Kirk Franklin Stopped Apologizing — His First Double Album in 33 Years Just Dropped

Thirty-three years into one of the most argued-about careers in gospel music, Kirk Franklin has stopped explaining himself. His new album, “I Am What I Am,” released Friday, October 30, is his 14th solo album and — remarkably, for an artist who has been reinventing gospel since 1993 — the first double album of his career, the Associated Press reported. The title is the thesis. The format is the argument.

The album is split cleanly in two, according to uDiscover Music’s release coverage. One side is seven studio recordings, built around cross-genre collaborations. The other is seven songs recorded live in church, with a choir, a band and a live audience — Franklin back on the floor where his career started. Fourteen tracks, two rooms, one artist refusing to pick a lane.

The guest list is the point

The studio side reads like a festival poster that wandered into a sanctuary. “This Time” pairs Franklin with GloRilla. “Free Me Tonight” features Jelly Roll — a spoken-word track that, as RELEVANT Magazine’s release coverage notes from the AP’s reporting, nods to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” “Hope In You,” the album’s focus track, features Davido. “It Gets Better” brings in Tobe Nwigwe. And on the live side, gospel royalty holds the door: Karen Clark Sheard of the Clark Sisters appears on “Thank You For Everything.”

Franklin knows exactly what that guest list invites, because he has been hearing it for decades. The AP’s release-day profile describes an introspective Franklin who is tired of defending his musical decisions — he told the AP he once prayed with Chris Brown and Usher before a concert because they asked him to, a moment that drew criticism online, and he is not sorry for teaming up with GloRilla despite the explicit content in her catalog. The album is his answer: not a rebuttal track, but a whole double album built the way he wanted to build it.

The single already made history

The rollout arrived with a record attached. “This Time,” released September 25, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart dated October 10 — Franklin’s 10th No. 1 on that chart, making him the first artist to reach double digits since the ranking began in 2005, as RELEVANT reported from Billboard’s figures. A 20-time Grammy winner, honored last year with the Recording Academy Black Music Collective’s icon award alongside Pharrell Williams and Brandy, Franklin is at the stage of a career where most artists coast on the catalog. Instead, he is setting chart firsts with a Memphis rapper on the lead single.

Give Kirk his flowers

Kirk Franklin helped change what gospel could sound like, where it could travel, and who could recognize themselves in it.

“Stomp,” “Revolution” and “Brighter Day” are part of that story. Franklin brought the choir into conversation with the rhythms of R&B and hip-hop, making room for a generation whose musical lives already stretched across those worlds. The Recording Academy pointed to that reach when it announced his Black Music Icon honor in 2025. The influence is bigger than a trophy: his work made that conversation feel possible.

That is the reason to give him the Culture cover now. His new music carries a question that has followed his career: who gets to belong in the room? In his Audacy interview about this project, Franklin described the strain of being questioned by his own community, even as his purpose remained sharing his faith. The title “I Am What I Am” puts his answer in plain view.

There is something worth celebrating in an artist who has spent decades building that space and still wants to make it wider. Kirk has earned his flowers for the doors he opened. This album gives us a reason to pay attention to what he is doing with them today.

Spend time on both sides

The album’s structure makes that invitation concrete: seven studio tracks and seven live recordings give both approaches equal room.

For a first pass, try “This Time” with GloRilla, then “Hope In You” with Davido. Follow them with “Someday” and “Thank You For Everything,” featuring Karen Clark Sheard, from the live side. That listening route puts the project’s central idea within reach: the contemporary collaborations and the church recordings belong to the same musical life.

Then make room for Franklin’s own studio tracks, including “Able,” “Do It Again” and “Stay.” Give the songs without a headline guest the same attention as the names that brought you in.

Franklin’s gift has always included knowing how to gather people around a song. The writing, arranging and choir leadership are the work behind that familiar presence. A project that makes room for both the studio and a live congregation is a fitting way to recognize the breadth of that work.

Start wherever your ear takes you. Then cross over to the other half. Give both sides their time. More from the Previously music desk.

Listen to I Am What I Am
Watch “Hope In You”
Watch “Someday (Live)”