JJ Hairston & YP 7th LIVE Recording- “I See Victory”
JJ Hairston & YP- “I See Victory” LIVE Recording
Monday, November 4, 2013
The First Cathedral, Bloomfield, CT
-Hasan James
Root Magazine’s EIC, Hasan James & JJ Hairston at VIP reception after the recording
The bible says that the number seven is the number of completion and after six previous recordings, JJ Hairston and YP have outdone themselves with a complete work that is sure to garner various accolades that their previous works have not accomplished. On Monday, November 4, 2013, Bloomfield, CT was the place to be as #ISeeVictory was the hash tag of the evening. Notables like Kierra Sheard, Anthony Brown, Jonathan Nelson, Ted Winn, VP of A&R at e-One- Joe “Flip” Wilson, Bishop George and Mary Searight, Professor Craig Hayes, Jawn Murray, Cheryl “Coko” Clemons, Lance Williams, T-Wyse, Da Gospel Truth, Liz Black and many others were all in attendance to celebrate “Mr. Nice Guy”, JJ Hairston and YP.
Jason Nelson and Anthony Brown pose for the camera at the VIP reception
The recording was held at The First Cathedral where JJ is worship leader. The church was full to capacity with approximately 4,000 fans, gospel taste makers, media, church members, friends, family and fellow artists and was a night that none of us will ever forget. Let’s be clear, Vashawn Mitchell, Jason Nelson, Deon Kipping, Lowell Pye, Karen Clark Sheard, Donnie McClurkin and Fondrea Lewis all did an amazing job vocally and sang under the anointing. I mean, do we expect anything less from these powerhouses? However, the additional highlights of the evening came from the lead singers of YP; namely, Melissa Bethea, Marc Britt, Dave McClure, Tiffany Woodside and Brittney Wright. Brittney gave such a great vocal performance that it prompted Donnie McClurkin to call her out and have Karen Clark- Sheard lay hands on her as somewhat of a right of passage…so powerful!
JJ Hairston introducing the legendary Karen Clark- Sheard
Kierra Sheard flowed under the anointing on the reprise of “I Am In Awe of You”
Another highlight was the legendary Karen Clark Sheard on the song “I Am In Awe Of You.” Although Sheard tripped up on a few words, she is a legend and even her flaws are amazing! But there is no way you can have a future legend like Kierra Sheard in the audience and not have her sing. So what does she do? She tags the song that her legendary mother sang and as Jonathan Nelson says, “She crushed it.” I See Victory is the best JJ Hairston & YP album ever and that is a pretty huge proclamation after big albums like “Awesome God”, “Exalted”, “Resting On His Promise” and “After This”. JJ Hairston himself wrote every song, and it is evident that he put his heart and soul into this project, as each and every song was prolific. There’s only one problem, the songs were so good that it’s going to be hard to pick a first single. In hindsight, I think that is a good problem to have. “I See Victory” will hit stores summer 2014.
At the end of his song, “Bless Me”, Pastor Donnie McClurkin called Deon Kipping, Vashawn Mitchell, Jason Nelson and Karen Clark Sheard to the stage for an impromptu reprise
Karen Clark Sheard & Donnie McClurkin laying hands on Brittney Wright
