Class was back in session as two-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist Lecrae dropped by Collins Auditorium Thursday night as part of his 2016 Higher Learning Tour.
In a speech to the audience, Lecrae said that the purpose of this college-only tour was to inspire all walks of life. The theme of the night was Unashamed.
“Being unashamed is more than just wearing a t-shirt,” Lecrae said. “Being unashamed is saying that you can, without a doubt, stand up for what you believe in. Being unashamed is saying, ‘I’m willing to go to the hard place, and do the hard thing.’”
For the Higher Learning tour, Lecrae partnered with Food for the Hungry, an organization that travels to and provides food to impoverished third world countries.
“One of the reasons I partnered with them is that they’re unashamed to go to places that no one wants to go,” Lecrae said.
Lecrae challenged the audience to spend $35 and invest in the lives of children in Uganda and East Africa. For every $35 donated, one child is taken care of physically and financially.
“They’re giving us an opportunity to feed the soul, the bodies, the kids that nobody is caring for,” Lecrae said. “If all of us do this for one kid, we’d change an entire city, an entire country.
“There’s no way I’m going to ask people to do something I’m not doing. I’m a part of this too.”
During his performance, Lecrae performed hits from his 2011 album Rehab, the 2014 album Anomaly and consecutive singles from Church Clothes 1, 2, and 3.
Lecrae alternated between sharing personal anecdotes with the audience and performing mashups of songs from each album.
“His pauses between sets consisted of him sharing his life experiences, and I thought they were awesome, relatable segues,” sophomore Rebecca Robertson said. “He uses his platform to bring glory to His Creator and it gives the whole show a really special vibe.”
Robertson said one of the best stories from the night was when Lecrae told the audience how he met his wife on a morning run.
“The story about he and his wife was super sweet, and there’s so much truth in it,” she said. “When we have our eyes focused on the Lord and His will for our life, there comes a time when He gives us someone to run the race with.
“The one He has for us shouldn’t be so far behind us in the race that it forces us to look behind us or away from Jesus. Instead, they should be running beside or even ahead of us, forcing our gaze to what’s before us.”
Lecrae will wrap up the Higher Learning tour after a performance in Winona Lake, IN and Spring Arbor, MI on April 22-23.
Photos by Becca Risley