On Friday, December 3rd, Lecrae and 1K Phew will release their new collaborative album, No Church In A While, which features 10 tracks including “Wildin” “Ready Or Not,” “Move It,” “One Call,” “What We Gon Do,” “Amen,” “Blockhead,” “Born Sinner” “Save Us,” and “No Church In A While.” Reach Records has several rollout plans to celebrate the release including a YouTube premiere of “One Call,” (the second single and video released from NCIAW) at 3pm on December 3rd. The label has partnered with YouTube for a YouTube Premiere exclusive and official afterparty tomorrow. Click here to attend. There’s also a Sunday Brunch planned with Atlanta influencers and local media at a private, invite-only location!

The concept for their collaborative album, No Church For A While grew out of conversations between Lecrae and 1K Phew. Lecrae was recording his mixtape, Church Clothes 4, when it occurred to him that people actually hadn’t been to church to even put on those church clothes because of the pandemic, church hurt, and other reasons. Out of his convos with 1K Phew (who he is mentoring) came the idea to actually record an album for people who like themselves hadn’t been to church in a while.

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“No Church In A While has all types of meanings,” explains 1K Phew. “We just went through the pandemic and ain’t nobody to church in a minute. This album is for everybody who ain’t been to church or connected to God in a while who thinks they can’t go back. It ain’t really that deep. God is waiting for everybody to tap back in. No Church In A While is telling people there’s still hope, you can still turn to God no matter how long you’ve been away.”

Atlanta native, 1K Phew is the only artist signed to the Reach Records roster who is born and raised in the city that the label now calls home. He is leading the way for a new breed of artists taking the trap sensibility and elevating it into a new sound called “Street Gospel,” a term he coined. 1K Phew’s smooth delivery, swag, and evocative vocals have an infectious quality that is streetwise yet commercially viable. Reach Records president and co-founder, Lecrae describes Phew’s sound as hip-hop that is equally at home in the club or the church. “Our artists at Reach Records are continuing to prove that faith can exist beyond the pews of the church if expressed authentically. Rappers like 1K Phew are carrying forward the torch we lit with ‘Let The Trap Say Amen’ using their music to reach hip-hop heads with a spiritually that’s not forced or foreign to them.”

To say that Atlanta is merely having a moment would be to overlook decades of the region’s impact on hip-hop culture at large. From the emergence of Outkast and Goodie Mob in the early 90s to Ludacris and T.I. at the top of 2000, and more recently with Migos, Young Thug,Gucci Mane,and Future, Atlanta has proven itself to be an inimitable force. Join Reach Records as they celebrate the City Of Atlanta and bring the scriptures to the streets!

Click here to stream No Church In A While.

A collaborative group of worship singers come together to write and create songs to show their hearts for God and ended up making history.

Maverick City Music has reached listeners from the church to some of the biggest entertainers today. Their music has millions of listens and views on every music streaming platform and YouTube. This year they have won awards such as Billboard’s Top Gospel Album and The Stellar’s New Artist of the Year and Album of the Year.

The group was originally started in 2019 to just write songs. Tony Brown, the founder of Maverick City Music, reached out to artist like Naomi Raine to come along and collaborate to write songs for artist. The singers and artist eventually were asked to sing and preform them. After releasing these songs, it turned into to something that none of them would have ever expected. Maverick ended up breaking the record for the most streams in the Christian genre in one day. When asked did they plan for it to be as big as it is Naomi expressed, “To me it was just going to be something fun that we did with friends, that no one really knew about. I couldn’t have expected what has happened with it.”

“I think going into it with no expectations was probably the best thing to do because it gave room for the Lord to surprise us along the way” said Maryanne George, a Maverick City singer and worship leader. Major recording artist outside of the Christian genre have mentioned how they have been impacted by Maverick City Music. Just recently, national recording pop artist, Shawn Mendes, mentioned in an interview while talking about the power of music, that he encountered Jesus through Maverick City Music, even though he grew up having Atheistic beliefs.

“I use to think, oh we’re called to the church. Now it’s like I got to say no because God is showing us something else! The facts are the facts, like SZA is playing us in the background on her live” says Maverick City and solo singer and songwriter Dante Bowe. Maverick currently has over 2 million listeners monthly on Spotify, with their most popular song being “Promises” sung by Joe L. Barnes and Naomi Raine at almost 25 million streams.

This collective of artist has released 11 music projects over the span of 3 years and with their most recent releases this year being the albums “Old Church Basement” and “Jubilee: The Juneteenth Edition.” Some of the artist have released their own projects recently such as Joe L. Barnes’ single “Come Back Home,” Dante Bowe’s sophomore album “circles,” Naomi Raine’s “Back to Eden, Part II,” and Maverick’s joint album with Elevation Worship.

Maverick City Music will be going on tour starting this fall to cities near you. To find out more information, visit their website and follow them on social media.

American recording artist Jennifer Hudson stars as the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in the new coming of age biopic premiering in theaters August 13, 2021.

The trailer showcases some of Aretha’s most well known classics that will be in the film such as “Respect,” “A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel),” and “Think.” The cast includes big names in entertainment such as Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker, comedian Marlon Wayans, and Mary J. Blige.

Jennifer Hudson expresses her gratitude for being hand-picked by Aretha herself to play this role saying “For her to choose me, I can’t even put it into words. I do not take it lightly. I just think it’s like a dream come true” in an interview with Good Morning America.

The film goes through Aretha’s life from childhood, singing in the church, to adulthood as a successful as a soul singer. Hudson went through much studying (from knowing Aretha Franklin herself) and training for this role. She learned how to play the piano, copied Aretha’s personality and mannerisms, but did not want to imitate Ms. Franklin’s singing voice, rather sing the songs in her own way.

The biopic has not yet been confirmed to be released on any streaming platforms.