<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" The unabashedly faith-based rapper Lecrae&amp;#039;s seventh album, Anomaly, just hit No. 1 on Billboard 200. With over 88,000 units sold in just its first week, it&amp;#039;s an exercise in the art meets life meets faith variety, where the art part\u2014finally\u2014is not compromised. While it may seem like he come out of nowhere, Lecrae has been around a long time. From leading chapel services with teams from every major professional sport to getting support from President Obama on his his fatherhood PSA, he&amp;#039;s been pretty busy. Now he&amp;#039;s inescapably famous and busy. He just co-headlined the highest selling tour in the country, which sold over 557,000 tickets and beat out major tours by Justin Timberlake, Elton John and Beyonce. Lecrae has slowly been making his way into the mainstream, gaining the respect of his peers and boldly speaking his faith in the process. No matter where you stand on heaven and hell--on issues concerning the soul and whether or not it needs any saving\u2014Lecrae is a true talent. All of the inhibition of art that comes with Christian rock or Christian blockbusters does not apply to Lecrae. He and his producer, Gawvi, have proven that. Gawvi is the producer/DJ/songwriter/in-house musician who sits at the keys of a 200 sq.-foot studio, illuminated by mood-setting strobes and LED lights, at the partially Lecrae-owned Reach Records. He&amp;#039;s tweaking tracks for a few projects, all of which are likely to be released by year&amp;#039;s end. While he&amp;#039;s worked under the tutelage of hit makers like Rodney Jerkins and Pharrell, Gawvi&amp;#039;s biggest success has come from his contributions to Anomaly. Lecrae even brought it up in his interview with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night.      Here&amp;#039;s a little bit more from Gawvi in his Atlanta studio about sudden fame, Pharrell, and what it&amp;#039;s like to officially make it. Esquire.com: Are you feeling like you&amp;#039;ve made it right now? Gawvi:No, I&amp;#039;m definitely not there. But this year has been one to prove some things. It&amp;#039;s been a long road, so getting recognition for my work, though it doesn&amp;#039;t define me, has added fuel to my drive in some ways. ESQ I&amp;#039;ve seen athletes like Jeremy Lin and Stephen Curry make mention of tracks you&amp;#039;ve produced. That must be rewarding. G:It&amp;#039;s an honor when I see that, it really is. I&amp;#039;m a fan of those guys. Especially Jeremy Lin. Lakers all day. ESQ: I don&amp;#039;t know about that, but talk some about the road. G: I came up in Miami, working in a ton of studios and producing for local artists, some who did pretty well. Eventually an opportunity came up at Midnight Blue, where Pharrell was working on the last N.E.R.D album. I remember I would sit in his sessions and soak in everything; even gave feedback from time to time when I was feeling extra brave. After that season was over, I moved out to Los Angeles. Like so many, I was there looking for the right doors to kick down. ESQ: That&amp;#039;s when you met Rodney Jerkins. G: Yes. I had already done some work with Lecrae at that point and he told Rodney I was in LA. Rodney heard my music and took me in almost immediately. It was huge for me. I mean, he&amp;#039;s made hit records with people like Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga. So many greats. He gave me a space to work in and allowed me the freedom to create and watch people like Britney Spears and Justin Bieber in their element. Seeing Chris Brown make his latest record with his team of writers was a highlight. His process is incredible. Everything during that time felt surreal. Every day I was surrounded by tons of plaques; Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston. I was broke then and doing a lot of work for free. ESQ: Broke? G: Broke. I was scraping up money for lunch and sacrificing daily for what I felt was coming. I cherish that time now. There was a lot of pressure to measure up and I think it helped build me for this.      ESQ: Lecrae has set quite a precedent. And the first single from Anomaly, &amp;quot;Nuthin&amp;#039;&amp;quot;--which you produced-- has been nominated for BET&amp;#039;s Impact Track of the year, up against Common, The Roots, Lupe Fiasco, and Talib Kweli. Any idea why his music is resonating so much? G: I think we&amp;#039;re in an era where people just want to hear something new, something transparent but with a redeeming story. Lecrae is connecting with listeners on a different level. He&amp;#039;s not afraid to talk about his struggles, but what makes him stand out is that he offers a solution. ESQ: God? G: God. ESQ: Lecrae won a Grammy (Best Gospel Album) last year for Gravity. That one sold over 72,000 in its first week. Anomaly has surpassed that considerably. It wouldn&amp;#039;t be far-fetched to say you could have a Grammy gracing your mantle pretty soon. G: One thing I&amp;#039;ve learned from Lecrae is the importance of not putting too much stock in awards. Sure, its&amp;#039;s good to get praise for your work, and a Grammy would be amazing, I&amp;#039;m not going to lie. But I&amp;#039;m realizing more and more that those things don&amp;#039;t matter so much in the long run. I just want to be the best at my craft and hopefully inspire people to go after their dreams. What matters most is the people and what they take from the stories we&amp;#039;re teling. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/news/a30057/meet-gawvi/>