MadameNoire Featured Video

I was just watching the music video for Erica Campbell’s new song “More Love” on Vh1 Soul. It’s one of the tracks being added to the reissue of her Grammy Award-winning album, Help. The video features Campbell’s kids flipping through a photo album, and each picture is of Campbell, friends, and loved ones recreating certain eras in the life of her family. The song and video are both very beautiful, but “More Love” isn’t the only new addition to Help 2.0. 

“I Luh God” is the complete opposite of “More Love.” It features someone named Big Shizz and is the song you turn ALL the way up to when you think of where God has brought you from (and when you want to put a little stank on it). I randomly encountered it online, as people were sharing it and calling it “trap gospel.”

Trap gospel? I was ever so curious, so I had to give it a listen.

In the snippet that I heard, which you can view below, Campbell says, “I luh God, you don’t luh God? What’s wrong with you?” From there, the beat drops, Campbell starts to rap, and eventually a guy jumps on stage and literally just starts yelling, “I luh him!” repeatedly. I couldn’t fully appreciate it all at first because I was so surprised by what I was seeing and hearing.

As for fans online, some don’t seem too fond of it:

“Wow is this what The Gospel of Jesus Christ has come to. Is this what worship has come to. Be not conformed to this world but be yea transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

“when gospel singers take it too far”

“This Got to be a joke or prank smh”

But others are excited about the new song and sound:

“I LOVE THAT GOSPEL CAN BE DIVERSE!”

“U can turn up for Jesus. God judges your heart not the beat the track was laced on”

“This song is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. It’s reaching outside of the 4 walls and seeking to reach those with a different walk of life. This song is a draw and it may not be for everybody…but I like it and I can already see the potential”

As for me, I’m also a little torn. On the one hand, I get it. Mary Mary has always tried to find different ways to package their music, and they’ve managed to break big with both traditional gospel songs, as well as with a few songs that sound like something you could hear in the club. It’s almost seven years later and “God in Me” is still my jam.

Sometimes you have to find a new way to deliver a message in order to get a greater amount of people to listen, and then really take in what’s being said. As Lauryn Hill once said on The Fugees’ “Zealots,” “And even after all my logic and my theory, I add a ‘motherf**ker” so you ignant ni**as hear me.” Hey, some ebonics here and there never hurt anybody. We haven’t been saved all of our lives…

But then again, it’s complicated. As they say, Christians are a part of the world, but they’re not supposed to be “of the world.” And while Campbell may not be promoting this song as “trap gospel” in the way that people online have labeled it, that’s exactly what it sounds like. As successful and talented as Campbell is, she doesn’t have to resort to such sounds when she’s capable of creating something innovative and refreshing that still praises God to the fullest. That’s why people love her, Tina, and Mary Mary as a whole.

But I won’t lie, “I Luh God” definitely bumps!

The reissue of the album comes out tomorrow, so you can check it out in full then. Who knows? Maybe the track will flip at some point and it will sounds a little less…you know…Big Sean meets Young Jeezy to people. But I know for sure that the elders at my church will have a complete fit if the praise dancers try to turn up to this on a Sunday…

Check out the clips from Campbell previewing the song recently and share your thoughts.

 

Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN