The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Deitrick Haddon Talks New Album, Gospel Artists & Beefs, Reality TV, Finding The Right Church + More

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

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Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Jha. And I go by the name Q Ward. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show, Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle.

We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other. So join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Wake that ass up! In the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy, just

hilarious. Charlamagne Tha God. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. His new album is out right now, One Night in California. Ladies and gentlemen, Dietrich Haddon. How you doing, brother? Blessings, blessings and favor, y'all. Good to see y'all. How you feeling today? Hey, man, I'm a big fan of the show. Big fan of yours. Charlemagne, the God. Jess, big fan. Good to be here, man. Blessed to be alive and well. Happy to have you, my brother. Tell us about the title, One Night in California, because you know it sounds sexual and when you hear that from a gospel artist you're like whoa

no no it's all about man the night i had to reaffirm and reconfirm my yes to my calling and my yes to god and my yes to the my faith in god and uh that's like an epiphany what happened in california huh i or what happened in California huh I said what happened in California they had a moment where I just I had to really you know make a decision whether I wanted to continue to sing gospel music and represent God in that way you know because I was so traumatized but what about what I had gone through I went through a divorce and you know and before the divorce uh process was over I met my beautiful wife that I love dearly. Shout out to Dominique.

What's up? And we had a baby out of wedlock and for the church. That's a no-no. First of all, the divorce, then you got a baby out of wedlock. And once the message, the fan is like, you know, this guy, this is the well done. This is Mr. Sinner's prayer. This is the guy. He's able to sing all these big hit songs and gospel music. And so I had a, I had a, I had a season in my life, man, where I just had to

really, really realign myself to my calling. And it happens, man. It happens to everybody, not just me. It happens to everybody. You're going to have to continue to say yes to the calling that's upon your life because life be life. Do you put a a lot of or do people in general put a lot of pressure on themselves trying to follow every single thing that the bible tells you because there's so many things the bible tells us not to do and we all fall short well the bible does talk about the straight and narrow and that's not easy to do when life is giving you twists and turns that's right and the pitfalls and potholes and on the journey, you can get out of alignment with your assignment. So you're going to unfortunately. Well, fortunately, you're going to have to continue to say yes to whatever your divine assignment is.

Whether you're a pastor, whether you're a great announcer, great breakfast club, you're assigned to this. You're going to have to continue to say yes to it because, you know, there'll be times when you say, man, I don't know if I want to do this. That's right. Is this for me? It comes with the journey. But that's the beauty of it because that's what ministry is. That's what being, fulfilling your calling is. It's blessing others while you're bleeding yourself.

It's helping. I was going to say, now you're from Detroit. Indeed. What up, though? What up, though? So when it came to gospel music, how did you get into gospel music? Oh, i started professionally when i was 16 years old i was a

i was the minister of music my church choir when i was 13 so i was just gifted early and started pursuing gospel the gospel industry early at 16 years old so i've been in it for quite some time now it's about 30 plus years i've been doing it and i love it i love it so you did it before it was cool well oh come on jess she's doing well you know I still got two favorite songs amen because look I was a little dancer back in my day and I actually I I danced to that song at different churches amen and then never let you go that is a prophesying song oh my god you know that Jess oh she's okay listen she's she's holy she sanctified. She's churchy. Yeah.

So, yeah, your new album, One Night in California, I didn't think of anything sexual when I heard it. Thank you. But you got a different, you got, like, different, like, feels in it, like hip-hop or reggae. Yeah. You know, like, R&B. Like, was that intentional? Because it's kind of like a gospel mixtape absolutely and that's the way I approached it I started just by approaching it that way I just

wanted to just it was a song called I Want My Respect right I had just I was just on YouTube like we all do and see what people got to say about you and I just seen just slew of people just running me down because you know I had my birthday 50th birthday celebration I was dancing whatever and people they judge you like crazy so i went in the studio it's very therapeutic for me when i make music so i just went in there and said i want my respect and that was my hook on the song and so from that song it birthed all these other songs so it's kind of a mixtape it's amazing that you really uh check that out so, yeah, man, it was really, this album is really a heat check and kind of like a mixtape because I'm saying things

that I normally wouldn't say on one of my albums. Most of my albums, I'm singing up in the clouds. God, I give you glory. Oh, you're amazing. Oh, we worship you. On this one, I'm talking from my heart.

I'm sharing what I feel. And that's the thing about a lot of gospel artists. A lot of people don't know how to connect to us because we don't really share what's on our hearts you don't think about hip-hop that's real all the rappers they share what's on their heart that's what I love about this beef you hear what Kendrick got to say to Drake so you know you know what's on his mind you don't know what's on these gospel artists mind yeah I mean it's all

glory to God but it's not like a personal touch to it I think exactly and you got to have that personal touch because God uses human beings to get his work done on earth so it's all right to share your testimony and share what's on your heart I'm not saying to create a gospel beef and do a mixtape you know a beef you know I ain't saying do that but i mean like let people know how you feel so when they hear me say i want my respect they're like what wait we don't we don't want to hear that we want you to sing about jesus okay it's a way you can sing about jesus right and share your heart because you have to live the journey while you're singing about jesus that's right you got to live this thing out it's never been a gospel beef though right there's never been a two gospel artists going back and forth let me take my crazy it's been beefs but we ain't put it on no song

social gospel artist beef though like saying they're human why are you not human man aliens envy i know but i mean i don't know okay listen we don't put it we're not crazy enough to put it in the song but it's a whole lot of stuff that goes on in our industry, and we're sworn to secrecy because we got to live. It's a code. We're spreading the gospel. But without saying names, like what? What would a beef be?

Flip a table. Man, you'd be surprised what happened between two artists in our community that you would never know. You got to give us something. I ain't giving you that. Without saying a name. The man just told you it was a code, man. between two artists in our community that you will never know we're human we're doing all kind of stuff it's all kind of human we're human being I love the we. No, I ain't doing that. I'm right. Just don't do it. He did say we. I got to say I. I did say we. He did say we.

