Do You Want a Revolution? Kirk Franklin & Fred Hammond Bring "The Healing" to VerzuzTV
At a time when it feels like the world is against us with the COVID-19 pandemic and like we're against each other with #BlackLivesMatter, gospel legends Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond hosted the first gospel Verzuz Battle titled, "The Healing: Color of Change" on Instagram Live today.
What was formed by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland as a way for artists with similar catalogues, such as Teddy Riley vs. BabyFace and Jill Scott vs. Erykah Badu, to "battle" against each other, as entertainment during quarantine, shifted gears for two and a half hours today, 2PM PST/5PM EST, to bring much-needed prayers and healing to family, friends and supporters of victims of police brutality, specifically the most recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
Bishop T.D. Jakes opened the afternoon in prayer, asking for "light in a time of too much darkness and violence, from Trayvon Martin to Floyd".
Then, with Franklin donning a black shirt with the words "I CAN'T BREATHE", a reference to the last words uttered by Eric Garner before his July 2014 death by police, and Hammond donning a Cross chain and the same shirt that read "I CAN'T BREATHE...AGAIN", a reference to Floyd's last words before his May 2020 death, it was time to worship through song, with a medley of hits from the pair from yesteryear to literally tomorrow.
Franklin and Hammond took turns playing snippets (due to Instagram copyright laws) of some of their biggest hits, that coincided with what's happening in America today.
Viewers enjoyed sounds from Franklin such as "(He Reigns) Our God Is An Awesome God", "He's Able" (1993), "Brighter Day" (2002), "Revolution" (1998), "Silver and Gold" (1993), "Now Behold the Lamb" (1995) and "Imagine Me" (2005); while Hammond blessed us with melodies such as "All Things are Working" (1998), "Let the Praise Begin" (1998), "Running Back to You" (1986), "They That Wait" (2009), and "You Are the Living Word" (2003).
After Hammond's "You Are the Living Word", Franklin invited former member of The Family and vocal powerhouse Tamela Mann, to sing a live rendition of their 2012 song, "Take Me to the King", which was followed by Hammond's 2006 hit, "This is the Day".
What came shortly after was another fun moment from Franklin, and his wife, Tammy, as they danced (and Franklin Milly Rocked) to his 1996 song "Melodies from Heaven", which Hammond followed with his 1996 song "No Weapon".
However, the highlight of the evening was from Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, who, upon returning a call to Hammond and Franklin, simply thanked everyone for their support and asked to continue to be lifted up in prayer.
Other songs that the pair blessed viewers with were Franklin's "Reason Why We Sing" (1993), "My Life Is In Your Hands" (1997), "Smile" (2011) and Kanye West's "Ultralight Beam" (2016), before Hammond brought the evening to a close with a prayer.
As The Healing came to an end, Franklin pulled out his 1997 dance hit "Stomp" by God's Property, which featured a verse from female rap duo Salt-N-Pepa, with Hammond's "We're Blessed" (1995) coming in right after.
Just before playing their last two songs (Hammond's "Alright" (2019) and the final song, "My Desire" (1998) by Franklin and The Family, featuring Hammond), Franklin previewed a new song that he will be releasing tomorrow, June 1, called "Strong God", which he said he wrote specifically for what's happening in America right now.
Garnering an easy 278k viewers, among them Devon Franklin, Sevyn, Elijah Connor, TonyBakerComedy, Vibe Magazine, Keri Hilson, Ryan Tedder, Swizz Beats and Timbaland, Amber Riley, Letitia Wright, Kerry Washington, Eric Ballinger, Nick Cannon, Alicia Keys and many more, Hammond and Franklin provided an outlet for people who need a mental, spiritual and emotional break from the pandemic and images and videos of police brutality, if only for a moment, reminding everyone that "He's Able".
Click here to watch the VerzuzTV live and, if you can, click here to donate to Color of Change to help combat violence and injustice against the Black community of America.
