To describe Lecrae’s upbringing as “intense” would most likely be considered an understatement. After witnessinga violence at a young age, making a slew of regrettable decisions, and being the victim of abuse, Lecrae grew to become a hip-hop star with a message of hope and overcoming. Lecrae wanted to bring all of these stories to his next major concert tour, utilizing a massive LED video wall to create a cinematic experience for his audience.

His message was apparent in the music he created, but translating it to a traditional rap concert setting seemed nearly impossible. After all, people go to a hip-hop show to have fun.

With the first dates for the tour quickly approaching we hit the gas pedal, and began brainstorming a solution. Our goal was to show where Lecrae came from, and the struggles in his life while still keeping the show high-energy and fun for the crowd. We started by creating a full screenplay chronicling the most impactful moments in Lecrae’s story and crafted a setlist for the show that would inform the story’s narrative structure.

“Our editors began piecing the puzzle together, building everything around the music, and always keeping the audience in mind.”

Producers then scoured the country, casting actors to play Lecrae in various stages of life from childhood through adolescence. While in the process of auditioning actors we spent time in the studio with Lecrae, tweaking his songs and building new sounds to coincide with the videos we were creating.

After an intense week of production we had hours of footage. Everything from Lecrae’s birth, to his first violent encounter, and even a traumatic moment with a girlfriend were captured on film. Our editors began piecing the puzzle together, building everything around the music, and always keeping the audience in mind.

“We wanted the audience’s focus to stay on Lecrae and the energy he was bringing to the performance.”

We created short, cinematic introductions to each song, directing the audience’s attention to the screen for a few moments to tell the bulk of Lecrae’s story. This also functioned as misdirection to allow Lecrae to not only take breaks and perform at a higher energy-level, but also to create surprising and dynamic blocking throughout the show.

When each song would begin explosive visual effects had every audience member fully engaged and excited. Our live footage remained present during the performance, but only to add visual consistency, we wanted the audience’s focus to stay on Lecrae and the energy he was bringing to the performance.

In the end Lecrae’s Anomaly tour was a massive success, culminating in a sold out show at The Hollywood Palladium that Live Nation streamed to homes across the country.