One of my heroes said ‘all we are are links in this great chain.’ You’ve got to give a shout out to Edwin Hawkins and “Oh Happy Day.” You got to give a shout-out to The Clark Sisters and “You Brought the Sunshine.” We’re all standing on somebody’s shoulders. Whether it’s Fred or Kirk, we’re all standing on somebody’s shoulders. I think that those are great wins for gospel music. How does it make you feel to know that your music has transcended genres for decades? When you speak about earlier artists like Fred not having the luxury of music videos early in their careers, “Stomp” was played on MTV in the ‘90s, and you’ve had Billboard Hot 100 crossover hits since then. In the black community, you can hear Kirk Franklin in a religious setting, but your music is also played at brunches and college parties. He has been a trailblazer in different periods of these musical zeitgeists. continued on in the mid ‘90s when he started doing Pages of Life, and all these different things with this group Radicals for Christ. Those of us in music knew it - a lot of your rising gospel and rising R&B stars of the ‘90s Jodeci, Guy and all of these other groups. Unfortunately, in an era where there were not a lot of music videos and not a lot of music platforms, a lot of people did not always know that impact. The Winans were contemporary, but Commissioned pushed that even further.
Commissioned was very much outside of the traditionalism that was happening in music at the time. I think that Fred Hammond was part of major revolutionary moments in the history of gospel music - first with Commissioned. In a previous conversation with Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, you called yourself a Fred Hammond “groupie.” Can you speak to his legacy? And, it’s like, “Nah, let’s engage people on the platform that they are on, instead of trying to have these little isolated islands.” There have been times in history where if there is a streaming service, sometimes, Christians try to create their own streaming service. The music is wack, the look is wack, the sound is wack, the presentation is wack, the platforms don’t connect. A lot of times we don’t get to have a bigger conversation because they can’t hear us. Sometimes, we’ve thought that gospel music, quality, entertainment and production can’t be synonymous. What’s the impact of using an app like Instagram to reach people on their phones in a time like this? You reached more than 250,000 people at a time when people were literally in the streets protesting. I want to talk about the Verzuz that you participated in on Sunday with Fred Hammond. 'Verzuz': Kirk Franklin & Fred Hammond Bring 'Moment of Healing,' New Music Video Announcementīillboard caught up with the revered Gospel legend about how he and Fred Hammond injected calmness amid civil unrest, his musical legacy, his thoughts on President Trump’s recent photoshoot outside of a church, and more.