Lecrae working on new Christian mixtape, announces Church Clothes 4
In 2020, Lecrae announced that he would be retiring from major album releases after his latest release, Restoration, with the exception of an upcoming mixtape. Now the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist revealed he has begun working on Church Clothes 4, the mixtape.
“So we know now today, January 11, we have decided that we are aiming to finish Church Clothes 4,” Lecrae announced via an Instagram video.
“It's gonna be a real rap record,” he said, adding that he was working with a “nucleus crew” in which everything will begin from there.”
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Lecrae's Church Clothes mixtapes, one through three, were overt Christian albums. The mainstream rapper had departed from that style for several albums but he's going back to his roots.
He first mentioned potentially retiring from music in a July 2020 interview with Rapzilla.
“Restoration, I mean, honestly, everybody says it's the best album ever made, but this is for real. And this might be it for me,” Lecrae said at the time. “I mean I'll probably do some mixtapes, but I don't know if I'm making another full-featured album.”
The rapping veteran said his reason for considering music retirement was because he wants to make room for other young artists coming up in the ranks.
"It's a younger generation right now man, so you know, I feel like I may give them another Church Clothes and close a chapter out,” he added. “There's some new blood out here and I just want the new blood to come and do their thing. So Restoration feels like, 'Yo, here it is.' I don't know [but] that's how I'm feeling.”
Lecrae expanded a bit more on his future plans in an August interview with The Christian Post where he said he would continue to create music but will most likely cease touring.
“I'll definitely say this: I'm OK if I don't ever tour again. I'm fine never touring. It doesn't mean I won't do shows. I guess what I'll say more than anything is if this is my last album, I'm OK with that,” he said of Restoration. “I'm OK if I never tour again. I'm very content. I'm in a good space.”
The Reach Records founder went on to say that he loves to create music and will most likely do so forever.
“I'll probably create music forever but I don't have to make albums. I may make a song here. I may feature on somebody's project. I may do a mixtape or something, but I don't have to make an album,” he continued.
“After I get on the road again in 2021, I'm pretty sure I don't need to do a 50-city tour again. There's just so many other things that I've been able to explore while I've been here that I think God is moving me into,” he said.
