Lecrae and Bart Millard of MercyMe to Host 45th Annual Dove Awards

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) announces multi-Dove Award winning powerhouses Bart Millard of MercyMe and Lecrae as co-hosts for the 45th Annual GMA Dove Awards. The Dove Awards will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Allen Arena on the campus of Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN and will air on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). 

“I can't wait to be a part of what I believe will be a historic evening,” said rap and hip hop recording artist Lecrae. “Co-hosting with a great friend and talented artist makes it even better. Be careful though, who knows what will happen when Bart and I get together.” 

Says Millard, "I'm so excited to be part of this year's Dove Awards. The Doves are unique because they bring all styles of Gospel music together. Lecrae and I are just a small example of how different and yet unified this community is in sharing a message of love and hope through music.” He jokes, “To prove how unified we are, I will be freestylin' my fresh rhymes while Lecrae sings the chorus to ‘I Can Only Imagine" over and over!” 

Performers and current nominees will include Natalie Grant, Hezekiah Walker, Matthew West and Erica Campbell. In addition, Capital Kings, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton, author Karen Kingsbury and Bill Gaither are confirmed as presenters.

Lecrae 'Anomaly' Production Credits Revealed

Reach Records revealed the production credits for Lecrae's upcoming album Anomaly to be released September 9th.

1. Outsiders - Produced by Dirty Rice, Joseph Prielozny, Street Symphony
2. Welcome to America - Produced by S1, J. Rhodes
3. Say I Won't ft. Andy Mineo - Produced by 808XEliTE, GAWVI, Andy Mineo
4. Nuthin - Produced by GAWVI
5. Fear - Produced by Dirty Rice, Joseph Prielozny
6. Anomaly - Produced by Nate Robinson
7. Timepiece - Produced by Mashell
8. Dirty Water - Produced by Derek Minor
9. Wish - Produced by S1, Vohn Beatz, Joseph Prielozny
10. Runners - Produced by Lasanna "Ace" Harris, GAWVI
11. All I Need Is You - Produced by Dirty Rice and Joseph Prielozny
12. Give In ft. Crystal Nicole - Produced by GAWVI, Alex Medina
13. Good, Bad, Ugly - Produced by Jaquebeatz
14. Broken ft. Kari Jobe - Produced by Dirty Rice, Joseph Prielozny
15. Messengers ft. For King & Country - Produced by Dirty Rice, Joseph Prielozny, Street Symphony

Pre-order Anomaly on iTunes now.

What producers do you wish were on Anomaly?

HillaryJane's Stix and Stones Peaks at #3 on iTunes R&B

Infiltrate Music’s newest signee HillaryJane, released her debut solo project entitled Stix and Stones today. The 7-song EP, on its first day of release, has reached the number 3 spot on the iTunes R&B/Soul charts.

HillaryJane, as of late, has been no stranger to charting. Her song "Celebrity", the last single released preceding the full release of Stix and Stones, climbed all the way to number 9 and held for the last 2 weeks on DJBooth.net's R&B/Pop chart. Her single "Chimneys" is also currently #1 Most Wanted on RadioU.

Stix and Stones has made its place between a multitude of successful and even Grammy award wining artists within R&B/Soul. HillaryJane’s debut solo project falls one spot below Trey Songz's Trigga and two spots above 9-time Grammy award winning artist John Legend, who released Love In The Future.

HillaryJane's EP features only two other artists, who compared to other projects released this year, may be out of the ordinary. The song "Celebrity", guest starring the St. Louis native and Full Ride Music Group’s Thi'sl, is one of the two songs on HillaryJane's EP to feature another artist. The other is a remix, which features a little known producer by the name of HXLY KXSS, entitled "Shotgun".

"I really wanted to offer people me, and not a project that stands on the shoulders of other artists", says HillaryJane in an interview with Rapzilla earlier this year.

Production for "Celebrity" and the majority of Stix and Stones, with the exception of "Shotgun", can be accredited to 808xEliTE. 808xEliTE has produced tracks for the likes of 2Chainz, Lecrae, Papa San, Meek Mill, and Andy Mineo and has acquired over the course of their career both Grammy and Dove Awards.

You can support HillaryJane’s newest project Stix and Stones by purchasing it on iTunes or Amazon Music today.

Oscar Urbina Wins Rapzilla.com 16 Bar Challenge

After Los won last year, Oscar Urbina gave CTF Records back-to-back wins in the Rapzilla.com 16 Bar Challenge at Legacy Conference 2014.

"It's monumental," said CTF Records CEO Gus Cruz. "As an upcoming label that does not have many people backing us up because we're unknown, this is good for the artists making a name for themselves ... We're excited."

Level of crowd noise decided which competitors advanced.

"Whenever I wrote a bar, I was always saying, 'How would the crowd respond to this?'" said Urbina. "Would this be good enough?"

When cheers were too close for emcee JGivens to name a winner, judges Swoope and Eshon Burgundy broke the tie. They also critiqued performances before the crowd cheered. Urbina defeated MC Goya and Dru Bex in the final round, the crowd agreeing with both judges who picked him.

"I'm not looking for the punchlines. They find me," said Burgundy of Urbina's final verse.

Urbina studied rap battles and last year's 16 Bar Challenge prior to the event. What he learned made his focus on punchlines intentional.

"I knew it was a capella, so all the spotlight is on the lyrics," he said. "Rapping fast or doing some crazy flow wouldn't really work. For scenarios like this, punchlines and wordplay always does good for the crowd."

In victory, Urbina is defending his home turf being Legacy Conference is held at Moody Bible Institute and Urbina is a Moody grad.

2014 will prove to be an eventful year for him. He released his debut mixtape in January and plans to release another in November.