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Track 8: Beautiful Life 2 (Mine)

Intro:
Oh, I love you, yeah
Like no other, yeah
When I see you smile you shine just like the summer, yeah

Verse 1:
You know that feeling when them words fail
It’s hard to verbalize what I wanna tell
To my mini me, my little man
Be talking baby talk, I don’t know what you be saying
But it’s music to my ears though
Boom bap to your daddy when I’m near though
Mommy put you in them polos and skinnies
Curly fro wild, you be flyer than a leer though
You got that mixed kid swag on them
Looking like your mama and your dad on them
Straight out the womb you was real fresh
I cried so hard till I ain’t have tears left
Since then you keep a smile on my face
Wrestling and dancing, wild in the place
Look I know you got my name
But I want wearing his living for his fame, I love you

Hook:
Oh, I love you
Like no other
When I see you smile you shine just like the summer
My vision can’t be clearer no no no
Cause you’re beautiful, it’s no wonder I love you

I can’t believe you’re mine, I can’t believe you’re mine
You’re always on my mind, I can’t believe you’re all mine (2X)

Post hook:
I can’t…

Why I Married a White Girl

Whenever I post pictures of my family on social media, the responses are always fun. The most common are, “Your son is so handsome!” or “What a beautiful family!” But one of the other common responses is, “Is your wife white?” People ask me at shows sometimes too. The answer is yes. My wife is a mix of Hungarian, Italian, and Polish—which to most people just means yes, she’s white. This is irrelevant to some, but shocking or even disappointing to others. I don’t think anyone should be shocked or disappointed by interracial marriages, but I still wanted to talk about why I married outside my “race.

The decision to marry someone from a different ethnic background wasn’t a tough one for me. I never sat down and wrote out a pros and cons list. Though if I did, the fact that my wife has never seen an episode of “Martin” would be in the con category. But honestly, I didn’t agonize over it or seek counsel about whether it was OK. I was convinced that she was the woman for me to marry, even though she wasn’t black.

Some would never consider marrying someone who wasn’t the same ethnicity as…

Should We Move On?

I’ve kept up with the Trayvon Martin saga from the beginning. Like many of you I watched the news coverage, read the articles, and talked about it with friends. It dominated public conversation and provoked a much needed discussion about race in America. The ugly reality of racism was pushed in front of our faces, and even those who like to pretend it doesn’t exist were forced to talk about it.

Over a year later, Trayvon’s killer has been tried and found not guilty. Does that mean we should move on from the issues? They found him innocent, so these “race issues” must not be as real as we thought they were, right? That couldn’t be further from the truth. I have no intention of arguing about the facts, Trayvon’s character, or the verdict in this tragic situation, but I do think some discussion should continue. The trial is over, but the conversation shouldn’t be.

Why the Interest?

I know there are many who wonder why this particular trial has captured the attention of so many. Others wonder why some black folks are so quick to sympathize with Trayvon Martin, despite the fact that he had issues of his own. After all,…

Are You Living the Good Life?

Earlier this year I went on tour with my new book, The Good Life. Each night, I gave a talk that tried to answer the question, “What does it mean to live the good life?” In Chattanooga, TN, we recorded the message and I’ve posted it above. The book released on October 1, 2012 and you can purchase it here. To learn more about the book you can click here. You can purchase The Good Life album here. Are you living the good life?

What is the Good Life?

If there’s any genre of music that’s always talking about and chasing after the good life, it’s hip-hop. I love hip-hop. I have loved hip-hop for my entire life. There’s just something about the drums, and the rhymes, and the energy that’s always drawn me in. When I was a teenager, when I wasn’t in class or asleep – or asleep in class – I was listening to my favorite rappers. I used to hang on their every word, and they had a lot to say. I know most rappers are not trying to be teachers, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t learning. I listened closely to their ideas about the good life – and I liked what I heard.

I had favorite songs like “Money Ain’t a Thing,” and I was listening to albums with titles like “Get Rich or Die Trying.” So it really isn’t surprising that my idea of the good life was having a wallet so stuffed that it wouldn’t even close. It wasn’t all about money, though. I learned about hedonism, casual sex, materialism, irresponsibility, laziness, drugs, and getting respect – all as pieces to the puzzle that is the…

The Future of Trip Lee

Most of you know me as a rapper and performer, but the truth is, at heart I’ve always been a preacher.

For as long as I’ve been making music, my deepest desire has been to proclaim the Gospel and declare the goodness and glory of Jesus Christ. By God’s grace I’ve had the opportunity to use music to do that on a public stage. I’ve loved every second of it and I’ve tried to do it with excellence. Over the years, I’ve sensed God calling me and equipping me not just to make music, but also to preach and to write.

That’s why last year I wrote The Good Life, a book that dives deeper into the message behind my record of the same title. It’s also why I announced last fall that I wouldn’t be traveling quite as much as I have been. I want to learn how to be a faithful pastor, and that can only really happen in the context of a local church. So I’m taking the time to invest in learning from godly pastors at my church in Washington, DC. Lord willing, as I serve on staff at my church, I’ll…

The Good Life Mini Documentary

Take a look behind the scenes with Trip Lee as he discusses highs and lows in the process of making his latest album “The Good Life.”

Reflection on the Conventions

I watched most of the political conventions these last two weeks. The public speaker in me couldn’t help but over-analyze the messages and oratory skills of the candidates and their supporters. Every person on that stage tried to persuade you with personal stories and/or big promises.

