I was going through my iTunes the other day, flashing back to some early Kanye West and was blown away by his straight forward testimony in this song. In this song, Kanye is sharing what's on his heart and mind, as an artist, and isn't purposely trying to make people uncomfortable or swayed to believe in the Jesus he sings about; he comments that he's merely seeking to share truth from his life and what he believes. However, learning from the article by Hebdige, ideology is all around us; it's an unconscious partiality to something, "second-nature" and formed by a reactor. This being said, Kanye's beliefs that "Jesus walks" came from somewhere. As a star, West has a ton of hegemony in our culture and as his career started taking off, this song became very big; performed at the Grammy's, VMAs, and many other cultural mountains. This is a huge message to be shared, especially from those stages, and music itself is a powerful and convincing platform to be preaching on. I think it's awesome that he decided to be bold and share his story very publicly and honestly, not asking anyone to agree with him, but rather as a story of his life. However, I also think that even if he isn't asking anyone to agree with him, it is implied. By singing along, in any song, we are believing and agreeing right alongside the artist who wrote the lyrics. Reading these lyrics, it's obvious the point he's making, and I think it's effective to both the christian culture as well as the non-christian culture. Kanye's demographic broadened because the idea of God is such a heated topic that most people have some sort of background with or opinion of. This song was obviously very successful in the "secular" culture, but it also opened the door between the christian cheesy music genre and the secular popular music genre, which today the gap between those two genres are diminishing more and more. Kanye's honesty and realness in this song subconsciously invites people - christian or not - to open their mind to this God who forgives and loves them like Kanye experienced and testifies to; irregardless of his lifestyle choices.
Wow. What a great post! It was really interesting and being a fan of Kanye, I couldn't resist clicking on your post. I am no stranger to this song's lyrics, or even more, Kanye West as a controversial rapper. As this post exemplifies, he's one rapper who brings up topics that most rappers stray away from. You post is especially strong because Kanye West is a prime example of hegemony in today's society. Today's musicians, collectively, are today's leading trend and view-setters. One thing that caught my eye was your conclusion that when we sing along with the songs, we agree and believe the lyrics. Can we say that with certainty?
ReplyDeleteJust something to think about.
Yeah that's interesting to think about! Thanks for the comment. It's something I've been learning lately; being a musician I've been starting to write more and because of that, my eyes have been opening to music lyrics in a new way. Music is something that hits deep, it's universal, it's powerful, it changes moods, it does a lot subconsciously. And I've started to notice, after experimenting with changing my music listening habits, that what I listen to or intake will then spill out of me. If I'm being fed crap, I'm going to feel like crap and probably my body will get used to it. If I'm eating healthy, I'll feel way better and my body will notice if I have junk food once or twice and it'll probably feel sick. Small example, but if I'm around people who swear, I'll probably start swearing more often without thinking about it. But if then I get around people who don't swear at all, I become conscious of it and most likely will start adhering to that norm of not swearing. Words hold so much power and it's like we're breathing life into being when we speak... or we're tearing down life as we speak. And when music is added to that mix, as we sing along, I think it's super powerful, we're speaking the words out in our own voice so I think that yeah personally I'd say that with certainty.
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