CD: Hero
Artist: Kirk Franklin
Rating: * * * *

The CD cover made me pause: a handsome face; eyes staring straight ahead, filled with tears. Of course, Kirk Franklin is easy on the eyes. But, crying . . . when the name of your CD is hero?

Now, I’m big on lament . . . giving voice, whether alone or in/as a group, to the sorrow and grief you surely feel when you look around . . . gang violence, broken homes, addicts hooked on drugs, sex, food or hitting up on their spouses, kids abused by the adults who are supposed to protect them . . . where do you start? And what’s one woman supposed to do?

Well, I listened to this CD and lamented along with Franklin. His beats, rap, rhymes and voice make you cry, yet, in the tradition of Habakkuk, that old lamenting prophet, they also make you want to hope again . . . to worship.

None of the CD’s 20 tracks however, shy away from the reason why Christians must lament (Laci Peterson, suicide, street kids, teenage pregnancies, drugs, Playboy, churches that are more about buildings than the people inside them) and why we, of all people, have reason to hope (God cares, Jesus is with us and the Spirit will never leave us.)

And Franklin continues to push musical boundaries, using a full orchestra layered over his beats and rap. Big name artists show up on this CD including  Stevie Wonder and Yolanda Adams.

A great CD for the postmodern 18 – 34 crowd.  

Want to review a CD? Read our contributors guidelines.
E-mail rsejames@gmail.com