Song:View The City
Album:Stellar Award Hits 2004
Rizen was a traditional gospel music group who won Best New Artist at the 2004 Stellar Awards. Things didn't go so well after that. They released three albums on three different labels which is usually a bad sign. Adriann Lewis and sister Aundrea Lewis are from Saginaw, MI. Their dad is Elder Luciose Lewis Jr. of the New Galilee Baptist Church. Obviously they grew up singing in church and directing the choir. They formed Rizen with Kanika Trigg and Ashley Jones. The 2003 CD Rizen was released on Light Records. Adriann wrote all their songs including View The City. It did well on gospel radio and Rizen won Best New Artist at the 2004 Stellar Awards. The album is out of print but you can get View The City on this various artists budget CD. By the time the 2005 CD Rizen 2 was released, Kanika and Ashley left Rizen and that album was on Artemis. That album didn't do as well as the first one. Fred Hammond signed them to Verity and he produced the 2009 album Free. That was Rizen's final album. Like I said, they recorded on three different labels which is not good. Also, these are youngish singers trying to record traditional gospel while others are recording hip hop influenced gospel to reach young people. Rizen's music is aimed at an older audience. I don't know if there was record company pressure on Rizen to be more contemporary but that would not surprise me. The first two albums were recorded live which is typical for traditional gospel. I think the third Rizen album may have been recorded in the studio. Traditional gospel artists like the energy of a live audience. Adriann Lewis released a solo album last year on her own label. But for a brief time, Rizen looked like the next big thing in gospel music. Here's Rizen performing View The City on Bobby Jones Gospel 2004.
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