I didn't. Well, let me take that out of there. I don't do that. But because I believe there's a standard and there's a code. But see, that's the thing about the gospel, singing the gospel community. You can easily mask what you're doing by saying Jesus, Jesus, and not have integrity and character behind closed doors. So it makes it easy for you to do a whole lot of dirt. So there's more dirt in that community than it is in the secular community.

And I don't want people to come down on me about that. I'm just telling you the truth. I've lived it. I'm an authority in this. I've been here for 30 years, so I can tell the truth. I wonder if it's more or if it's just amplified because it is the gospel community and people think these things shouldn't happen in the gospel community. Right.

I think it's amplified and it's happening. It's happening because it's easy to pull the wool over people's eyes by saying, Jesus, Jesus, quote the scriptures, and we're supposed to forgive, we're supposed to love, and do your dirt behind closed doors. That's why the scripture talks about wolves in sheep's clothing. Now, I don't want to paint the picture that the gospel community is full of dirt, you know,

because most people are in the gospel music. We're trying, that's, that's what it's about. You're, you're, you're trying to fulfill a divine assignment while you're being human. And when that human,

when, when the human side comes in, it kicks in, whether you're a preacher, whether you're a gospel singer, it kicks in. And you just have to, again, back to my song, One Night in California, you have to realign yourself. You got to repent. You got to get back on track. You got to take responsibility for your, what your piece of the problem and keep going. And that's the beauty of the gospel. So when it comes to the gospel, is the gospel music, is it a sound or a language? It's a message and it's a sound.

And it's not, one thing about the community, we like to be stuck in a particular sound. Oh, Jesus, he's all right. Have you tried Jesus? Oh, he's all right. It makes you, it reaches the soul. And so the problem is we're stuck there while God is trying to move us to the future to connect with the next generation. And so the warfare is they judge people to try to go and reach people outside of the, have you tried Jesus?

You know, why you can't say have you tried my Jesus? He's alright. Boom, boom. So they say, you trying to be like the world. No, I'm connecting. This is the sound of this day and time. That's all it is. You can't tell me Mary J. Blige, my life is not a gospel song.

That's a gospel song. That's a gospel record, man. I went to the concert, I had my hands raised. That's right. Okay. Yo, Charlemagne is hilarious. Well, even with that being said, do you feel like you have to fully give your life to the Lord to make gospel music?

I believe that singing the gospel or preaching the gospel is a divine calling. It's a divine assignment. It's more than just a career choice. It's what you are called to do. And so you, and yes, there were sacrifices and requirements to represent God fully where people can look in your eyes and see the truth and hear what you're saying and know that you're speaking truth.

And so if you're fake about it that you're speaking truth and so uh if you're fake about it uh it's gonna come off fake if you're real about it what's real reaches real people you just quoted dg yola and that's another gospel record dg yola ain't gonna let up because on that song he says you live fake you die fake and he says that after saying uh get yourself together go get your brain a bath go to church start listening get on the right path now who is that i need to listen dg yola ain't gonna let up come on is he a pastor or a preacher no he's a rapper from atlanta i mean the record is old but it's just i always felt like that was a gospel record so that's what i'm saying uh dietrich i'm

saying like because there are artists who are are not preachers and pastors and bishops who they'll put out gospel music. You know, they'll put out music and they'll call it gospel. Right. Like, how do you feel about that? What is your opinion? Well, let everything that have breath praise the Lord.

Everybody have the responsibility to give God praise. I'm not here to judge. I can't say you're not worthy to sing the gospel. That's crazy. You know, everybody should be giving God praise. I expect every R&B artist, hip-hop artist to do some kind of offering to the Lord when it comes to music on their albums.

So you'd be surprised who know the Lord. I was just at the Jodeci concert at the House of Blues. Took my wife there. One night in California. No, that was in Vegas. That was in Vegas. But watch this, watch this, watch this. Watch this.

KC told his testimony. Shook the whole room. It went from just everybody just partying to a whole, like a church, church service. Because he talked about, you know, he had a stroke. And it was gone. And I talked to him afterwards. I said, man, you just did what most preachers and prophets cannot do. Stay on this path.

Keep doing what you're doing. I didn't even know casey had a stroke yeah yeah he tell and he looks good man you know singing like crazy he got it back like casey he's one of my vocal heroes because you know he comes from the church got that quartet sound and i just love it yeah and i think that's that's what's missing missing from a lot of gospel music as you just said, the testimonies. I feel like, you know, when you go through things in life, if you have a platform, you're supposed to share those things, whether it's comedy or whether it's radio, whether it's music, whatever it is, or whether it's just giving a speech, you should share those testimonies. A lot of artists are really prophets and people that are assigned to the earth to put great to God's message to the world. Even though that's not saying I'm a prophet, I go to church every day and all that. There are people that are called by God to do what they're doing to send love in the atmosphere, to send strength in the atmosphere, to make people laugh. That's a gift from God.

Every good and perfect gifts come from the lord it's men that wicked hearts of men that perverts it now those gifts come from god i was gonna ask so when you speak about those gifts you also write for artists that are not gospel artists absolutely do you ever feel a way like no i can only write for gospel artists you don't know for us you don't know for various artists so so how do you do when you're writing those records for people man i can write a love song better than probably anybody that wrote it because when you talk about god is love god is love i wrote a song i wrote three songs shout out to zay tovin and usher usher's my brother my brothers and they let me write on that usher a album i think i did say what you wanted

three songs on there and they could believe I was in there. All the young cats, D-Trick is in here writing. I was like, man, hey, this is our gift. We flowing in our gift. This is how we make money. You know what I'm saying? Then you ask me how do I live, what I do when I go home. I'm not trying to go out and do nothing crazy. I got my wife. I got my purpose. I'm trying to

build legacy. And then when it's time to write the opportunity again, I'm going to write. You want me to come sing at the, where? Can I inspire people in that space? I'm coming. When you write for others, do you try to use them as a vehicle to get your message out, or do you get into their world and write from their perspective?

