How Lecrae’s Reach Records built a Christian hip-hop empire in Atlanta

On a Monday afternoon in June, 11 staff members gathered for a weekly meeting at Reach Records’ West Midtown office. Lecrae, wearing a yellow shirt by streetwear brand Fear of God, opened with a Bible lesson. He shared a story from the book of Daniel, in which the eponym asks God for guidance on interpreting a dream. But not without the help of his friends.

Lecrae contended that the story is a paradigmatic example for being interdependent in your work.

“This is a collective thing,” Lecrae told staff at the meeting. “This is not a solo sport. Faith isn’t a solo sport. It’s a community-involved piece of work.”

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

For two decades, teamwork and building community have pushed Reach Records to the top. The Atlanta-based label, specializing in Christian hip-hop, was founded by Lecrae and Ben Washer in May 2004 — with only the former as the main artist, plus a few staffers. Since then, the label has grown to include 10 artists, 17 full-time staff and several Grammy awards.

After building longevity as an indie label, Reach Records is doubling down on artist development, expanding into more markets and boosting fan engagement.

“We really have a mission,” Lecrae said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “A lot of times, people’s mission is money. For us, it’s been (about) changing the way people see the world. When you care about the person on the other end of that song, they tend to care back, and I think that’s what creates the longevity.”

116 to the world

Reach Records was formed out of a “lot of ignorance and a lot of passion,” said co-founder Ben Washer. In the early aughts, he and Lecrae became close friends while attending Denton Bible Church in Texas. The pair started working for Kids Across America, a Missouri-based Christian summer camp.

There, Lecrae would often perform raps and became popular among the campers. Washer said he initially joked about starting a label, then got serious about it. Naturally, Lecrae, a Houston native, joined.

“We didn’t know what we were doing, and none of us had prior music industry experience, so we really just launched out there with a dream and figured it out as we went,” said Washer, who previously worked in real estate.

Credit: Melissa Ruggieri

But they knew they wanted to impact lives, just like they did with the youth ministry. The label launched in Denton, Texas, with just “a few thousand dollars and Lecrae,” Washer noted. Reach’s mission? To share the gospel or, as they call it, the 116 Movement — based on Romans 1:16, which asks followers to be unashamed of Jesus Christ.

The label signed artists like Tedashii and Trip Lee, Lecrae’s close friends. Reach moved to Memphis in 2006, then, in search of a bigger city, to Atlanta in 2009.

At 18, Lecrae attended a Bible conference in the city and experienced a “spiritual transformation” that left him inspired.

“It was a bunch of Black college students here,” the 46-year-old recalled. “I had never seen people who look like me, dress like me, talk like me, but they were Christians. I just thought Christians wore like choir robes and suits. ... Texas made me, but Atlanta saved me.”

The label moved to Grant Park before settling in its current West Midtown office. Building an audience was an early challenge for Reach, Lecrae said.

He felt like his crew were “orphans that nobody wanted to adopt.”

“The gospel world didn’t like us because we weren’t traditional gospel. The hip-hop world didn’t like us because we were antithetical to the culture in a sense, so it’s kind of like we didn’t have a home. We were just kind of rallying people underground.”

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Now, most of the artists on Reach Records’ roster have over 450,000 monthly listeners on Spotify — with Lecrae and Christian rapper Hulvey garnering over 2 million each.

“As a label, you really have to step up and provide value,” Washer said. “For us, that means making sure all the areas are strengths and that we don’t have weaknesses in the ways that we serve our artists.”

‘A place of love and trust’

1K Phew of Lithonia signed with Reach eight years ago. Known for his trap gospel sound, the rapper said Reach creates an environment ideal for artists to grow.

“I feel like I was fortunate enough to be signed to a label that kind of already automatically taught you media training, so I never really had official media training for real, but just being up here, you’re gonna fall into place.”

While gospel rap “may not be the most popular thing in Atlanta,” the 31-year-old said, Reach’s momentum is well-known, especially given Lecrae’s success.

1K Phew describes him as the “Jermaine Dupri of gospel rap.”

“It sounds like a cheat code because he always gonna be down to work,” he said. “(Lecrae) just brings the extra value, extra stamp, to the record.”

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Portia Sabin, president of the Music Business Association, calls indie labels the “risk takers of the music industry.”

And, so far, those risks have paid off.

Indie labels and artists owned nearly half (46.7% to be exact) of the global music recording business in 2023, according to a 2024 report by MIDIA, a research company offering analysis on the media and entertainment industry.

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Still, Sabin said having an indie label for two decades, like Reach, is impressive, especially in the digital age.

“Numbers on social media don’t necessarily translate into sales, so that means you have to have more of a nose for an artist that’s going to be successful. You have to know who the customers are going to be interested in. It makes doing A&R and figuring out who’s going to be successful a lot harder.”

Ace Harris, head of Reach’s A&R, said building deep relationships with artists helps make the task easier. Harris has curated the label’s annual 116 Summer Playlist, featuring Reach Records artists and other Christian rap acts.

He cites artist development as a key to Reach’s success.

“As a faith-based label, we get to encourage them spiritually and build unique trust so that as you’re in the trenches building and finding them, there’s a rapport there.”

Future of Reach

Dee Diaz, the vice president of marketing and digital at Reach, has helped the label bring more diversity to its roster and helped those artists reach international markets. Reach includes Nigerian acts Anike and LimoBlaze (the latter being based in the UK), along with Mexican American rapper WhatUpRG.

This year, the label signed its first artist who performs entirely in Spanish: Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Alexxander.

One of Diaz’s ongoing goals for this year is creating more fan engagement events.

“It’s a way to thank them for being here the last 20 years. And it’s a way for us to say, hey, we see you. We haven’t forgotten about you.”

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Lecrae hosted one such event in early July. To promote his upcoming 10th studio album, “Reconstruction,” he held an event at City Takers, a Christian-based nonprofit in Adamsville.

But this wasn’t a typical industry event.

Along with playing songs on the new album, Lecrae and attendees also participated in filling back-to-school backpacks for students in the community.

His new album, out Aug. 22 and featuring T.I., Killer Mike and Madison Ryann Ward, is rooted in that same purpose: giving back to others.

“I’ve had let downs and disappointments, and I’ve seen how God and community and family and fans have helped me to reconstruct so many aspects of my life. I want to do that for other people. How can I help you reconstruct your family, your finances, your faith?”