He\u2019s been crowned the \u201cnew hip-hop king\u201d and his newest album, Anomaly, topped iTunes and Amazon charts the day of its September 9 release. He\u2019s been invited to birthday parties for both Billy Graham and Michael Jordan and riffed on NBC\u2019s Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of mainstream success that has eluded most Christian rappers. Then again, some people are still trying to decide if hip-hop star Lecrae is a Christian rapper, or a rapper who happens to be Christian.<\/p>\n It depends who you ask, including Lecrae himself.<\/p>\n \u201cGod has also raised up lowly, kind of insignificant individuals to do miraculous and incredible things,\u201d Lecrae, 34, said in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019re the Gideons, we\u2019re the Davids. Even Jesus himself made himself of no reputation. It\u2019s when you can link it back to God doing it, I think that\u2019s what he loves. He\u2019s not a megalomaniac, he\u2019s deserving of glory and honor, and to use individuals that demonstrate that it was him, and him alone, it accomplishes his mission and that\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n While most Christian artists have struggled to break out of the Christian music subculture, Lecrae has found early crossover success \u2014 and a significant following among white evangelical elites. He navigates the tricky waters between rapping explicitly about Christianity while reaching a mainstream audience.<\/p>\n According to Billboard, he\u2019s sold 1.4 million albums and 2.9 million track downloads. Anomaly hit Billboard\u2019s No. 1 last week \u2014 a first for a gospel album and only the fifth for a Christian album. His acting debut in Believe Me, a film about a group of four men who try to con money out of churchgoers, received a short, positive nod from The New York Times.<\/p>\n Some of Lecrae\u2019s fans are worried the success could ruin him or at least soften his lyrics. But when Christian artists like U2\u2032s Bono or Switchfoot find mainstream success, many Christian fans often latch on for good.<\/p>\n In fact, while once shunning mainstream and creating its own music and entertainment subculture, American evangelicalism now values recognition and engagement in mainstream culture.<\/p>\n