Source: Mindy Small / Getty
September is Gospel Music Heritage Month and according to Kirk Franklin gospel music doesn’t get the salute it deserves in mainstream culture.
The gospel great recently sat down with Apple Music’s Ebro Darden to chat about the exclusion of gospel music in the platform’s 100 Best Albums list. There were plenty of albums by Black artists on that list, but the absence of gospel music was abhorrent to Franklin because as he puts it, gospel music is the bedrock of Black music.
“I just think it’s a very hypocritical and often duplicitous space that we have when we alienate the brilliance of those architects [who] were at the genesis and origins of what we know as Black music,” he told Ebro.
Franklin was asked which gospel albums belong on the list. He said Aretha Franklin’s “Amazing Grace” because she had a mainstream construct, a church foundation and her vocals were undeniable. He also believes the Edwin Hawkins Singers’ “Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord” deserves a spot because the iconic single “Oh Happy Day” had a profound impact on pop culture and the mainstream embraced that album.
“Sometimes it’s going to take an entire community to remind people these are the originators, these are the people celebrated and let’s make it known and when we make it known, we’re also putting goodness in the world,” he said. “Let’s bring the conversation of God back. Let’s make God famous.”
Despite the desire for gospel music to be better celebrated in mainstream culture, Franklin told Ebro he’s okay with being the Jesus guy because there have been instances in Christianity where the message has been weaponized, especially against marginalized people. That becomes an issue when the music shines because people are less inclined to embrace it. Franklin said gospel is about compassion and love. He wants to let people know people like him are still here and they’re celebrating God and love.
“There’s room at the table for everybody and that’s the message,” he said.
Franklin released his last album, “Father’s Day,” in 2023 and told Ebro working on that project was a transformative process. He said he was working on a different project when he received word that the man he thought was his biological father was not and his actual biological father was someone he had never met.
Learning the truth and embarking on that journey to meeting his father was difficult, but putting his emotions into the music helped. However, Franklin said he could no long wear the mask that religion often times forces upon you—to have all the answers and know how to deal with difficulties when you’re actually unsure. The beauty of faith is believing when you don’t know.
“I’m getting tired of that mask,” he said. “I’m getting tired of that responsibility to be Jesus Jr.. I’m not. I’m Kirk and a lot of times I don’t know. I’ve got to be okay with that and know that God’s okay with me being okay with that. The people that love me will love me and the people that don’t think I’m spiritual enough they’ve got to stand in line with everyone else.”
What Franklin said he is proud to do is to be vessel and push the culture forward when it comes to gospel music, so it does stay relevant in the years to come.
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