Things are going well for Kirk Franklin. He currently has two songs in or near the Top 10 of Praise 97.5’s Urban Gospel charts.

     Here is a recent talk with Kirk about his music, his life and what’s on his mind...
   Q: One gets the sense that this whole Rebirth thing is more than just a clever title?
   Kirk: It better be more than a clever title. It better be!
    Q: Well, I don't want to pry, but I can't help but wonder -- what's going on? Why this need for a rebirth?
    Kirk: Let me tell you something: there are no hidden questions. You can ask me whatever you want to ask me. I'm a very honest, transparent cat. You don't have to worry about asking any questions that may be touchy -- not with me. Not with me, man. I love being an open book. Because I believe that it sets people free.
    You know, the Rebirth title was a title that God spoke to my heart. Because the journey to this album, man... Dude, I didn't think I was going to make it. I was going through law suits with different groups I've worked with, and projects failing. Well, not failing - failing compared to what some people expected them to be. I mean, they still did two or three hundred thousand units.
    Q: I wouldn't call that a failure.
    Kirk: Well, some people would, compared to what's been done in the past. And you know, sometimes it's stupid -- sometimes you listen to that stuff, you begin to digest it, and you determine your value based on what that says about you. Through that dark season, God was doing something else in me. Because I had to pray more, I didn't realize I was getting stronger. Because I had to cry more, I didn't realize I was getting more intimate. Because I had to read more just to stay sane, I didn't realize I was getting more knowledge. And so, through that, it's like a spiritual renewal was happening.
    You know, the problem with being gifted -- and I say that blushingly, I don't say that in a vain way, it's not an arrogant thing -- is that a lot of times that gift can take the place of God. It's easy to keep busy. You can be busy for God and not even realize that the gift has taken His place. You don't even see it coming, because it's wrapped in God.
    The package still has "G-O-D" on it. You think you're in His will and making it happen. You're doing God's music, writing about God, running for God. And God is over on the corner going [whistles], "Hey... Hey homeboy, you've pulled off from the curb and I'm not even driving."
    You don't know that until He makes the car run out of gas. And you look back, and you go, "I forgot to bring God." And that's a hard place to be. Because you've got to humble yourself to be able to say that, or God has to humble you for that.
    Q: You’ve had so much success. "Kirk Franklin" is more than a person now -- it's a whole institution. Do you ever get overwhelmed from all the hype? How do you keep it real?
    Kirk: Either you humble yourself or God humbles you. I think that when you go through the season of having God humble you, you don't want to go through that no more. It's not pleasant. Man, I'm telling you dude, it's off the chain once you get it. It rocks once you get it. When you fall more in love with the Giver, then you focus on the gift, it all falls into place. It really does.
    When "Stomp" [God's Property] came out, its first week it did 119,000 [copies sold]. I was 27 and had never heard that kind of hype before. I didn't know that first weeks matter. That was like my  fourth album -- I'd done three others before that, and I'd never heard anything about no "first week" hype. I didn't know that existed. Now that's how everything's judged by. The next album, the "Lean On Me" album [The Nu Nation Project], its first week it did 108,000 units. Do you know that I was depressed?
    And I look back on that season now, and I understand why God had to put me where He had to put me. I understand why God had to break me. You don't see that until God puts you at a place where the car runs out of gas. It's almost like how you look in the mirror in the morning, while you're combing your hair, and if you keep looking, soon you might go, "Man, I got a pimple... Woah, man, I got a booger in my nose!... Man, I got a cavity happening right here!..."
    The more time you spend in the mirror, the more you begin to see. It's all stuff God saw from the beginning, and He has to slow you down to get you to see it too.
    Q: You're perceived as such an innovator. Is there constant pressure with every new album you create to constantly do something new and better and bigger and different?
    Kirk: If you allow yourself to focus on that... It all has to do with your focus. That's what I'm learning. If you're in a plane flying over New York City, New York City doesn't look that big because of where you are. But if you are walking down Broadway or down Times Square, it's like, "Geez, man, this view is crazy [big]," because of your position. It all depends on where your focus is.
    So the music now, for me, is becoming so secondary to the relationship with God. My pursuit of Him is so much greater than this... I was going to call it "garbage," because sometimes that's what it becomes. It's amazing how working for God can almost be like a curse, in how it consumes you too much. But it's very secondary now. It's growing to become secondary.
    Q: And there was a time when it wasn't?
