Kirk Franklin has expressed disappointment over the religious backlash GloRilla has faced for collaborating with him.
During Tuesday’s (Oct. 27) episode of Big Boy’s Neighborhood, the gospel artist addressed the criticism directed at the Memphis rapper following their collaborations on “Rain Down On Me” and “This Time”. In 2025, GloRilla and Franklin also took home a BET Award in the Best Gospel/Inspirational category for “Rain Down on Me.”
“It’s been breaking my heart some of the ridicule that some of the religious have given her, [saying] that she’s not holy enough or churchy enough to be able to do a song,” Franklin said while discussing their “This Time” collaboration.
“She’s a young girl and she’s a big hip-hop star. It ain’t like Kirk Franklin bringing Glo a new bag that she can’t get on her own,” he continued.
Franklin described the track as “niche gospel,” created for a “specific community of people that believe that monotheistic ideal.”
The gospel legend also revealed that GloRilla had shared her discomfort with the criticism surrounding her appearance on “This Time,” a reaction that left the 20-time Grammy winner heartbroken. Franklin, who has collaborated with rappers such as Ye and Lil Baby, added that he stopped paying attention to judgment over his rap collaborations “a long time ago.”
“You’ve got to be a miserable group of people to spend almost half a century trying to police who can and who can’t talk about Jesus,” he said.
GloRilla has previously spoken about growing up in a religious household, where she was forbidden from listening to hip-hop. Despite the restrictions, she and her siblings found ways to get their hands on music from Lil Wayne and Drake.
“We’d steal the CDs and download all the songs onto the PlayStation. That was the only way we could listen to other music. We probably wouldn’t have known nothing other than gospel music if it wasn’t for us being bad,” the rapper told GQ, reflecting on her upbringing with her nine siblings.
