Lecrae in worship mode
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permissionTwo weeks ago the
Man Up Tour wrapped its six-city jaunt with a stop in H-town. The half-day affair included a film, panel discussion, and hip hop concert focused on teaching the principles of biblical manhood to urban residents.
Top-selling Christian rappers
Lecrae,
Tedashii, and
Trip Lee played a part and were either born or still have family in Houston. Other members of the immediate and extended
Reach Records family who participated in the stop included:
KB,
PRo,
Sho Baraka (who wrote and directed the
Man Up film),
DJ Official,
shai linne, and spoken word artists
Propaganda and
Blair Linne.
Tre9 fighting a cold and getting his hustle on
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permissionThe event was organized by hip hop missionary
Bobby “Tre9” Herring and held at New Faith Church in South Houston. New Faith said they would be able to hold the anticipated 2,500 person crowd but that turned out not to be the case.
Pre-event waiting line in the New Faith gymAt one point, wishful attendees were stopped at the doors because there was simply no more room to sit inside the sanctuary. They were told that this would only be for the movie and panel discussion portions and that they might be able to secure a standing-room-only spot once the concert began and more people moved closer to the stage. To help keep the frustration levels at a minimum, Tedashii and PRo even came out to the waiting area to thank people for their support and patience.
Being an event volunteer (I helped coordinate a media-only press conference before the official kickoff), I missed all of the movie and panel discussion parts but did catch one or two songs from the concert. So while this isn’t a full-fledged recap, hopefully the following photos, videos, and notebook dump will give you a flavor of the day.
Crowd notes:- Tedashii and PRo coming out to address the waiting crowd was a stand up move that exemplified one of the “real men take responsibility” themes of the Man Up campaign.
- Despite his song title to the contrary, T-dot had to ask those frustrated and waiting in line not to (wink,wink)
“start a riot.”
Man Up panel discussionPhoto by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission
Up close and personal with PRo
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission
Blair Linne and her husband, shai, dance to "We Can Be More"Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission
Man Up concert crowd shot from the balconyPhoto by Sketch the Journalist
Trip Lee going inPhoto by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission
Concert notes:- Thanks to the crowd, the Man Up tour concert auditorium fittingly smelled like a lockeroom.
- Even though the venue was at capacity, people were still able to view the show via the free stream on the DaSouth.com’s Facebook page. I even saw some people in line watching it on their smartphones.
- The audience reaction to
“Dum, Dum” is simply dumb, dumb. So much energy.
- A live performance of “Go Hard” is amazing. Ours included 2,000+ people chanting “Lord, use me up!”
- After I posted that Propaganda’s spoken word slays, @pdavidy8 Tweets me back that “all announcements in heaven will be done by Prop.” Amen.
- I’m not a huge fan of Lecrae’s “Background” song, but can’t deny it leads people to worship. The crowd was simply chanting “Jesus” as it ended.
Who was in the crowd:- Cheesebeats (producer)
- Bizzle
- GS
- Gifted da Flamethrowa
- Von Won
- Soulfruit
- Dillon Chase
- 007
- D. Davis
- Second (HillaryJane, Wretch, & Archie)
- CCM/worship artist
Robbie Seay who
Tweeted: "I'm jammed in a room w/ 2k students listening to @Lecrae speak on faith & manhood. Love this guy. The most important hip hop artist anywhere."
Bizzle, Cheesebeats, Gifted da FlamethrowaPhoto by Sketch the JournalistSecond served at the ticket booth
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission
Soulfruit and DJ Wiz
Photo by Sketch the Journalist
Dillon Chase and Sketch the Journalist
Photo by Sketch the Journalist
Man Up press conference
Photo by Sketch the Journalist
Learned during our pre-event press conference:- Lecrae turned down
BET Awards Cypher invitation several times before, and this year’s was almost a “no-go” because of his recent newborn. Crayola said his wife said he could do it if it could be done on the same day and in the A-T-L where they live.
- Lecrae’s character of “King” in “Man Up” film was originally set for
FLAME. Apparently he had a scheduling conflict and backed out just a few days before filming.
- Man Up’s film budget was approximately $45,000 and shot within 6 or 7 days with a crew of mostly non-actors and many non-Christians.
The night was full of interesting T-shirts, including:- shai linne’s Martin Luther (see below)
- "Jesus loves you, but I’m his favorite” (moved by me too fast to take a photo)
- Homemade Lecrae shirts (see below)
shai linne's in his Martin Luther tee and Sketch the JournalistPhoto by Sketch the Journalist
Homemade Lecrae "Rehab" merchPhoto by Sketch the Journalist
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