And I wonder how people would feel about that. Do they say, oh, you're writing secular music? No, I can't be concerned about how people feel about how i use my gift or how god wants me to use my gift i like to get into the heart and mind of the artists and see where they are and try to help relay their message and so uh that's it just you try to express what they're trying to express you know i can't come in there talking about you need to say jesus you need to make a gospel song no no if that's what you want to do i help you do that if you want to talk about. No, if that's what you want to do, I help you do that. If you want to talk about love, there's some songs that they may want to do that that's not really my thing, so I give it over to my partner

that can write it, and that's what he'd kill it. And I come in and bring the melody. And so that's my strength, melodies and love songs. So I stay in my lane so I can be successful. And you're a PK, right? Oh, yeah. Were you a straight and narrow PK, did you have your your wild ways I'll be lying if I say they were straight and narrow they say the PKs are the worst kids man but we the ones that have to deal with the most pressure you gotta be saved and holy before you really holy you gotta be the what I'm saying? You gotta be the perfect example of truth among your peers

before you really know what that means. You know what I'm saying? So it's rough. Shout out to all the PKs. I'm representing all y'all. We're standing up. Did your father, Bishop Clarence B. Haddon Sr., right? Yes, sir. Did he give you grace when you did

fall short or did he demand you rise to that level of being a PK? Yeah, I come from the old school church, Doc. If you sin, you're going to the front row, and they're going to let you see so you won't do it again. They had a good heart, good intentions, but that wasn't a way to do it. That's why I don't do that at my church in California. People fall short. They repent of their sins.

You know, whoever they offended or, you know, they got to answer to them or repent to them. And then you keep going because we all fall short and come short of the glory of God. Nobody's perfect. The Bible says the scripture is deep scripture. He said, if a man says he has no sin, he is a liar. And the truth is not in them because they're seeing it all of us because the bible says in this flesh worketh no good thing and that's where the holy spirit comes into play it's very important to have the holy spirit's going to help you navigate through all

this stuff that the flesh wants to do um you started preaching okay i'm sorry oh you had once said that she was called to preach at the age of 10. Yeah. That is young. Like, how was that experience? Like, how, what do you mean, like, you were called? Like, describe that experience if you can. I literally heard the voice of God speak to me and tell me,

Dietrich, you're going to sing and preach the gospel. You sure that wasn't Bishop Clarence B. Haddon? It could have been his voice. It could have been. But watch this. I was by myself in my room. Guess what? I went straight to my mother's room and told her just what I just heard. She put me right up that next Sunday.

You said you called to preach. She got me a robe and a Bible and put me up. You remember the first sermon? Listen, I lost everything, my train of thought and everything in front of a whole crowd of people. That's right. I read my scriptures, sang my song. Then I just lost my, because I looked at my friends, talking about, you know, I was 10 years old.

That's too much pressure, you know. But from that point on, I'm never at a loss for words, you know, because I said, I ain't going to never let them laugh at me again. I learned every Bible verse, every scripture, so I can never be laughed at again. Wow. I saw in the song, My Respect, you say, I bought a new sound in gospel music.

I paved the way i did it way back in the day and you know 20 years later you still hear and you say you got to give credit what credit's due do you feel like you still don't get the credit for paving the way of a new sound and gospel music i think there are opportunities for people to acknowledge my part in it that they where they deliberately keep it out of there because people it's such a small genre so people are holding on to their piece of the pie you know i'm saying they think by ignoring you or trying to omit your part will help them maintain what they have and i don't think that's good at all for gospel music i think it's important for all of us to respect all of our

contributions to gospel music you know and i'm not i'm not i'm just saying hey look i'll earn my stripes i've been 30 years plus in this business you know i've i've got my battle scars for i've paid my dues in the gospel industry you know and a lot of times people tend to look at the the few people when you think about gospel music you think of what's the first few names that come to your mind kirk franklin boom franklin uh regina bell regina bell okay i'm thinking about my god god my god okay gotcha gotcha song no no no no disrespect to regina bell but honestly kirk franklin mary mary boom so you get you can name off the few that's probably where it stops but but there's i want to tell everybody there's a whole slew of

incredible gospel artists and i want to motivate y'all to whole slew of incredible gospel artists, and I want to motivate y'all to look into them. Well, Jess is into gospel music. Yeah, and she knew my songs. I just know. So I can tell she's into the industry. She knows the music. Who are yours, Jess?

Well, my first, like my top five? Yeah. Okay. So we have Yolanda Adams. I do like Hezekiah Walker. The greatest. Fred Hammond, Dietrich Haddon. And I grew up on Dietrich Haddon and Ty Tribbett. Those were my two favorites.

Of course, then you go to women, the CC Wine and the BB Wine. You know all of them. But, yeah, I like the men. The men prophesize. No discrediting to the women. But, you know, like when you want to really feel like when you're going through something you can play a song you can cry through the song right that's different that's your fred hammonds that's your dietrichs those

are your you know like that's what i like she has the perfect balance of righteous and ratchet she is the perfect balance she is the perfect balance she loved music I love it too man I listen to it all I listen to it all it's incredible now there was a pastor that that told a woman to hush during worship oh what you mean a pastor Pastor Keon Henderson man what you mean a pastor show that man some respect Pastor Keon

Henderson and you was kind of upset about that I wasn't upset I just had a perspective what was your perspective I got the utmost respect for Pastor Keon Henderson I don't want him to feel like Dietrich is out for him, you know, but I just don't agree with how he handled that matter. You know, I think that you have to keep in mind that's one of your sheep. You're the shepherd. You're responsible to cover her. And if she's crying, it means she's hurting. And also could mean that you've said something that impacted her. And if people can't holler in church, what can they holler?

