Mary Mary Tackle Hard Times and Hip-Hop on ‘The Sound’
With a heated election season under way, one issue continues to come up as a measure of both candidates’ character - faith. The sisters of Mary Mary called the media’s treatment of Reverand Wright, Barack Obama’s pastor, especially ”unfair.”
Erica told Milk Magazine, “To a person who doesn’t know God, who doesn’t have a relationship with him, who hasn’t read the word, who isn’t on a quest to find out who he is, it’s easy for you to pick apart every little thing because you already are cynical about God in the first place. I think people should let people’s relationship be what it is and stop trying to analyze it.”
The duo says they’ve endured similar scrutiny because of their own musical choices. While their upcoming CD The Sound features a duet with fellow gospel artist Kierra “KeKe” Sheard, they also stepped into the hip-hop world by working with David Banner for “Superfriend.” And everyone wasn’t too pleased to see church folk and rappers mixing.
“We like David Banner. He was a good dude!” Tina explained. “He was working in the same studio that we was working in. I thought he was brilliant, he seemed well informed and intelligent. So, when Warryn [Campbell] presented the idea ‘Maybe he should do a record with us,’ I thought it was great, you know? I met David Banner the man, not the rapper. People pass judgments, and they have no clue what was behind what happened.”
Whether you’re a gospel music fan or not, the ladies hope new tunes like “Dirt” and “Forgiven Me” will get you through these troubled times.
“A lot of people are discouraged and wondering ‘What do I do and how do I do it?’ and they’re seeing the dark side.” Tina said. “But, there is light somewhere in the middle of this darkness. There is something good in the middle of all this insanity. You can make it through this crazy economy.”
Erica agrees. “Our music on this album is worldy. It addresses what people want, and right now what people want is they wanna be motivated. They wanna figure out how to become their best selves, and I think that’s what this album does in a way that’s not preachy or judgmental, but you definitely know that God is the force of it all.”
The Sound hits stores October 21.
