Trailblazin Ministries

Flame - Flame

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Saturday, January 01, 2005

Album Overview

Cross Movement Records has expanded to the Midwest, and has settled in St. Louis, MO. It's here in the STL that you'll find one of the newest Christian emcees to bless the mic, as well as his partner, who is one of the illest producers on their side of the Mississippi. Who are these cats? The emcee is Flame and his producer is J.R. and these two collaborate together (along with a few more producers) to drop Flame's anticipated self-titled album Flame.

Okay, so what do you get with Flame? You get two things: 1) a dirty south emcee who rips the mic with truth and ferociousness, and 2) Christ centered rhymes that you've come to expect from artists on CMR. Putting those two elements together, you get a very unique album that raises the bar for both Christ-centered albums, as well as the dirty south genre.

Flame starts off the album with the intro track titled "Intro (Everybody Screamin' Jesus) in which he gives his mission statement for this project, and pretty much proclaims that everybody is screamin' Jesus, but don't really know who He is; but by the time they reach the end of the album they will. The track jumps right out at you and immediately grabs your attention, which is held for the remainder of the project. Just like the intro, the rest of the album is right in your face with aggressive heavyweight lyrics straight from the dirty third. Some of the hardest hitting songs on this album are those that are right up in your face with the gospel; a few of those tracks are "God Man," "Give Us the Truth," "Way Out" and "True God." "God Man" is a track that tells how the streets forget that Jesus was the Godman and that He died for their sins, and they act like that Jesus doesn't understand their struggles and use it as an excuse to continue in sin; that's the hook, but in the verses, Flame tears down this false thinking and gives the truth about Jesus. "Give Us the Truth" is a powerful track that tells how blind leaders have been deceiving us since the beginning, and tells how we really need the truth about Jesus and the seeds that will set them free; this also doubles as a testimonial track straight from the heart. "Way Out" is another track that reiterates the truth that there is a way out of this world and that way out is through Jesus Christ. And "True God" tells of the faithfulness of God as Flame just cries out in praise to our Lord.

This album is full of the good news of Jesus Christ, especially when you listen to the two interludes that are included on this album. All I'm going to say is that they drop nothing but truth. Now what about the production? The production on this project is awesome, to say the least. There isn't a beat on here that I don't like, and they all fit Flame perfectly. J.R. shares production credits on this album with DJ Official (of Cross Movement), N.A.B. and Million Tracks. Even with all of these producers lending their hand to the project, it is held together very well and gives the album a well rounded sense of completion.

There's nothing bad that I can say about this project. I remember first seeing Flame on the Platinum Tour back in 2002, and all I know is that Flame brings the heat when he grabs the mic. This is a very solid freshman release from a very talented artist. Flame does justice to the dirty south and continues to uphold the truth of Jesus Christ without abandon. Cop this album because this is one of the albums of the year, right up there with labelmate Da' T.R.U.T.H.'s Moment of Truth.

Key Tracks

Limelight, Give Us the Truth, God Man, Real One, Righteous