    Kirk: It's kind of like a crack in a wall. It starts out small, but you don't know it's growing, because you're so busy doing. The car is moving so fast, that you don't realize if you've got a bent wheel or if you need some more freon. You don't realize it because this car is running, and it's got to run. The labels are making it run, you're making it run, the industry people are making it run, the [concert] dates are making it run, your publicist and your agent -- everybody's making this car run. And you're so excited, because, "Ooh, I got people telling me to run -- they must like me! I must be good. I'm accepted." Most creative people are the most insecure people.
    So the applause -- that does nothing but feed the cancer. We don't care if it's a bunch of atheists out there -- if they're clapping, I'm accepted. See, gifted people, man, they're used to being in church. And there are wounds and holes there that if you're not sensitive to, you can preach right over them. We struggle with insecurity more. We struggle with lust and sex more...with drugs, with pride, with vanity. We struggle with low self-esteem..with...with acceptance.
    It's like here you are, carrying a song in your belly for months, and you put it on wax, and you're waiting for the response from CCM or Billboard to tell you if it's good or bad? [Shakes his head.] It's like a woman that's carrying a baby and when the baby comes out, all the doctors are saying, "[Moans] Hey bro, go get your camera and get a picture of this here. Look at Yoda." [Laughs.] You know what I'm saying? It's a crazy thing, what happens in the minds of creative people. And if we don't have anyone teaching us how to channel all that, we'll self-destruct.
    Creative people need a ministry that is sensitive and holds each other accountable.
    Q: What are you passionate about?
    Kirk: (Pauses.) Being real. I'm passionate about what's real. I'm learning to be a little scared of being arrogant or prideful or being a hypocrite. Like when people come to me and they're like, "Man, I enjoy your ministry..." And I'm like, "Okay man, come on come on... Hurry up and finish. Thank ya'll." But in my mind that's being hypocritical. I don't want to be on stage where I'm being used by Jesus and then get off and go, "I rocked!" or "Oh man, I sucked." If it's about Jesus, what does it matter?
    That's my passion. My passion is coming to GMA and color is not even an issue. I'm very passionate about that. I'm passionate about going to GMWA -- that's the black Gospel Music workshop -- and to be able to see Toby or Crystal or Jaci there. I have problem with [racial issues keeping us apart]. That ticks me off.
    Q: Next question is, what frustrates you?
    Kirk: Man, that rubs my hide. How the Civil Rights Movement is over, done. We've still got Cincinnati, we've still got these categories and titles that have defined us. That bothers me. You love Jesus and you love Jesus? Then come on, let's go. Let's go win the world. But we can't win the Arabs or Jews or anybody else when they look at us and see all this separation.
    Q: What is it that really separates us, though? If we are as enlightened as we say we are, and it's not the color that separates us, then what is it?
    Kirk: Well, realistically, there are cultural differences. Fact. I totally dig that.
    Q: We like different kinds of music. That's not a racial issue -- it's just the way it is.
    Kirk: That's just the way it is, right. There's got to be a learning of... when you're riding in my car listening to whatever I'm listening to, how can we be able to still let you enjoy riding with me? Without you feeling like it's a black and white thing? The first thing I could do is, after a while, change the channel. It's all -- and here's a great word, man -- it's all about some level of sacrifice.
    Q: Kirk, you speak to many young people about how they can change their lives if they're on the wrong path. You speak from experience based on your past.
    Kirk: Yeah, well, I try to relate to children or just to young people from a foundation of understanding of what struggles are. I mean, not being loved by a mother or father, not being affirmed or really getting acceptance and attention from people that you really loved, kinda being given away as a child - adopted - and just kinda trying to find love whether it's sex and drugs or whatever it was, you know, just as a young kid and I just found my faith at a young age. When I was 15 I gave Christ my heart, and everyday since then it's been a growing process, falling, stumbling, learning from the lessons and growing more and more. So I just try to make it very real.
    Q: It's been ten years since you've been on this road of Gospel music. What have you learned and what do you still hope to do?
    Kirk: What I've learned more than anything is that music is what I do, not who I am, that I'm loved by God not by what I do for Him, but because of my trust in Him. He loves me the same way on a bad day as much as He does on a good day. Not only is that for me, but it's also for you. You don't have to do anything to make God love you, that God loves you just the way you are. When you're his child that doesn't change just because you make mistakes. You're still his child forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.