Cross Before Clout

Lyrics

Written by Carl Hicks Jr. / SESAC

Cross Before Clout

Lil Sha Sha

[Intro]
[glitchy vocal sample, booming 808s, camera-shutter effects]
Yeah
Lil Sha Sha
Everybody want the spotlight
I want the Savior

[Hook]
Cross before clout, God before fame
I won’t sell my soul just to build my name
Cross before clout, truth before trends
I’d rather lose followers than lose Him

Cross before clout, faith over hype
I don’t need the world to approve my life
Cross before clout, let the whole crowd doubt
Jesus stayed with me when the lights went out

[Verse 1]
I watched people change for a blue-check sign
Trade their real voice for a borrowed life
Post one thing, then live another
Calling everybody “family,” using one another

I wanted the numbers, wanted the praise
Wanted my name in everybody’s face
Then God asked me, “Who are you without it?
Would you still worship if nobody shouted?”

That question hit harder than bass in the trunk
Showed me how pride had dressed itself up
I called it ambition, but deep down inside
I needed applause just to feel alive

So I laid that hunger down at the altar
Told God, “Fix me before I get farther”
I’d rather move slow with my spirit intact
Than blow overnight and never come back

[Pre-Chorus]
Keep the views
Keep the fame
I won’t trade
His holy name

Keep the stage
Keep the crowd
I choose the cross
And I say it loud

[Hook]
Cross before clout, God before fame
I won’t sell my soul just to build my name
Cross before clout, truth before trends
I’d rather lose followers than lose Him

Cross before clout, faith over hype
I don’t need the world to approve my life
Cross before clout, let the whole crowd doubt
Jesus stayed with me when the lights went out

[Verse 2]
They say, “Tone it down, make it more commercial
Leave out Jesus, keep it universal”
But what good is reach if the message gets buried?
What good is a crown if the soul ain’t ready?

Mark eight-thirty-six in my memory
What profit the world if it costs eternity?
I can chart real high and still fall low
So I keep God first everywhere I go

I’m not chasing rooms where I gotta play small
I’m not changing truth just to fit their walls
I don’t need a deal that silences Christ
No advance is worth my eternal life

Let the algorithm bury my post
I still got fire from the Holy Ghost
Let them call me preachy, let them call me loud
I was saved by the cross, not saved by the crowd

[Breakdown]
[beat cuts to bass pulses and handclaps]

No fake faith
For a rollout

No hidden God
For a sellout

No watered truth
For a payout

Cross before clout
Let me say it now

No compromise
No disguise

Jesus first
Every time

[Bridge]
When the cameras stop flashing
When the comments go quiet
When the stage gets empty
Will my faith still have fire?

When my name stops trending
And the crowd walks away
I want God to still know me
And be pleased with my praise

[Final Hook]
Cross before clout, God before fame
I won’t sell my soul just to build my name
Cross before clout, truth before trends
I’d rather lose followers than lose Him

Cross before clout, faith over hype
I don’t need the world to approve my life
Cross before clout, let the whole crowd doubt
Jesus stayed with me when the lights went out

[Outro]
[distorted choir rises over fading 808s]

Cross before clout
God before numbers
Truth before trends
Faith over comfort

Lil Sha Sha
No sellout
Jesus first
Cross before clout