I’ll admit, some of their desires were noble, but most of the speeches felt calculated, empty, and purely political- to me at least. Some of the talking points were straight up wrong too. But debating platforms isn’t the point of this post.

One of the things I realized was that while the parties were trying to sell you their candidates, they were also trying to sell you their worldviews. According to them, material propserity is the promised land, and their party wants to be your Moses. In their view, the good life is getting wealthy when you work hard, and their candidate is the savior who can take you there.

Now there’s nothing sinful about wealth. And being rewarded for hard work is a good thing, but that can’t be where our hope lies. Wealth shouldn’t be our end goal, it should be a means to a greater end. We also can’t afford to…

The Beautiful Lives of the Unborn

Trip Lee on “Beautiful Life” from Desiring God on Vimeo.

The first song I wrote for my most recent album, “The Good Life” was a song called “Beautiful Life.” Desiring God asked me about that song and my heart behind it. Here’s their entire blog post.

And here are the lyrics to the song, which features V. Rose:

Hook:
Beautiful Life Inside
Living Moving Breathing
So Let Hope Arise
God knew what He was doing
When He gave
Beautiful Beautiful Life

Verse 1:
Dear sister, I hear the place you at
I know it ain’t nothing easy bout going through that
There’s a baby in your womb, but you wasn’t trying do that
You’d take it all back if you knew that, but you ain’t have a clue that
That time with your boyfriend, that late night
When you thought you was making love, that you would make life
And now it’s feeling unfair, man it ain’t like
You ain’t got a life, shoot, the timing really ain’t right
Can’t quite tell you that I understand your pain
But I know you shouldn’t feel discouraged and ashamed
And I know that baby in your stomach ain’t a game
He’s got a heart beat, he’s bout to grow…

The Good Life the Book

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a book to go along with my newest album, The Good Life. Well this book will be releasing with Moody Publishers on October 1, 2012. Read more about it in the press release below. And go to TheGoodLifeTheBook.com to be notified when it releases.

HIP HOP ARTIST TRIP LEE TO RELEASE DEBUT BOOK THE GOOD LIFE ON OCTOBER 1, 2012 THROUGH MOODY PUBLISHERS

Upcoming project builds on current album release and redefines “The Good Life” by challenging people to no longer live in the light of lies but embark on a new and more glorious journey.

 LOS ANGELES, Calif. (May 17, 2012) –Billboard chart-topping hip hop artist Trip Lee is gearing up for his debut book release, The Good Life (Moody Publishers).  A continuation to his latest album which released on April 10, 2012 through Reach Records, The Good Life will hit stores nationwide on October 1, 2012.

“For years, I’ve been doing music that challenges our world views and points to Christ – but there have always been limitations to music, because there’s only so much you can communicate in a song,” says Trip. “The…

The Good Life is here!

My fourth solo album, “The Good Life” has officially been released! Buy the album from iTunes here. You can also pick the album up in stores at Lifeway, Family Christian, Mardel, and Target & Wal-Mart (select stores).

Also, you can watch the new video for “I’m Good” featuring Lecrae here. We partnered with Voice of the Martyrs on this one to raise awareness about persecution and encourage believers to stand firm.

Join me in praying that the Lord would use this project to challenge and encourage many!

I’m Good Explained

“I’m Good” was one of the last songs to be recorded for my new album, The Good Life. Lecrae and I actually wrote and recorded an entirely different song, and we liked it at first. But eventually we decided it was just pretty good; and we wanted to put out something great. So I played a few beats for him that I hadn’t written lyrics for yet, and we were both in love with this one. It was epic, aggressive, and catchy.

I told him I wanted to write an anthem that communicated our security in Christ. I wanted to encourage Christians to stop living in fear and start living in Romans 8. We decided on the “I’m Good” theme, we asked the Lord for help, and we started writing in opposite corners of Reach’s Atlanta studio. We recorded most of our vocals that night, and when it was all done we loved it.

Hopefully this explanation of the lyrics will help us to digest the content…

Verse 1:
I hear the trouble’s coming for me, death is at my door way/
Fear says I’ma perish bro, but that ain’t what my Lord say/
He said…

The Good Life

For the first half of 2011, I did no songs, no features, no shows, no nothing. I moved to Washington DC and took about 5 months off for a pastoral internship. Even though I wasn’t traveling the world and standing in front of a sea of people every night, it was one of the most fruitful seasons of my life. When the internship ended I started traveling again and slowly started working on new music. Around fall I kicked into full gear working on my fourth solo album. And after months of hard work, the album is pretty much done.

I can’t even express how excited I am to release it. I’m always looking to give people something I haven’t given them before. I don’t want to remake an album I’ve already made. I want to give you a new album, with new music, and new ways of celebrating the same old truth.

In 2006 on my first album, If They Only Knew, I wanted to tell people about a glorious God who I wanted them to know. In 2008, “20/20″ came out and I wanted to encourage folks to see the Lord with real vision. 2 years later, “Between Two…

One Life: Share It

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at the Campus Outreach National Conference about every believer’s responsibility to evangelize. My text was 2 Corinthians 5:18-21. Here’s the video from that session.

One Life | Share It – Trip Lee from Campus Outreach on Vimeo.

If you’re interested, here’s the video from a panel discussion I was a part of as well. The discussion was about campus ministry, the local church, the Great Commission, etc.:

Pastors Panel from Campus Outreach on Vimeo.

Plus, I recommend you check out all the other media from the conference. There was tons of great teaching that I think you’ll find to be edifying.