God’s Property Uses Nice Blend To Debut No. 1

God’s Property “God’s Property” (B-Rite)

At first glance, it seems miraculous that God’s Property’s new album debuted this week at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart and a record-setting No. 3 on the pop chart. By tradition, the Good Word usually doesn’t do good business with mainstream record buyers.

But “God’s Property” (B-Rite) isn’t your typical gospel album. Produced by Fort Worth gospel star Kirk Franklin (who wrote and performs on some of the tunes), the Dallas choir brings the sounds of the street into the church - and vice versa.

God’s Property doesn’t sever its roots in old-school gospel. Dramatic ballads such as “More Than I Can Bear” and the organ-fueled “So Good” are cut from the same sacred cloth as Mahalia Jackson and the Edwin Hawkins Singers. But what makes the record so compelling is the easy manner in which it blends traditional gospel singing with cutting-edge hip-hop and funk.

“For those of you who think gospel music has gone too far … well, you haven’t heard nothin’ yet,” Franklin declares at the start of the hit single “Stomp,” a rap-laced strut that samples Funkadelic’s 1978 hit “One Nation Under a Groove.”

“Up Above My Head” exudes a jazzy, retro-soul vibe, while “Faith” swaggers through blues and into the Pointer Sisters’ “Yes, We Can Can.” And during “You Are the Only One,” Franklin bursts into a flurry of dancehall-reggae-toasting that Shabba Ranks would have to admire.

The album’s only real flaw is it never identifies the stellar lead singers who light up songs such as “It’s Raining” and “More Than I Can Bear.”

Franklin deserves all the credit he gets (the cover tells us in big letters that the band is “From Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation”), but God’s Property is more than just a shepherd-and-flock act.