Jackie Hill Perry Opens Up about Music, Theology, and Her LGBT Past

Jackie Hill Perry has always had a passion for words. As a young girl, she would lie in bed writing songs. In high school, she tried her hand at rapping. In college, she wrote poems, and as a young adult, she began writing books and giving speeches. 

“Even if it’s Scrabble -- I’ll play Scrabble all day long. Because it’s got words in it,” she said, laughing.

In June, Perry’s unique gift for words led her to sign a record deal with Reach Records, which was founded by and is home to Grammy-winning artist Lecrae. 

It’s a return to Christian Hip-Hop for Perry, who released albums on a different label in 2014 (The Art of Joy) and 2018 (Crescendo) before taking a lengthy break from music. 

“After I did Crescendo, I kind of had a conversation with God just about my future, my life, what to do with my gifts,” Perry told Crosswalk Headlines. “And I kind of got this sense from God that I needed to decide what to put my time into -- that’s because my margin was limited [and] my family was growing.” 

After her 2018 album, she said she chose to put most of her energy into teaching “because I just feel that’s the thing that makes me happy and gives me joy to be able to open up the Bible and teach it to people.”

“So I just put music on the back burner,” she said.

Then, last year, Perry decided to pause her writing for two years, and “that started to turn my wheels like, ‘Hmm, maybe I do have space, and maybe I do have margin to get back into music again.’”

Reach Records’ Lasanna ACE Harris, who attends Perry’s church, encouraged her to return to the music scene. 

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