Kanye West

Album: College Dropout

Song: Jesus Walks

Reviewed by: Krystal Burns

The Band

As far as hip-hop goes, Kanye West is hot. And I’m not talking about his looks. He is one of the most sought after hip-hop producers anywhere. Only 26 years old, and the Chicago native is an accomplished producer and artist. He claims to have started his career when he was in third grade, experimenting with beats and rhymes while everyone else was on the playground. He signed with ROC-A-FELLA in 2002, and has since produced tracks for artists such as Twista, Donell Jones, Ludacris, and others. However, one of his true passions was to release an album of his own, which he did February 10, 2004.

The Music

Kanye's debut album “College Dropout” has critics raving. You would be hard pressed to find a hip-hop lover with anything bad to say about it. His approach is fresh and creative, new beats and new topics. The album itself is reflects the new generation and new ways of thinking in which there are no contradictions: everything is true and nothing is true. Kanye can sing praises to God, fornication, drugs, and murder all on the same album and mean every word of it. Songs on his album include “All Falls Down,” “Breath In Breath Out,” and “Jesus Walks.” Keep listening for his songs on that charts—it will be interesting to see what comes up!

The Song

“Jesus Walks” has been creeping its way up the charts for several weeks. This intrigued me, given a song with a title like that doesn’t easily make it on the charts at all. So I sat down with the lyrics to try to figure out what this guy’s saying. And to be honest, I don’t get it. So why review a song I don’t get? Because this is the type of song we as Christians are often too eager to applaud before really thinking it through. Kanye talks about prayer, his walk with God, and even his sins. Sounds good, right? But things aren’t always what they seem, so we have to take a closer look.

First of all let me say that many songs, including this one, are often intentionally confusing. That’s why musicians are called artist. If you’ve ever been exposed to modern art, you know what I mean. You aren’t supposed to get it. It’s art. If you actually understood what you were looking at, it wouldn’t be modern art. The same principle applies to music. Some songs are meant to make you feel, not think.

Kanye opens “Jesus Walks” with a picture of the violence, hatred, and chaos that we live in and around everyday. He says, “We at war with terrorism, racism but most of all we at war with ourselves” and asks God to show him the way because “the Devil” is attacking him. He goes on to describe crime and corruption both in the suburbs and in the city, so it’s unclear if he actually is referring to the person of Satan, or using “the Devil” to personify the conditions he’s just described.

The second half of the song perhaps gives more insight, as Kanye seems to imply a distance between the world, himself and God. “I want to talk to God but I’m afraid because we ain’t spoke in so long/ To the hustlas, killers, murderers, drug dealers even the strippers/ To the victims of Welfare for we living in hell here/ Now hear ye hear ye want to see Thee more clearly.” Again, showing a need for God and a desire to see him, which he builds on. “I’m just trying to say the way school need teachers/ The way Kathy Lee needed Regis that’s the way ya’ll need Jesus.” However, in this case Kanye seems to refer to God more as an essence of good, peace, and love, rather than an actually living, relational being. Furthermore, the line just before that one says, “I’m not here to convert atheists into believers,” which begs the question what is he trying to do?

Kanye ends the second verse with “They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus…But if I talk about God my record won’t get played, huh? / Well let this take away from my spins… Then I hope this take away from my sins.” He goes on to say he hope someday he walks into a club and hear everyone singing the chorus:

Jesus walks. God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down
Jesus walks The only thing I pray is that me feet don’t fail me now

I have two thoughts on this. First of all, it almost sounds as though Kanye is daring them to play this song, which talks about Jesus—a taboo subject in the rap and hip-hop world. Kanye is noted for his “biting sarcasm” and it wouldn’t be completely out of character for him to compose a song just like this to show the world he can hit the charts with any song, even a song about Jesus.

Secondly, if this actually is a sincere, genuine song, then it seems Kanye's theology needs an element of grace. Kanye seems to believe this song will gain him some points in heaven, and cancel out some of the bad things he’s done. But fortunately for everyone God doesn’t quite work that way. We would never be able to make up for all the times we haven’t honored God with our actions and choices. But the good news is that we don’t have to. Jesus already paid the price for everything we’ve ever done wrong, and all we have to do is believe (Romans 10:9-13). Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Final thoughts… Well, yours are as good as mine! But I will say that given what the song DOESN’T say, I wouldn’t make any assumptions about Kanye West’s faith in Jesus Christ.

So What Do You Think?

1. What are you’re thoughts on Kanye West?

2. How about on this song? (Hint: you may want to look up the lyrics to get the full picture)

3. How important do you think it is to put a song like this in the context of the original album?

4. Why do you think this song in particular is gaining popularity

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