Gospel star Franklin reinvents himself for good

KIRK FRANKLIN

- 8 p.m. Saturday

- Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State

- Tickets, $32.50-$62.50

- (312) 559-1212

- - -

NEW YORK -- A martyr. The Earth Wind and Fire of gospel music. Aman set free from an addiction to pornography.

Kirk Franklin, whose groundbreaking fusion of hip-hop and gospelhas galvanized youth and brought chart-topping crossover success,defines himself in many ways. But one title he doesn't like is"celebrity."

Now on his "Hero" tour with Mary Mary and Yolanda Adams (followinghis album of the same name), Franklin sat down to answer a fewquestions and once again challenge the entertainment industry.

Q. Why did you choose to make your past struggles with pornographypublic?

A. When I was working on this 'Hero' album, there's a song onthere called 'Let It Go' and I'm telling my story, and of course thatis part of my story and so I did it in the song. And when the Oprahpeople contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in comingon the show and talking about what I've gone through with it, talkingto my wife and talking to my pastor, they thought it was a good idea.

Q. What kind of backlash have you experienced?

A. I had a friend in Atlanta call me and he said, "Boy, you got'em coming out the woodworks like roaches now." He said, "You'remessing with men's 'golf.' " Because that's a lot of men's pastime.So, a lot of guys, a lot of people maybe got mad at me because Ipoured light on their secret.

Q. What about gospel music's response to Hurricane Katrina -- itdoesn't seem too evident.

A. The gospel community does a billion things when things go down.We just don't have the platform. When Harry Connick Jr. doessomething or Beyonce does something, the press is going to come outto it. We did a thing (for Katrina evacuees) in Dallas, Texas, at thePotter's House, over 14-15,000 people showed up. ... We raised --what was it, like $150,000 that night. It went straight to thepeople. We didn't have no press there. Really, we had nobody there.We had people from the gospel press. That's so sad. Don't nobodycome.

Q. That seems strange since gospel is crossing over so well.

A. My question is, though, is it really crossing over? Or do youjust have gospel artists that every now and then get urban play. Ithink that when hip-hop became 'pop,' not just Run-DMC became pop --LL Cool J became pop, Salt 'n' Pepa became pop, the Fugees becamepop, the whole movement became pop. You just didn't have a couple ofpeople that was just kind of hittin' and getting some urban radio.You had a whole movement.

Q. What's the take-home message from the 'Hero' tour?

A. Even in 2006, the gospel is still reliable, is still credible.... God is still real. These lights, cameras and this dancing andthis production is put together by people who are people of faith.This ain't a Kanye concert but it's just as crunk, it's just as crunkas a Lil' Jon concert. And we're also presenting something that haseternal value, instead of just a good time.