''Kingdom Book One'' is a collaborative live album by

Maverick City Music Maverick City Music is an American contemporary Christian worship music collective founded by Norman Gyamfi and Jonathan Jay originating from Atlanta. The collective made its debut in 2019 with the release of two extended plays, ''Maverick Cit ...

and

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...

. The album was released on June 17, 2022, via Tribl Records, Fo Yo Soul Entertainment and

RCA Inspiration RCA Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group) is a gospel music group operating under Sony Music Entertainment. History Inception In late 2002, BMG completed the purchase of the Zomba Group for US$2.74 billion and as a part of that deal, ...

. The album features appearances by

Naomi Raine Naomi Raine Solomon (born April 9, 1987) is an American Christian and gospel singer, songwriter, and worship leader. She is a member of Maverick City Music collective. Career Raine made her debut with Maverick City Music in 2019, releasing ...

Chandler Moore Chandler David Moore (born March 21, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, and worship leader. Moore is also a member of Maverick City Music, a collective of worshippers working in the contemporary Christian music and Gosp ...

Brandon Lake Michael Brandon Lake (born June 21, 1990) is an American contemporary worship music, Christian worship singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He writes songs at Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina and he is a former member of Bethel Music ...

, Lizzie Morgan,

Dante Bowe Dante Bowe (born May 10, 1993) is an American contemporary music singer, and songwriter. He is known as a member of Maverick City Music and a former member of the Bethel Music collective. In 2017, Bowe released his debut single, "Potter and F ...

, Maryanne J. George, and Ryan Ofei. The album serves to raise awareness on the injustice of

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated ...

. The deluxe edition of the album was released on July 22, 2022. The album was supported by the release of " Kingdom" and " Bless Me" as promotional singles. "Kingdom" peaked at number 17 on the US

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart, and number six on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. "Bless Me" peaked at number 19 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and number eight on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. To promote the album, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin will embark on the Kingdom Tour, which is set to span cities across the United States. ''Kingdom Book One'' debuted at number two on ''Billboard'''s

Top Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

chart and the

Top Gospel Albums Top Gospel Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States, ranking the popularity of gospel albums. As of Tuesday, January 31, 2017 (with the charts dated February 11, 2017), it uses the same multi-metric m ...

chart in the United States, and at number five on the

Official Charts The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...

Official Christian & Gospel Albums Chart The Official Christian & Gospel Albums Chart is a music chart based on sales of albums of Contemporary Christian and gospel music in the UK. It is compiled weekly by the Official Charts Company (OCC), with each week's number one being announced ...

in the United Kingdom. The album received a nomination for the

Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album The Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the Gospel music genre. Honors in ...

at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Background

In March 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin announced that they will be embarking on the Kingdom Tour, with a collaboration album titled ''Kingdom'' initially set to be released by the artists following the conclusion of the tour. On May 20, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin announced that they will release a collaborative album titled ''Kingdom Book One'' on June 17, 2022. The artists recorded the album at the

Everglades Correctional Institution The Everglades Correctional Institution (also ECI) is a Level 5 security prison facility for adult males in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, in the state of Florida, near Miami. Originally planned as a mental health facility, it was converted t ...

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...

, Florida, with 1,300 inmates participating in the recording of the album. The recording serves to spotlight the injustices around

. Maverick City Music founder Tony Brown asserted that this is an issue which primarily affects black and brown people and that issues affecting these communities would take precedence in their music as the group matures in their artistry. Brown shared that he hoped the album would encourage people to proactively address it in ways such as donating to organizations fighting mass incarceration and volunteering in adversely affected communities. On July 18, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin announced that they will be releasing the deluxe edition of ''Kingdom Book One'' on July 22. The deluxe edition of the album features nine new songs that were recorded while they were on tour.

Release and promotion

Promotional singles

On May 20, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released " Kingdom" featuring

and Chandler Moore as the first promotional single from the album, accompanied with its music video, while concurrently availing the album for digital pre-order. "Kingdom" peaked at number 17 on the US

chart, and number six on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. On June 3, 2022, " Bless Me" was released by Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin as the second promotional single from the album, accompanied with its music video. "Bless Me" peaked at number 19 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and number eight on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. On July 15, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released "Exodus" and "The Name" featuring

and Maryanne J. George as promotional singles from ''Kingdom Book One (Deluxe)'', concurrently availing the album for digital pre-order.

