Gospel Lee — CD Review

by Mitchell Weiss, Scene In Town contributor

Gospel Lee — “Brilliant”

Gospel Lee, Brilliant, Independent label

Hailing from Oklahoma, now residing in Arizona, Gospel Lee is a Christian hip hop artist who is delivering us his 3rd EP titled Brilliant.

Off the bat, the first thing you might notice about this album is its very genuine hip hop sound. There is nothing too flashy about the production or the chorus, just straight bars coming from each song.
Starting off the album we have the song “Clutch,” Lee’s flow pattern is really choppy on this song going along to the video game theme to the beat. Along with the loud siren in the background, this intro track gives you a nice ease into this high energy EP. Lee carries this energy into one of the more lyrical tracks on the project with “Spirit Animal (Aslan).” At the start of the track you can hear Lee reciting Power Ranger mechazoid summoning quotes as it’s a funny representation to the theme of the song. In the show the giant robots they fight in are to be used to fight the bigger villains that are too strong for the rangers by themselves. Lee is using Aslan, the fictional character in C.S. Lewis “The Chronicles of Narnia” as his strength against sin and the world. He used Aslan as his animal specifically drawn from the Lion Of Juda from Revelation 5:5.
Going into the second half of the album, we have something of a spoken word piece with “Far Away.” In this mid-tempo song, he is describing a certain time in his life of emptiness and how far away God seems to be from him. He comes full circle with this concept with the realization of how close he is to God. This song would have sounded real nice if it were flipped in the track listing with “Spirit Animal (Aslan)” because of the concept of having God as your source of strength.

Wrapping up the album, we get the title track “Brilliant,” featuring beautiful vocals by Moyosulo. This track still keeps that hard-banging production that it has had throughout the project, but now with singing on the chorus with Moyosulo. He talks on the subject of being you as your own person and to stop trying to be like your idols or anyone else, and to try to find satisfaction in what God has created you to be.

We do get a bonus track, “Okies,” which is really just an anthem to Lee’s hometown of Oklahoma City. It brings a nostalgic feel for anyone from this area where he is describing the people and good places to eat. It’s just a fun beat that you just can’t nod your head to.
Overall, this is a good album with really good production value and lyrical content. Seeing how Lee has progressed through the years with his EPs, this is still a great stepping stone to boost his career. With the genuine hip hop feel throughout the entire project, it would be an enjoyable project to play for anyone who loves the genre, and high energy enough to be able to get hype too at a party.

Brilliant is available on iTunes.com and other online download sites.