All Things Work Together
All Things Work Together is the eighth studio album by American Christian hip hop artist Lecrae, released on September 22, 2017, through Reach Records and Columbia Records, also making it his first major label release. The album features appearances from Tori Kelly, Ty Dolla Sign, 1K Phew, Kierra Sheard, Taylor Hill, Aha Gazelle, Jawan Harris and Verse Simmonds. Background. "All Things Work Together" follows to Lecrae's 2016 mixtape "Church Clothes 3" and 2014 studio album "Anomaly". In December 2016, Lecrae confirmed that a new album was in the works for 2017 in an interview  with Rapzilla. He kept details of the features under wraps, saying he's been in the studio with "a lot of people", but did however confirm Tori Kelly was featured. Upon his signing with Columbia Records, Lecrae worked with producers such as Boi-1da, T-Minus, Pluss, Dem Jointz, REO, Go Grizzly, Ayo the Producer, Swoope and DJ Frank E. The album title, "All Things Work Together" is a biblical reference to Romans 8:28. In an interview with "Billboard", Lecrae explained the message of the album and the creative process by saying: "This was a hard project for me. It took  a long time. I recorded about 60-70 records, and these 14 are the ones that stuck. It was a lot of emotional stuff, and we we're like, 'We need to find some light in the midst of all these songs,' because they sounded so dark...I hope that they understand there is hope in the chaos. I hope that they get that God loves them and there is nothing they can do about it – it's an unrelenting pursuit of you – and I want people to feel that. I want people to feel that they can make it ." Promotion. On October 21, 2016, Lecrae released the album's lead single "Can't Stop Me Now (Destination)". On January 21, 2017, he released the second single "Blessings" featuring Ty Dolla Sign. In June 2017, Lecrae released "I'll Find You" as the featuring Tori Kelly as the third single and "Hammer Time" featuring 1K Phew as a promotional single. On August 8, 2017, Lecrae announced the title of the album, "All Things Work Together". Concerts and touring. On August 3, 2017, Lecrae was a guest on Nick Cannon's "Wild 'n Out", where he also performed "Blessings". On  August 8, 2017, Lecrae announced the All Things Work Together tour along with the album title. The Tour will be starting on October 4 running through December 5, stopping through 24 cities throughout North America. On September 22, 2017, Lecrae performed "I'll Find You" with Tori Kelly on ABC's "Good Morning America". In January 2018, a second leg of the All Things Work Together tour was announced, running from February to June in the United States, Europe and Africa. Critical reception. Writing for Jesus Freak Hideout, David Craft awarded the album three out of five stars, lamenting that  the album is not as subversive as it thinks, and much of its construct seems to rely on [that] meretricious assumption, and concludes by noting that ""All Things Work Together" is a middle-of-the-road album." Also writing for Jesus Freak Hideout, Kevin Hoskins had a more favorable opinion, and in his four star review, stated that "throughout "All Things Works Together", the production is hot, Crae spits fire, and most tracks are worthy to be on any Reach release." Aaron McKrell of HipHopDX described the album as "Lecrae at his rawest". He praised the content of the album  by saying "...is the culmination of Lecrae’s unapologetic faith combined with his ambition to spread his message through Hip Hop. His naked honesty and knack for conveying relatable emotions make the album one of his best projects to date." Commercial performance. "All Things Work Together" debuted at number 11 on the "Billboard" 200 selling 29,227 equivalent copies (20,322 in pure album sales). It also charted at number 1 on the Christian Albums Chart and number 6 on the Rap Albums chart. Track listing. Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Notes Sample credits All Things Work Together All