Sometimes that's all, that's the only thing they could do is to get to church and just let it out. You know, you'd be surprised what people are going through through the week. So me personally, this Dietrich, if you come to my church, you can holler from the point that you get walked through the door to the end. Because I understand people need God. They need help and they need a place where they can release. And I've been in church all my life. You talked about my dad, Bishop Haddon. I just never seen, me personally, I've never seen any pastor hush a woman up like that.

It's a new day. So it's a new, but I'm old school when it comes to that. I'm a young man, but I got old school principles when it comes to church. Like the church belonged to God's people people that's where people supposed to praise that's where they're supposed to cry when the holy spirit moves on them you hold back it's not about you it's about god moving for the people now let's play let's play i don't want to say devil's advocate don't get me in trouble but no you're my boy god don't don't don't because we're not enemies because pastor keon said that this wasn't an isolated incident and i don't know i'm not saying that

this is what happened what if you're in church i'm just using the scenario you're in church and it's a person that comes to church all the time yeah and they always they go live while they're in there and they cut up yeah i mean they cut up i mean they act like they got the holy break dancing on the floor i mean they just going crazy right every service and they kind of being disruptive would you be like all right right, sister. All right, brother. No, I would never hush them because I understand they may have a husband, son, daughter, family, and they're coming after you after church services. If you hush my mother, I dare you. Yeah. I don't care how much I sing the gospel. I'm coming after you. So you got to use wisdom right there.

Especially, I come from the hood. Our church was in the hood. We had six crack houses on the block. And the neighborhood would come to our church. So you can never do anything like that where you disrespect somebody's auntie, mother. It's a wrap if you do that. You may get shot after church. After you done hollered and preached and saved somebody somebody else. You lost your life over disrespecting somebody.

So I just don't agree with that. Now, if you know that person is dealing with that issue, you're the shepherd. You know that they've been there. It's not a first time issue. So you handle them with care. You know that they have some maybe mental issues. So you tell your deacons or armor bearers, say, go do that. You know what I'm saying?

But you never do that. Did you and Pat Keon have a conversation privately? No, man. I was in contact with him sometime in the past, but I don't force relationships at all. And to your scenario that you just gave, Charlemagne, sometimes like you, it's other people in place for that. You got ushers, you got overseers, you got deacons like prayer warriors. True. Will go and try to calm that person down.

Still not shushing them, but covering them in prayer. You know, somebody falling out on the floor. Okay, they'll go get something to cover. If it's a woman, get something to cover if it's a woman get something to cover her pray her start you know really really prophesying and you know right ministering to her to like kind of calm down if it is just an act there is no shush because my church in the hood too you and he's right about everything he said like we have my church and then we have a church right next to us and then like houses across the street that are vacant big time you know gas station hood marks like stuff like that so you just never shush because you how can you tell when somebody is not being serious everybody don't have the spirit of

speaking in tongues everybody don't know sometimes all you can do is just holler hug yourself run around the churches all about how the spirit moves you. So you don't know. I say you just let it be, let it, let it, let them go until they calm down. You know, you're there so people can get their breakthrough. That's why you are preaching. You know, that's why you're sharing the gospel so they can get that moment, have that moment of release. So I would leave that alone. So that's how I would have handled it. You know, every two each his own, every man governs their house differently. So, you know, however he wanted to do it, that's how i would have handled it you know every two each his own every man governs their house differently so you know however he wanted to do it that's how he did it but people

asked me dietrich what would you do i told him you know i'm very vocal about it and that's what i would and you got the uh you got the blue rag around your neck are you crippling no no it's a style you know i love i love style man okay okay yeah all right now we had charlie wilson on the show a few months ago the good brother charlie wilson the legend the icon and he was kind of critical of r&b artists who make gospel music oh you know just to get radio play uh use the format to get a hit song if i remember correctly he said that that's what people do when nothing's working for them oh you know that's what he said in the other genres of music. It's the truth, man. I wish I could say differently, and I'm a fan of a lot of artists, man. A fan of, you know, I love artists, whether it be actors,

whether it be Will Smith doing his gospel song, I'm a big fan of his. Whether it be Kanye, I'm a big fan of his previous work as a producer. I respect him highly. But that seems like that's the trend now where people, when they're kind of falling off, they they look to god they look to the church and they go because they can easily get a number one among church folk because church folk we just so glad you done came in here and let's just get will smith in here kanye and we give them number one they override anybody else has been in the gospel industry we give you all the number ones i got a problem with that piece

just that little piece right there but i don't have a problem with them making their gospel songs but there's some there those of us that are in it we live it we live eat breathe this it's like hip-hop there are people that live eat breathe hip-hop we live eat breathe this gospel and so when you come in we expect you when you do that we like okay you coming in brother you come in, we expect you, when you do that, we like, okay, you coming in, brother? You coming in? You gonna help us build this thing?

We going to the next level? Then you go, you get your number one, you back with people loving you again, and where you at? What we thought you was, now you doing, what you doing?

You got your wife walking around naked, butt naked? We thought you was Mr. Sunday Service. What happened? Number one album, number one gospel. You got your number one and you gone butt naked. We thought you was Mr. Sunday Service. What happened? Number one album. Number one gospel album. You got your number one and you gone.

But could it be like that's how he felt in that moment? Like when he created, like for instance, we can go even further back with Jesus Walks, right? When he did Jesus Walks, that's considered a gospel record, right? Yeah, to me it was. When he did that, that was when, when he put that out, people were like, what the hell are you doing? Right. And it was on the gospel charts and hip-hop charts. So it opened up a world of people.

Oh, Jesus Walks Made the Gospel Charts? Huh? I think it did. I think it did. They were playing it like crazy, too. It was everywhere. And even when he did his Sunday service, a lot of people came out there for worship that usually or maybe wouldn't go to church as often.

