Reach Records artist Trip Lee hit New York City Tuesday evening for the first ever-listening party of his highly anticipated album Rise. BreatheCast was invited to the exclusive event in where Trip Lee and Producer Gawvi expounded on the music track by track.

The listening party was held at Flute Bar & Lounge in Gramercy, New York City. About 50 people were in attendance since only some media and others were invited. Trip Lee went on the tiny stage in the dimly lit lounge to express how excited he was to be having a listening party in NYC and said how it has always been a dream of his.

Rise is Trip Lee's fifth album, and for this record the young minster teamed up with Bronx born producer Gawvi. Trip introduced Gawvi to the audience and the two expounded greatly about how their collaboration came about for this record. Gawvi mentioned that he and Trip met years ago in the early stages of Trip's career and the two even shared bunk beds. Gawvi spoke of how important it was for him to come up with original content that was authentic just for Trip.

Rise features no samples, mostly all live instrumentation and several ad libs performed by Gawvi to sound like samples and other cool noises. The beats are heavy and bang hard for sure giving the listener a full dose of good quality hip-hop.

For one of the songs in particular, Gawvi mentioned that he just went into the booth and babbled anything and Trip's "Manolo" featuring Lecrae was born. The phrase is actually a Spanish word that means "God is with us."

The album is set to release October 27, and is now available for pre-order on iTunes, Amazon, and Reach Records. The order will give fans a free download of singles "Shweet" and "Sweet Victory."

The rapper spoke openly about his health battle with chronic fatigue syndrome, and his struggle in finding a balance between being a pastor and a rapper. He also gave every one a first listen to the album. Trip also provided every one in attendance with an uncorrected proof of his upcoming book. The book entitled 'Rise' serves to further expound on the topics that the Houston native addresses in the album.

Overall the audience's response to the record was extremely positive, fans even asked if they could play it again while everyone gathered up to meet Trip and Gawvi at the end of the night. Trip maintained that his album was a celebration and is meant to encourage other people to get up and live.

Pre-order Rise on iTunes HERE, and view Breathecast's exclusive photos of the event below:

(Photo : Trip Lee and Gawvi)

(Photo : Trip Lee and Gawvi)

(Photo : Trip Lee and Gawvi pose with a fan)