Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin – Bless Me

Maverick City Music is essentially a congregation that sings together.  They released six EP’s and eight albums, including:

• Maverick City Vol. 1 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 2 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 1 (2020)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 2 (2020)
• You Hold It All Together (EP, 2020)
• Maverick City Christmas (EP, 2020)
• Move Your Heart (EP, 2021)
• Jubilee (EP, 2021)
• Como En El Cielo (Spanish, 2021)
• Old Church Basement (with Elevation Worship, 2021)
• Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition (2021)
• Tribl I (with Tribl, 2021)
• Venga Tu Reino (2021)
• A Very Maverick Christmas (2021)

They were really busy in 2021!

They won three awards last year, including one Billboard Music Award for Top Gospel Album for their album Maverick City Vol. 3 Part 1 and two GMA Doves: New Artist of the Year and Worship Album of the Year (Old Church Basement).

Also, check out my previous Maverick City Music reviews.

Choir director, artist, and lyricist Kirk Franklin is well known for his Gospel choirs, including The Family, God’s Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC).  This stomp director also enjoyed a lavish solo career and numerous awards, including 13 Grammy’s, 21 Dove’s, 23 Stellar’s, and an American Music, Urban Music, and Soul Train Award.

He has released numerous albums under his choir names and himself, including Kirk Franklin & The Family (1993), God’s Property (1997), Kirk Franklin Presents 1NC (2000), and Long Live Love (2019).  This last album contains the subject of this review: Love Theory, which won a “Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year” Dove last year.

Check out my review of his song Love Theory.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Maverick and Franklin desire God’s blessing for all people, thanking Him for His triumph over the grave, for providing, and for His rescue regardless of their struggles.  In response, they worship Him and invite others to do the same.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, you won’t like parts of Chorus.  Although it follows a similar structure to Psalm 136, the second half of it has lines repeating four to five times in a row.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

All of it.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Intro]

One, two, three
Bless me!

References Numbers 6:24, Psalm 28:9, and Psalm 134:3.

[Verse 1]

Bless me, bless me, bless me, God, indeed

See Intro.

Death has been defeated, He is our victory (Come on!)

That is, Jesus conquered death (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14).

Bless me, bless me, God, not just for me
But so everyone around me can have everything they need

Maverick and Franklin desire all to be blessed; He provides for our needs (Genesis 2:15-16, Genesis 9:3, Genesis 22:8, Exodus 16:1-36, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 34:10, Psalm 81:10, Psalm 84:11, Psalm 107:9, Proverbs 10:3, Malachi 3:10, Matthew 6:25-30, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14, John 14:26, John 15:1-10, John 15:16, Romans 8:32, Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8, and 2 Corinthians 12:9).

(Let all these folks) Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need

Essentially repeats line 4.

(Sing it again)

Telegraphs repeated phrase.

Bless me, bless me, bless me, God, indeed
(Death) Death has been defeated, He is our victory
(Come on) Bless me, bless me, God, not just for me
But so everyone around me can have everything they need
(Let all these folks) Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need (Take it up, favor)

Repeats/essentially repeats lines 1-5.

[Verse 2]

Favor, favor (Woo!), let it fall on me
Till I’m the conversation of all my enemies (Woo!)

Probably a reference to Psalm 23:5, followed by a marriage proposal.

Favor, favor, God, not just for me
But so everyone around me can have everything they need
(Let all these folk) Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need

Essentially repeats Verse 1, lines 3-5.

(Favor, favor, favor, favor) Favor, favor, let it fall on me
Till I’m the conversation of all my enemies (Come on)
Favor, favor, God, not just for me
But so everyone around me can have everything they need
(Let all these folk) Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need (Take it up, bless me)

Essentially repeats lines 1-5.

[Interlude]

Hey, hey,

Horse food.

Persecuted, not abandoned

Quotes from part of 2 Corinthians 4:9.

We got all that we need

See Verse 1, line 4.

Hey, hey,
Persecuted, not abandoned (Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go)
We got all that we need

Repeats lines 1-3.

[Chorus]

Persecuted, not abandoned (We got everything we need)

Combines Interlude, line 1 with a slightly modified Interlude, line 3.

Criticized, never forsaken (We got everything we need)

Probably a nod to 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

Because God’s a promise keeper (We got everything we need)

Based on His timetable, not ours (2 Peter 3:9).

I got victory because (Our God’s got everything we need)
I shall live and not die (We got everything we need)
Because Jehovah’s by my side (We got everything we need)

That is, because He is no longer at emnity with us, but has redeemed us through Jesus (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15-26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).

Did I tell you He’s a friend of mine? (We got everything we need)

No, no you did not (John 15:15)!

Lift Him up, lift Him up (Our God’s got everything we need)
Take it up, take it up (We got everything we need)

Praise God!

Take it up, take it up (We got everything we need)
Take it up, take it up (We got everything we need)
Yeah, take it up! (Our God’s got everything we need)

Repeats line 9.

And I never should forget (We got everything we need)
He’s never failed me yet (We got everything we need)

See line 3.

Side Note: While I hate seeing the word “yet” because it can imply that God could fail, line 3 nullifies this criticism.  Thus, I cannot deduct points.

Every trial, every test (We got everything we need)
We bless, we bless, we bless, we bless (Our God’s got everything we need)
We bless, we bless, we bless, we bless (We got everything we need)
We bless, we bless, we bless, we bless (We got everything we need)
We bless, we bless, we bless, we bless (We got everything we need)
Yeah, we bless, we bless! (Our God’s got everything we need)
Take it up! (We got everything we need)

See lines 8 and 9.

We got everything we need (We got everything we need)
We got everything we need (We got everything we need)
We got everything we need (Our God’s got everything we need)
We got– (We got everything we need)
We got everything we need (We got everything we need)
We got every, every (We got everything we need)
Every, every (Our God’s got everything we need)

Repeats the off-repeat from line 1.

Ooh!

Calls out to Casper the friendly ghost.

[Outro]

(Bless me, bless me) Bless me, bless me, bless me, God, indeed
Death has been defeated, He is our victory
Bless me, bless me, God, not just for me
But so everyone around me can have everything they need
Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need
Let all these folks that’s with me, God, have everything they need

Repeats different parts of previous lines examined.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The phrase “Death has been defeated, He is our victory ” in Verse 1 makes it crystal clear that this song is about Jesus.  They should easily conclude that this song is about receiving God’s blessing and thanking Him for what He’s done for those who are His.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God as the One who lavishes His blessing on His people, rose from the grave, and keeps His promises.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin’s Bless Me is filled with blessing.  He envelopes us with blessing upon blessing, which came to us through the death and resurrection of Christ.  It also states that God will always fulfill His promises and will be with us through all of life’s struggles, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly.

This song is suitable for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Bless Me (listen to the song)

Artist: Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin

Album: Kingdom Book One

Genre:  Gospel

Release Year: 2022

Duration: 4:33

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*Copyright © 2022 Aunt Gertrude Music Publishing Llc. (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.