Kirk Franklin made his career off of bridging the connection between hip-hop and gospel music. Records like “Stomp” made him a star just as much as his more standard gospel affairs like “Melodies From Heaven”. However, not all of his fans are as open-minded. Some more conservative kinds of Christians can feel like there’s a strong conflict of interests. After all, you don’t want to mix the worldly, secular types with something holy and pure.
Consequently, when the gospel artist worked with Memphis rap superstar GloRilla on songs like “Rain Down On Me” and “This Time”, fans criticized Kirk Franklin’s involvement. She makes a certain kind of rap music that conflicts with the evangelical spirit. But ultimately, it just makes Franklin upset to see such judgment reign supreme. Moreover, he said he fervently believes that GloRilla would’ve made an imprint with his audience with or without his help.
“It’s been breaking my heart some of the ridicule that some of the religious have given her,” he said during an episode of Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “[Saying] that she’s not holy enough or churchy enough to be able to do a song. She’s a young girl and she’s a big hip-hop star. It ain’t like Kirk Franklin bringing Glo a new bag that she can’t get on her own.”
Kirk Franklin Responds to Fellow Christians Trashing His Work With GloRilla
Additionally, Franklin felt as though those discrediting GloRilla are ultimately limiting who could engage with the Lord and Savior. A lot of fans who might attend church are bound to also love hip-hop. If the whole purpose was salvation, why put restrictions on what that might look like just because of their music taste and lifestyle?
“You’ve got to be a miserable group of people to spend almost half a century trying to police who can and who can’t talk about Jesus,” Kirk Franklin stressed.
Admittedly, GloRilla wouldn’t have the relationship with gospel music she has if it wasn’t because of her rough upbringing and lifestyle. In an interview with GQ, she recalled stealing CDs in order to listen to new music. Through those moments, it allowed her to finally engage with gospel artists like Kirk Franklin.
“We’d steal the CDs and download all the songs onto the PlayStation. That was the only way we could listen to other music. We probably wouldn’t have known nothing other than gospel music if it wasn’t for us being bad,” she said of her and her siblings.
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Central City Productions
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