What message are you sending now? Because you ain't doing Sunday service no more. You ain't singing no gospel music no more. Now you cussing and acting like you ain't never never knew jesus but then we could talk about pastors and preachers that that that have been preaching and now what they doing now they're they're fake prophesizing they're cheating they're doing something like that so it's kind of the same everybody gonna have a given account for what they doing correct because at the end of the day that judgment judgment day is coming for all of us. Absolutely.

I'm not here to judge nobody. I'm just telling you what I don't like to see because I live this. Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Jha. And I go by the name Q Ward. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show Civic Cipher. That's right. We're going to discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people,

but in a way that informs and empowers all people to hopefully create better allies. Think of it as a black show for non-black people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. Exactly. Whether you're black, Asian, white, Latinx, indigenous, LGBTQIA+, you name it. If you stand with us, then we stand with you. Let's discuss the stories and conduct the interviews

that will help us create a more empathetic, accountable, and equitable America. You are all our brothers and sisters, and we're inviting you to join us for Civic Cipher each and every Saturday with myself, Ramses Jha, Q Ward, and some of the greatest minds in America. Listen to Civic Cipher every Saturday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Because we see Snoop do it. Snoop did a gospel album. And I'm a big Snoop fan.

Snoop did a gospel album? Yes. He got a Grammy for it. Oh, this is what I like about Snoop, though. Snoop went and got the artist in the genre and put it on the album. It wasn't just about Snoop went and got the artists in the genre and put it on the album. It wasn't just about Snoop. He brought Rance Allen, who was like the greatest male vocalist of all time, who never really got his respect. He got a number one song with Rance Allen.

So we look at that as gospel artists. We're like, man, Snoop is really about that. He's in it. He loves gospel music. He may not have the conviction, may have some uh uh weaknesses and things like that but we know he loves gospel music because we've seen who he pulled together you got the artist not just the big names that everybody always go to you went and got the artist so you love the genre you love the community but other ones i don't see what's going on i don't see you you still doing you trying to

i don't know i'm not here to judge. You know what it sounds like a little bit, you know how when the country artists be like, don't do no country records. Like, you stay in your R&B,

but like, no, if I want to try country, because country's in my heart and this is how I'm feeling right now, you should be able to express yourself

in that way. I feel like this is bigger than a genre of music for y'all though. I think in a way, it's like, I guess it's in a way like stop playing with God.

Yeah. Boom. That's what I'm saying. You said something about country music. way it's like it's like i guess it's the way start like start playing with god yeah boom boom you said something about country music that's what i love about country music i think beyonce deserves to do any country song she's from texas she lived that life you see what i'm saying so she can do that but i like the fact that they have some guard rails up where you got to come through somebody to just you ain't gonna just make a country song country song. You got to, they make you work for it. They're going to box you out, right? Gospel music, you just, anybody can wake up tomorrow and say,

I want to sing gospel because I'm falling off and I want to do, I want to get that number one. I know the community going to support me. Then they get that number one, then they gone. Where are the guardrails? Where are the people to say, no, man, what you doing? You got to live this thing, bro. You can do your gospel song, but don't play with us. Don't play with God. Where are the people to say, no, man, what you doing? You got to live this thing, bro. You can do your gospel song, but don't play with us.

Don't play with God. Where are the people at? Where are the leaders at? You see what I'm saying? They're gatekeepers. I mean, leaders in hip hop. You can't just go up and just, if you ain't really about that life, man, they don't take, that's what Kendrick said.

No, you, Drake, are you really about this? You know what I'm saying? It's like, man, it's guardrails, bro. You done came in and you did what you did, but that's enough. If you're going to be about it, you got to really be about it. That's what he's saying. But somebody could say that about preachers and pastors and people in the church too, right?

We talk about if you're going to be about it, you be about it, but then we'll hear preachers and pastors and deacons that people look up to because they're in the church, they read the Bible, they take the classes. They're more, you think, tied into quote-unquote regular people, but then when you see them doing some foul, it's just the same feeling. The same feeling, man. You know?

You got to hold people accountable. I'm not here to cover nobody. If you're doing wrong, somebody got to hold you accountable. But, yeah, back to the music. It's like, yeah like yeah man we want we want people to really is because this people does really sacrifice a man to stay in this I've turned down at least five secular record deals him on my journey because it's a calling you know I'm saying I signed a deal with heiress it was done when I was a kid I walked away from it because this is

a calling and now to see you just come in and just do what you want to do it then walk away and just don't it don't sit right in in my heart right or anybody else's heart who've been living this thing sacrificing we can make money just like anybody else i'm not singing gospel because i could make it anywhere else i'm doing it because this is what this is me since i was a kid this is my assignment on earth you got to understand that when you decide to and i'm not telling anybody not to do this gospel I'm doing it because this is me. Since I was a kid, this is my assignment on earth. You got to understand that when you decide to, and I'm not telling anybody not to do this gospel,

but really consider, like, this is a real thing, where we make sacrifices. When we want to go out and have sex, we can't. We want to go out and do this and that. We can't. It's a sacrifice. At least we have that heart that says, man, I can't do that because I'm singing this gospel. You see what I'm saying? It's a sacrifice.

It's a lifestyle. Even when you fall short, at least I'm over here trying. Do you feel pressure to maintain an image because you are a man of the church? I saw they got a little upset with you because they saw your wife twerking.

Oh, man, my wife don't twerk I wanted to twerk I wanted to enjoy herself I love every single bit of it I'm a man's man that's the Holy Spirit why we think the Holy Spirit can't show up in a twerk oh yeah because that's your wife that's my wife that's right that's my significant other the Bible says the marriage bed is undefiled

what we got going on between us ain't none of your business that's right and if I let you in on my life give you a little clip of something just enjoy I'm letting you in on my life, give you a little clip of something, just enjoy I'm letting you in on my life. I didn't have to do that. I'm trying to show people how to live this kind of life without losing your integrity. Just enjoy yourself. You know what I'm saying?

