He is known as a rapper, producer and entrepreneur, but Lecrae is adding another title to the list: actor.
The Christian hip-hop star has dabbled in acting before, but he’s taking his first feature film role in Believe Me, due out in 2014.
The film, written by Will Bakke and Michael Allen (One Nation Under God, Beware of Christians), follows the story of four broke college seniors who start a fake Christian charity in order to pay their tuition.
Lecrae hesitated to give much information about his character, a doctor named Darnell Malmquist, but says he’s excited about the role. “It really does give me the opportunity to kind of have some fun and do something a little bit outside the box,” he says. “And I think people will get a kick out of it.”
Lecrae chose to take a part in the film because, though Believe Me is not a “Christian” film, it deals with some Christian issues that need to brought to light.
He says he thinks the film will engage people outside of Christianity, and he hopes people leave asking honest questions about what they believe and why.
“Sometimes I think we try really hard to make films have this profound message instead of one: trying to make good art and two: being OK with people leaving asking questions,” he says. “I think sometimes we mess up with our art when we feel like our art has to give all of the answers. I think some of the best art just makes you ask more questions.”
