Jason White and The Samples performed on Resurrection Sunday at the House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia, on April 9. The collective flipped Atlanta-based classics into gospel lyrics.
The group derived from Kanye West’s Sunday Service choir, where the collective originally began flipping popular R&B songs into tunes of praise and worship. Sunday night’s event included stars like Ricky Dillard, B. Simone, Kim Burrell, E Dewey Smith and Jay Morrison.
“I’ve known and have been a fan of Jason’s for years now,” Dillard told rolling out. “And I love what he’s doing.”
One of the standout moments from the performance was when White, who conducted the ensemble from the top of a prop car throughout the performance, stepped down and handed off a microphone to Burrell, who began singing. The performance went from upbeat hip-hop remixes to remixed R&B ballads to a new take on classic gospel songs. White has fully reintroduced praise and worship in a new way. He said you have to meet people where they are in their journey of getting to know Christ.
The performance occurred in the House of Hope Atlanta’s black theater room, a room Smith told White meant a lot to him, and a room that stood out to White when he toured the church a few months ago.
“I kept thinking, I want to do something in that room,” White said.
On Easter night 2023, the thought came to life, and Southern believers were blessed with a performance to remember.