Jesus said, I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Christian's got it wrong. He came so you can enjoy this life without going down the hole of sin. You see what I'm saying? And that's what he showed us. That's what he showed us. Jesus went to the wedding, turned the water into wine. But guess what he did when he got done doing that? He went to healing and fulfilling his assignment. He went to the cross. So he's showing you balance.

And so I don't I don't know what to say to people that got a problem with my freedom i know my freedom offends people but i can't help that i'm living my life when i get done dancing guess what i did the next day after my birthday went to church to my church and preached the gospel went the next day and we had a concert hezekiah walker came shout out to lillian lord she came all everybody came on through we had we had a holy ghost good time you know what i'm saying so i believe in balance i live it you know and for people to really understand me i'm not a religious person i don't do all the do's and don'ts and rules and regulations i come from that i've been delivered from that i told you my father they sit you on the front row will you fall short you know what i'm saying yeah you you know already repented to god but you got to go in front of the whole church and be embarrassed i've been set free from that so

anybody that's come if you trying to judge me through religion we not you're gonna never see me worthy i'm a spiritual person i walk with god every day i pray before i got up and came here what do i need to say use me you know I'm saying absolutely that's it so but so so people for them to really understand me just know I'm not I'm not religious and I don't have a judge and bone in my body I may have strong opinions but even at that I'll let go and I give people the grace and space to figure it out themselves I'm not here to judge anybody you know and that's it we say that but we do judge and i don't think there's anything wrong

with judging like i'm not condemning a person but i will see something and process it in my mind on whether i agree with that or disagree with that or you know to judge is to come to a conclusion on somebody that means the end that's it that's what i think about you i'll never do yeah i don't do that yeah that's why i guess that's what I mean. I say I don't condemn people. That may be the space that you're in right now. Like even though I was strong about Kanye, I believe that he needs the grace and space to find his way back to whatever that relationship is with God. You know, so I'm not I haven't come to a conclusion on him. I haven't come to a conclusion on nobody because people go through seasons of their lives. Can you come to personal conclusions about a person?

Meaning like, I'm not saying that this person is that. I'm just saying I've seen enough for this to know this ain't what I want in my life. Man, I've made such a mess on my journey. I haven't been perfect and people will be completely wrong if they came to a conclusion on me. But you gotta get people distanced though. Meaning you gotta distance yourself from some people because you know they're not good for you

i don't firmly believe that either man jesus didn't distance himself from the lady that was caught in the act of adultery she they they wait they caught that woman with her legs up in the room having sex doing whatever she was doing what lady the bible you know the woman that was caught yes yes i don't know if it's man who was it i ain't? The Bible, you know, the woman that was caught in the act. Mary Magdalene? Yes, yes. I don't know if it was Mary. Who was it, guy? I ain't never seen that scripture. Legs up in the Bible.

There's a scripture that says face down, legs up. No, no, no. You gotta go to Luke. Listen, I'm giving you a painting the picture for you. The Bible says she was caught in the act. What was that act? We don't know. I never do with the act of sex.

I didn't know that. She was caught in the act of adultery, was in the bed with another man that wasn't hers. They snatched her up in the act, brought her before Jesus and said, we know what she did. We just got her out of the bed. What you got to say about that?

That is the most player hating, cock blocking thing I've ever heard in my life. You snatch a woman out while she getting some action? This is the Bible. Sorry. I'm telling you. She was already married. But watch this.

Guess what Jesus did? He said, I'll deal with her later. Let me deal with you, the one that put her in front of me. He said, ye that's without sin, cast the first stone. You know good and well you got your own dirt. Yeah. I'm not going to disconnect myself from her in her lowest state or when she's trying to figure it out it's a reason why she's dealing with what she's dealing with that started

early in her life jesus is there to love people in whatever state they're in period but what if that is to to your detriment that's what i mean i'm i'm with you on everything yeah i'm with you yeah i can't do it there's people that need help and and are going through things and i'll pray for them and wish them the best but i can't do it even help them to a point but when they want your detriment when there's somebody that's trying to hurt you yes that's taking your the the love or the things that make you happy in your life and trying to turn it around how do you stay i'm gonna help that person i'm still gonna show grace to that person that's the price of the cross man that's the price of walking with jesus that's what jesus did he took on all of our sins to the cross at the price of people coming to conclusions on him

the people who put him on the cross were people saying he's a he's this he's that and then they lied on him it was a his character was at was on the on the judgment you know and so it's about cross the bear say it again what about the saying it ain't my cross the bear it's your listen if you call to help people, you can't worry about what people think about what you're doing. You got to go do it. That's what Jesus did. What if it's not mine cross the bear? If it ain't your cross the bear,

then you leave it alone. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. But if you representing Jesus, you can't worry about what people going to think about you. You got to go in. When everybody turning their backs on the individual, you got to go in. But you go in. But what about something that's evil, right?

That there is no turning back. That their whole existence is evil. And no matter what you do and no matter how you try to help, they are the devil. I feel like saying somebody's whole existence is evil is condemning them. I don't believe that everybody's whole entire existence is evil. There's some people that's full of the devil. I feel like saying somebody's whole existence is evil is condemning them. I don't believe that everybody's whole entire existence is evil. There's some people that's full of the devil. I think so.

Me too. I'm like, where are we going? Who is evil? Are we doing an exorcist? What is happening? So if some people are full of the devil, what do you do? You leave them alone. You pray for them. That's what I would think.

But for me, you just pray for that person because obviously that ain't a job for man that's not a job for man that's that's a job for god and dedrick you got a song called save yourself yes sir i wrote that song the bible does say save yourself from this untoward generation but you got to love people man no matter what and that's that's the part of the job that's the part of the job man some people come to your church you're a pastor and people just got off death road just barely made it but you know you got to love them some people have done the worst things ever that's your job. Jesus belongs to everybody. And if you're going to be a representative of Jesus, you can't worry about what people think.

