Jesus Walks - Kanye West
Jesus is everywhere - from designer label All Saints' silver-studded belts proclaiming 'Jesus Loves You' to River Island's cartoon-Christ t-shirts bearing the WWJD legend. Never before has the Son of God been so assimilated in order to push product.
It doesn't stop there. Christ is in the cinema, Christ is in politics, and now Christ is in a pop chart near you. And no, it's not Christmas, and Sir Cliff is nowhere to be heard. Instead, it's the goth-shock rocker Marilyn Manson and the critically lauded US rap star Kanye West who are responsible.
Manson's latest release, a cover of Depeche Mode's classic 'My Own Personal Jesus', attacks America's right wing , as the Republicans lay claim to divine approval in the run-up to the elections (see our recent CWC 'God is not a Republican'). Kanye's song 'Jesus Walks', however, reveals an even more radical message for contemporary America.
It is many things - an attack on racism and the divide between rich and poor, a confession ('I want to talk to God but I'm afraid cos we ain't spoke in so long') and a rooted 'gospel' song depicting Christ's compassion for the outcast:
'To the hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers, even the strippers, Jesus walks with them. To the victims of welfare, feel we living in hell here, hell yeah, Jesus walks with them.'
But the unique prophetic edge of both the song and album (The College Dropout) is West's unflinching critique of aspects of his own Afro-American culture. He refuses to embrace the popular image of rapper-as-gangster-hero, and undermines the superficiality of the bling-bling, hip-hop consumer lifestyle. As his recent hit 'All Falls Down' decrees, 'The prettiest people do the ugliest things/For the road to the riches and the diamond rings.'
West also calls into account the deep hypocrisy of a media culture which encourages its stars to flaunt sex and violence but never religious ideals. As he spits in Jesus Walks, 'They said you can rap anything except for Jesus.'
Christians wishing to make it in the music world are often wary that overt expressions of faith will make them unpopular. Perhaps the gospel according to Kanye shows that incisive social thinking accompanied by assured musicianship is one way to ensure that, directly or indirectly, Jesus gets to talk (if not walk, quite yet) with the MTV masses.
Jason Gardner
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