren’t, and I wish you the best…Let’s keep going for His name’s sake.” With Lecrae signaling a preference to take the rest of the conversation offline to a private phone call, CHH fans can celebrate that two giants of the genre are handling historical friction with maturity, mutual respect, and brotherhood.
See Lecrae’s Response
To hear more about the early days of Christian hip-hop straight from the pioneers, you can watch Cross Movement talk about why they embraced the genre, where they discuss their original vision for building a community of faith within urban music.
The post The Ambassador Responds to Lecrae’s Cross Movement Comments; Lecrae Clarifies appeared first on Rapzilla.