You got to always be the one to go drawing closer to people. And here's the thing. If you do, against all odds, love people through it all and you still do what you're doing, hey, that's on your record on judgment day. Charlemagne feels like sometimes those prayers will go to God's spam folder. Okay. What? I hate when he quotes me, because he be quoting me all wrong.

Yeah, he's never heard you say that. Ben, I never hear you say God got a spam folder. I'm trying to figure that out. God got junk mail. I'd just be saying sometimes don't waste God's time with certain things. And what I mean by that is, you know, there are certain things he has, God, he or she has given you the will to figure those things out on your own. And I think sometimes we waste God's time with frivolous, you know, prayers.

And it goes into a spam folder. I agree. Some people don't, they don't mean what they're praying about. They don't believe what they're praying for. So you're like, you're wasting the time. The Bible said,

when you pray, you got to believe what you're asking for. And if you don't believe it won't happen for you. You got the good brother, D1. D1. It don't change. How'd that connection happen?

Oh, that's my boy, man. I've been knowing him for quite some time and I just love his mission, how he's bold and holding the hip hop community accountable. I think it's incredible.

He's not doing it in a religious way. He's being bold, just as bold as they are. He's bold and I just wanted to connect with him. People like that, man,

I want them on my albums all day. I want to hear what you have to say. You know what I'm saying? Hopefully I can make a record with him a whole record with him you know i i respect d1 uh a lot of people do feel like he is very judgmental though when it comes to you know other people other artists i don't know what to say to that i think he's very strongly opinionated

uh but uh and he's passionate about holding the community accountable because there are young people that are listening to the music. So it's easy to say he's judgmental because he's coming so strong, but I don't think he's judgmental. I think he's holding you accountable. He's grabbing you at the collar and saying, hey, bro, you Rick Ross. You know who you are? You can see these kids. Somebody got to do it.

And so he's called to do that. Is there a difference between accountability and judgment? Is it a thin line? Are they two totally different things? Two totally different things. Judgment is to come to conclusions on somebody, and that's it. That is all. I'm, you know, pass the judgment, the verdict, everything.

It's just, that's it. To hold accountable is to say, hey, look. You can do better. Yo. Yeah. Don't try to get around it. This is it, bro. Yeah.

I'm holding you accountable. Yeah. That makes sense. That makes total sense. I got a question for you before we. Please. I always wanted to know, because I know names are powerful. Charlemagne to god tell me

that piece that's a very good question yeah i mean you know you know growing up you know we studied the five percent teachings and you know in the five percent teachings they teach you god is a greek word derived from the aramic words which means wisdom strength and beauty and the first letter of each word was used by greek students when they would identify with their Egyptian, you know, teachers. So it was, you know, G.O.D. and then, you know, in the five centuries, they teach you that the black man is God. So in a lot of ways, it was a affirmation. You know, there was a great book I read back in the day called From Niggas to Gods, you know, by Akil. And it was just all about evolution.

It was about getting rid of that nigga mindset doing away with the nigga mindset and evolving to the god in you because you can either submit your will to the higher level in you which is the god and you will submit your will to the lower level in you which is the devil so i just you know that was just something that a lot of us and still not a lot of us a lot of people you know still say we're we're gods you say peace god you know you address a black woman you say peace queen you know she's a goddess right right so it's just something to aspire to you know not saying I am God right you know but if God created man in his image boom according to his likeness boom then I am boom you know in the

image and likeness of my father lowercase G lowercase G but I have the utmost respect for that man I always wanted to know I said we're gonna ask you that when I see you absolutely I think that man. I always wanted to know I said we're gonna ask me you that when I see you Absolutely, I think that's powerful I think names are very powerful what you declare your name is what how people know you and is what you declare in the earth So if you say Charlemagne the God you said I you know, I'm a child of God or you know the God in me I think that's a powerful thing What's your government name? Well, I call him Leonard. That's his name. It's Lenard.

What's your government name? Lenard McKelvey. Leonard. We appreciate you for joining us this morning. Oh, man, that's it? What record do you want to hear off the album? Oh, man, play them all. Play One Night in California.

That's the title cut. Well, hold on. I have two more questions. Oh, yeah. You know, I think this is a good question, you know, because the perception of a pastor is that everything they do is for God and not for financial gain. So a lot of people would say, why would you do the reality TV show Preachers of L.A.?

It came about when I was at the lowest state in my ministry, went through the worst season of my life. Again, I divorced, and then I met my wife within three months. Within that divorce process, we started having sex. We had my first child, Destin. She's 12 now. I got a call from a great preacher. He's deceased now, rest in peace, Zachary Timms, out of the blue when I went to L.A.

And he said, Dietrich, I felt led to call you, man. What's going on with you? I started crying on the phone like, i done messed up real bad once the folks hear what i've done they're gonna i'll never be able to inspire people again i'll never be able to get up and sing or preach because they're not going to believe in me because i you know you know anyway i was on the phone with him man and then the idea came about i said man why don't just, we need a reality show for preachers like us that make mistakes. Like we, you can't expect to live 80 to a hundred years on the planet earth and not make mistakes. Even though you're a preacher, we trying our best. I fell short. I think people need to see, not just hear about what Dietrich did, but see Dietrich come through it, how I get

back to where I need to be. And that's how Preachers of LA came about I created that show gave it to Holly Carter shout out to Holly Carter Lemmy Plummer and we did it man and it changed the it shifted culture in the church where preachers had to now become more trans become more transparent uh and now they're seeing that there's ministry in transparency now the preachers are dressing down and saying I I need Jesus too. Before then, wasn't nobody saying that. They were saying, you need Jesus. You need to get right. Now the members are saying, okay, Pastor Dietrich is letting us in on his life.

Bishop Noel Jones was one of the greatest preachers of all times. Philosophers, he's letting us in on his life. What's up with you, Pastor? They're looking at you. So now the pastor, okay, let me now I got to let people in just a little bit on who I really am. Don't just preach at me and throw Jesus at me. Let me know who you are, pastor.

