Anomaly (Lecrae album)
Anomaly is the seventh studio album by American Christian hip hop artist Lecrae, released on September 9, 2014, through Reach Records. The album features appearances from Crystal Nicole, Kari Jobe, and For King & Country, along with label-mate Andy Mineo. Anomaly met with a positive critical reception, and the song "Nuthin", released for streaming as a single on July 1, 2014, was nominated for the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards in the best Impact Track category. The album also fared well commercially, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with over 88,000 copies sold. It also debuted at No. 1 on the Top Gospel Albums chart, marking the first time that any artist has ever topped both the 200 and Gospel charts. Anomaly won Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards,[1] and Rap, Hip Hop Gospel CD of the Year at the 2015 Stellar Awards.[2] Two songs earned a nomination for the 2015 Grammy Awards; "All I Need Is You" was nominated for Best Rap Performance, and "Messengers", featuring For King & Country, which won Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song.
Anomaly
September 9, 2014
2013—2014
57:55
808xElite, Ace Harris, Alex Medina, Andy Mineo (post-prod.), Derek Minor, Dirty Rice, Gawvi, Jaquebeatz, Joseph Prielozny, J. Rhodes, Mashell, Nate "The BeatBreaker" Robinson, S1, Street Symphony, Vohnbeatz
Background[edit]
Anomaly is the seventh studio album by Lecrae, and follows up his 2013 mix-tape Church Clothes 2 and 2012 studio album Gravity. Gravity debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, selling over 72,000 copies during its first week, and won both Best Gospel Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards and Best Rap/Hip Hop Album at the 2013 Dove Awards.[3][4][5] The commercial version of Church Clothes 2 debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200, selling over 15,000 copies, while the free version was downloaded over 150,000 times on Datpiff.com.[6][7]
Lecrae revealed that he had considered collaborating with Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Elle Varner and Nipsey Hu$le, but eventually decided to work on his own.[8][9] He said "it feels like a first album because it's just me being me and giving my own perspective".[10] Lecrae worked with several producers including Gawvi, Tyshane, Ace Harris and Alex Medina.[11] He also worked with Symbolyc One (S1) and Track a Dot.[9] He described the production as "not just simple beats, a couple singles have that going on, but for the most part, it's really intricate."[12]
Concerts and touring[edit]
On September 18, 2014, Lecrae was a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where he performed several times throughout the show with The Roots.[20]
Lecrae launched the Anomaly tour in support of the album, accompanied by Andy Mineo and DJ Promote. Started on October 3, 2014, the tour ran through November 21, stopping at 30 cities throughout the United States.[21] It included a stop in Phoenix, Arizona, at the annual charity concert Bubba's Bash, sponsored by golfer Bubba Watson, which featured, in addition to Lecrae and his tour roster, the artists Britt Nicole, Thi'sl, Fedel, and Judah Smith.[22][23] The tour met with such success that three more stops were added before it concluded on November 21.[24] In January 2015, Lecrae announced a second leg of the tour that started in April 2015.[25]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of over 88,000 copies in the United States, which earned Lecrae his first and only No. 1 album on the chart.[49] Anomaly was also the first album by any artist to top both the Billboard 200 and the Gospel Albums chart.[50][51] Lecrae also became the fifth artist following Chris Tomlin (2013), TobyMac (2012), LeAnn Rimes (1997) and Bob Carlisle (1997) to score a number one album on both Christian Albums and the Billboard 200. Anomaly also marks the sixth time that Lecrae topped the Gospel Albums chart and the fifth time he topped the Christian Albums chart.[52] In its second week of sales, the album sold 27,000 copies, bringing the total to 115,000 copies sold.[53] In its third week of sales, the album sold another 17,000 copies, bringing the total to 137,000 copies.[54] By January 2015, the album sold 240,000 copies.[55] On August 26, 2016, Anomaly was certified Gold by the RIAA, for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent of 500,000 units.[56]
Awards[edit]
Anomaly won Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards,[1] and Rap, Hip Hop Gospel CD of the Year at the 2015 Stellar Awards.[2] The song "Messengers", featuring For King & Country, won Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song at the 2015 Grammy Awards,[59] and was nominated for Rock/Contemporary Song of the Year at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards.[60] "All I Need Is You", was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 2015 Grammy Awards,[50] and won Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards.[61] "Nuthin'" was nominated for BET Award for Best Impact Track at the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards.[62]