We Speak Gospel
Kirk Franklin Delivers His First Double Album, ‘I Am What I Am’
Thirty three years into one of the biggest careers gospel music has ever seen, Kirk Franklin just did something he has never done. I Am What I Am, his 14th solo album and his first double album, arrived today, Friday, October 30, through Uptown Records, his Fo Yo Soul Entertainment and TRIBL Music Group.
The 20 time Grammy winner split the 14 tracks right down the middle. Seven are studio recordings where Franklin pushes gospel into Afrobeats, hip hop and R&B. Seven are live recordings rooted in the choir driven sound that made him a star. Two sides of the same man, which is exactly what the title is saying.
The studio side opens with “Free Me Tonight” featuring Jelly Roll, and rolls into “This Time” with GloRilla, a record that interpolates Mandrill’s “Children Of The Sun” and already gave Franklin his 10th No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart. The focus track is “Hope In You” with Afrobeats superstar Davido, and “It Gets Better,” with Tobe Nwigwe, takes on mental health head on. “Able,” “Do It Again” and “Stay” round out the side.
The live side is church. “Thank You For Everything,” with Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters, has become the fastest growing record at gospel radio. “It Is Well” brings in Isaac Carree, and “Welcome In,” “Someday,” “Holy,” “Beautiful Thorns” and “Time,” with Tim Rogers, complete the set.
Franklin previewed the album at a listening party in Atlanta on October 12 and laughed about the critics who have questioned his choices for decades. His answer, and the heart of this record: “I need a little gravy on my God.” I Am What I Am is streaming now on all platforms.
1K Phew and Timbaland Sound the Alarm on Joint Album ‘Seven Trumpets’
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Atlanta’s own 1K Phew and legendary producer Timbaland have joined forces for Seven Trumpets, a joint album that arrived today, Friday, October 30, on Reach Records.
The 12 track project runs 26 minutes, and the two men have a name for the sound they built together: street gospel. It is faith music with its boots on the pavement, made by a Dove Award winning Christian rapper from Stone Mountain and one of the most influential producers hip hop has ever produced.
The tracklist includes “SCRIPTURES,” which flips the children’s classic “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” the hard charging “TOP UH IT,” and “NEW HEAVEN,” which features Memphis legend Project Pat. The album’s lead single, “Safe,” landed ahead of the release and set the tone for the full record.
1K Phew, born Isaac Gordon, won a GMA Dove Award for No Church in a While, his 2021 collaborative album with Lecrae, and has spent the years since pushing Christian rap into rooms it had never played before. He previewed Seven Trumpets at a listening party at Means Street Studios in Atlanta on September 22, and he summed up the mission in his own words: “I’m saved, not soft.”
For Timbaland, whose production shaped a generation of hits for Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, Jay Z and many more, Seven Trumpets is a full step into the gospel rap space, built with one of the genre’s brightest young voices.
Seven Trumpets is streaming now on all platforms.
Kirk Franklin Delivers His First Double Album, ‘I Am What I Am’Chelsea Plank Releases New Single “Make Me Willing”Aaron Williams Releases Christmas Version of “Abide” with Hope DarstVancouver’s The Slower I Go Invite the Church Into “Holy Sanctuary”Kyle Larson Can Clinch the Cup Championship at Martinsville in Sunday’s Xfinity 500Jesse Love Takes a Slim 19-Point Lead Into the National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville, His Toughest TrackChandler Smith Steals the Martinsville Win on the Final Restart as the Truck Title Fight Tightens to 20 PointsNo. 3 Georgia and No. 17 Florida Bring Their Rivalry to Atlanta for the Biggest Game of the Weekend-
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