Other songs

On June 17, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released the music video of " Fear Is Not My Future" featuring Brandon Lake and Chandler Moore, filmed at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. The music video's release is in remembrance of the

Charleston church shooting An Anti-Black racism, anti-black mass shooting and hate crime occurred on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed, and one was injured, during a Bible study (Christianity), Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist ...

which occurred at the church seven years prior on June 17, 2015. "Fear Is Not My Future" peaked at number 26 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and number 11 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. On June 29, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released the music video of "The One You Love" featuring Brandon Lake, Dante Bowe and Chandler Moore, filmed at Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade, Florida. On July 12, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released the music video of "Why We Sing" featuring Brandon Lake, filmed at Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade, Florida.

Performances

On June 20, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin performed "Kingdom" on ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'' in commemoration of

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

. The performance, which featured Naomi Raine, Chandler Moore, and Brandon Lake, was aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. On June 23, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin performed "Kingdom" on their

Tiny Desk Concert ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former '' All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music ed ...

performance as part of

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

's commemoration of

Black Music Month Black Music Appreciation Month is an annual celebration of African-American music in the United States. It was initiated as Black Music Month by President Jimmy Carter, who, on June 7, 1979, decreed that June would be the month of Black music. Af ...

. On June 26, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin did a live televised performance of "Kingdom" and "Melodies From Heaven" at the 2022 BET Awards. On July 6, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin performed "Kingdom" on ''

NBC's Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

''. On July 15, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin performed "Kingdom" on ''

Fox & Friends ''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning conservative news and talk program that airs on Fox News and reruns on Fox.Thompson, Ethan, and Jason Mittell. "Fox & Friends: Political Talk." ''How to Watch Television.'' 168-76. Print. It premie ...

'' as part of the All-American Summer Concert Series at Fox Square. On August 30, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin released a live performance video of "Bless Me" filmed at Vevo Studio through Kirk Franklin's YouTube channel.

Touring

On March 11, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin announced that they will embark on the Kingdom Tour. The tour featured

Jonathan McReynolds Jonathan Caleb McReynolds (born September 17, 1989) is a Grammy-winning American gospel musician. He began his music career in 2012 with the release of ''Life Music'' via Entertainment One Music. He has had two No. 1 ''Billboard'' Gospel Albums ...

and

Housefires Housefires is an American worship band from Atlanta, Georgia. Forming in 2014, they have released five live albums. Background Housefires originated at Grace Midtown Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The church had released two prior worship albums ...

accompanying them as special guests. The tour commenced at

FTX Arena Kaseya Center is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose arena on Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. The arena is home to the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. The arena was previously named American Airlines Arena from opening in ...

in Miami on June 1, 2022, and concluded at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in

Tinley Park, Illinois Tinley Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 55,971 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a suburb in the Chicago metropolitan ar ...

on August 7, 2022. The final four performances on the tour were called "Kingdom Nights" and featured

Tamela Mann Tamela Jean Mann (née Johnson; born June 9, 1966) is an American gospel singer and actress. She began her career as a singer with the gospel group Kirk Franklin and the Family. Mann was a primary vocalist on several tracks while with Franklin's ...

as a special guest. On September 1, 2022, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin announced a 14-date extension of the Kingdom Tour. The new tour extension began on November 3, 2022, at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and concluded on November 22, 2022, at the

Moody Center Moody Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in Austin, Texas. The arena, which replaced the Frank Erwin Center, stands on a former parking lot located immediately south of UT's soccer/track and ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Reception

Critical response

In a positive review for the Journal of Gospel Music, Robert Marovich said "The act of remembrance implicit in singing Kirk Franklin catalog songs is the troupe's way of reminding listeners that the inmates, like the songs, must not be forgotten." Joshua Andre in his 365 Days of Inspiring Media review opined that "as a whole, this is a near-flawless, powerful, and well-constructed album, with the concept of going into the prisons and recording live in the prisons, being inspiring, impacting, confronting, and encouraging. ''Kingdom Book One'' isn't a sanitised album. But it doesn't have to be. Maverick City Music's goal is to win souls for Jesus- and I think they might have done that with this release. A stellar album and a project that will be timeless, Kirk needs to be congratulated, as do everyone else involved." Reviewing for ''Others Magazine'', Jared Proellocks wrote: "This is not necessarily an album of songs to be replicated in a congregational worship setting but a vulnerable declaration of praise and love to God."

Accolades

Commercial performance

''Kingdom Book One'' debuted at number 151 on the ''Billboard'' 200, including number 2 on the

and

charts with 8,000

album-equivalent units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

. In the UK, the album debuted on the OCC's

at number 5.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdom Book One 2022 live albums Maverick City Music albums Kirk Franklin albums