NLE The Great, formerly known as NLE Choppa, has recently spoken out about taking a break from music to regain his mental state.
On October 10, the Memphis rapper was a guest on gospel singer Kirk Franklin’s Den of Kings YouTube channel for a roundtable conversation with Dr. Jay Barnett, comedians KevOnStage, Ray J and actor Jonathan Majors. During the chat, NLE talked about taking a break from music for four months.
“I just sat down for three or four months. I took a break,” NLE revealed. “I could have made $4, 5, 6, 10 million dollars. I left all the money on my plate and sat down because something was not right with me mentally.”
During that time, he returned to his Memphis roots and was grounded, NLE said. He went on a 112-day “search,” journaling in nature, to get closer to God.
“He gave me a dream,” NLE continued. “People I needed to stay away from, snakes, rats, whoever. He put everything in my life under a microscope.”
Although NLE had embarked on a profound spiritual journey, he still had questions about institutional religion. During the chat, he also objected to Christians praising Jesus instead of God, to which Jonathan Major responded by asking NLE to reread the Bible.
Despite his risqué content, NLE The Great has been on a spiritual journey throughout his career. This summer, he seemed to take another step forward, announcing that he would be going by the name NLE The Great and releasing the song “Messiah.”