And so that's the wonderful thing about Preachers of LA. And the show, the show's coming back, right? We did a reunion show. They're calling for it back. Their network's trying to see, you know, that was a tough season for all of us. A lot of, you know, it affected us all differently. Some churches kind of fell see, you know, that was a tough season for all of us. A lot of, you know, it affected us all differently. Some churches kind of fell off, you know, because people, you know, it was never done before.

So how would this time be different being that your mindset is different? You're in a different space. Oh, you can handle it now. You now you've stepped back. It's been 10 years ago. You can you take a look at what what worked, what didn't work is easy. Now it's easy work. So I think I think it's incredible.

I think it needs to come back. Shows like that need to come back to help the church now process what's going on in our world. How do you feel about megachurches? Do you feel like they help or hurt? I was just talking about that. I'm not a big fan of megachurches. I got a lot of people to follow me. My church, my in-person church is not that large,

but people, my online church is massive. I just think the more people, the more blood on your hands if you fall short and if you make people turn away from God because of your shortcomings. But it doesn't start off as a megachurch. It starts off as a small church and it just continues to grow and grow.

Well, that's where you delegate other— Do you stop? Do you slow down? Because people want to hear you speak, just like yourself. I'm sure your church could be the size—your congregation could be huge, you know? You've got to delegate because each soul is important to God. Each individual is very important to God. And so it's bigger than just saying, I've got a big church. I've got 30,000. That don't mean nothing to God. Each individual is very important to God. And so you could, it's bigger than just saying, I got a big church. I got 30,000. That don't mean nothing to me. I seen a 30,000 church go down to nothing, literally nothing. I was there seeing the people coming in in droves, 30,000 people.

Now it's nothing. The pastor's not even married anymore. So none of that moves me anymore. Yeah. We kind of just saw that with Hillsong too the mega church is too much hype you got to get back down to old school church where church is like a family where your pastor knew you the pastor knows your family thank you

they know you when you come in there to bury your family and to marry you they know you that's the way I they know you that's the way i was raised and that's the way i like my church my hill city church if you ever come to los angeles it's a it's a family it's growing but when it gets too big i'm gonna turn it delegates hey y'all go over there to pastor guy reeves he's one of my associate pastors go to pastor guy reeves and and and keep doing that because even remember when

moses uh father-in-law told him man you got too many children to israel you how you gonna handle this all these people these people need care personal care you need to delegate bro it can't be all about you you need help you can't even handle all these souls and think about it the bible says the souls the blood of those people are going to be on your hands the more people you get the more responsibility to whom much is given much is required you think you want a big church no you don't you want the people that are called to you that you can really help through life life's issues you want them you won like jesus even jesus the crowds followed him but he had 12

to help them and they were at work peter wanted to cut and cuss people out the first chance he got he was pastoring them you see i'm saying so where are the pastors who really care for the people it's not about having a big church who cares cares? I'm not impressed. People come to me and say, I got this many people and that don't mean nothing to me. I'll be while they're talking and it's like this. Brother, that blood is on your hands. That's what I'm thinking. You better figure out a way

to really pastor those people. That's what you need to be figuring out. Instead of telling me how many people you got. Aren't any megachurches doing it right? Because based on what you said, Potterhouse comes to mind immediately because they do delegate a lot of different pastoral duties to a lot of different pastors. I think Bishop Jenks is doing it right. I still think that, you know, I don't know how people have their ministries organized,

so I don't want to say that all ministries are like that but uh you know you gotta you gotta delegate and you gotta oversee these people you gotta shepherd these people you have to love these people you have to care for these people and you can't do it when you have so many people yeah and i'm not coming to a mega church for i mean i'm not i don't want to go to church for a presentation i I want to, I want a connection. I want to feel like you ever go to church and you know your pastor, it felt like he's talking to you. Yes. You know what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, I love that, that intimate, that, that, because I still go to the same church that I was born in. Right. Like, we'll never not stop going there, you know, but I know I have a relationship with the bishop and his family. Right. You know what I mean? I know my first lady. I know her kids. Like, they know how to cover me when I'm on the road.

Because I have a lot of, I'm a stand-up comedian. I meet a lot of people, you know. I do meet and greets and stuff like that. So, a lot of that energy is contagious. And a lot of it is draining. You don't want it on you i don't i just don't feel right sitting in a mega church where it's more of a presentation it's like right i don't feel that spiritual food i'm not being fed there i think a lot of people fled to mega churches

because of church hurt also because when you deal with family churches you deal with stuff just like you do in the family so a lot of people fled a lot of small churches back in the day to retreat to just big churches the lights are turned down they could just hide in there and get their word and go but you still need somebody to hold you accountable to look out for your soul and i don't think that's the solution hiding in a dark room like you at the movie theater you know no you need a church you need a pastor you need to find the right one though because there there's bad leadership everywhere you can say it's bad people everywhere you've got to find the pastor that's after god's heart for you and your family and they're're there. Like my father.

He's been, he ain't trying to go viral. He's 85 years old. He's been pastoring since I was born. Loving people. Just doing what he's called to do through ups and downs. Not trying to be a star. He's just, and he's got old doing it. So I know that there are great leaders out there that will love your family.

And so you just got to search for them in your city. That's right. Well, Dietrich, we appreciate you for joining us today. One Night in California is out right now. That's right. And it's the Breakfast Club. Oh, man, the brother got to end us with a prayer. What is you doing?

Come on, Envy. Father, we thank you for the Breakfast Club and what they mean to the culture. God, continue to elevate them. Continue to bless them. Give them the wisdom, the strength, and the fortitude to continue to do what you call them to do. Continue to give them the heart to open up doors for people that are called to speak for you on your behalf. I give you praise for them. Bless their families.

Bless everything they put their hearts to do. Just touch them, God, and just continue to do what you're doing for them. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues especially those that affect black and brown people but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss

everything from prejudice to politics to police violence and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other so join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.