Quotes from Kirk Franklin

Some of our strongest critics, especially inside the church, said we had turned our backs on traditional gospel music and were just contemporary R&B artists exploiting Christian lyrics for the money. But that's not true.

It's very hard to grow up in the African American church and for music to not be in your veins. It's just part of the fabric of who we are as people, especially black musicians.

Whether it's Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole or Common there are a lot of artists, especially rappers, who come from a background with a faith-based substance, and it's time for that substance to be celebrated and appreciated.

You know, when you read stories in the Bible - you know, Samson, the story of David or the story of Moses - you know, there's conflict on the way to the victory.

Whatever my lens is, it's always going to be trying my best to see something through what I believe is going to be God's word, and not God's word in the essence of dogma or in the essence of religion, or to be right and to make other people wrong.

If you start as a Christian artist trying to be mainstream, you're done from the beginning.