Kirk Franklin isn’t saying sorry. The 20-time Grammy winner has released I Am What I Am, his 14th studio album and his first double album, and in a new interview with the Associated Press he stood by every collaboration on it.

The 14-track set is split between contemporary songs and live-recorded traditional selections. Guests include Karen Clark Sheard of the Clark Sisters, Davido on ‘Hope in You’, Jelly Roll on ‘Free Me Tonight’, and GloRilla on ‘This Time’, which extended Franklin’s record to 10 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart.

“Other people’s sandboxes”

Franklin, 56, doesn’t regret teaming up with GloRilla, and doesn’t apologise for praying with Chris Brown and Usher before a recent concert, which drew criticism online. He says he prayed with them because they asked.

“You start trying to play in other people’s sandboxes; it is going to come with scrutiny.”

Kirk Franklin, to AP

He also told AP that “we as believers sometimes become judge and jury,” and that “gospel music is able to handle the raw, unfiltered truth about how ugly and difficult life can be.”

Crossing over is nothing new for him. Back in 1997, ‘Stomp (Remix)’ with Salt of Salt-N-Pepa pushed God’s Property from Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and to the top of the R&B albums chart, a first for a gospel project.

Source: The Gleaner (Associated Press)