Here's the second installation to the latest Profound Co. series "All-Time Yeezy", a series dedicated to the songs that made the beautiful dark twisted fantasy known as Kanye West.
This week:
Title: Jesus Walks
Album: The College Dropout
Produced by: Kanye West
A song that is very much an autobiographical statement as well as huge success for Kanye, Jesus Walks proved that the rapper had truly made it just by its existence. Many in the industry believed that a religious single would never make it to the radio, especially for a hip-hop artist, and Kanye was rejected by a number of record labels after playing the demo. Not only did the record go on to top charts and win numerous awards, but it also received tremendous critical praise and had a huge impact on both the religious and Hip-Hop communities. Regardless of religious affiliation, the feeling of recognizing the tremendous weakness of basic human nature and need for an association with a higher divinity is an incredibly personal, terrifying, and humbling experience. Yet Kanye manages to musically and lyrically capture this expression while also making social commentary in a mere four minutes. Actually, he does this within the first thirteen seconds. As listeners, we first hear the alarming shouts of a chain gang leader, followed by the voices of the men in chains themselves. By the time the eerie "Ooh's" of the gospel choir roll in, goosebumps have risen. Historically, chain gangs were institutions of modern slavery. Composed of society's most downtrodden, particularly African-Americans and the poor who may have been wrongfully convicted, chain-gangs performed backbreaking and soul-wrenching hard labor in the burning sun of America's south. With only their faith and voices to affirm their existence, chain-gang members would often sing songs that cried out to God and/or humanity. The desperation yet bitter fight for life and salvation heard in Kanye's lyrics about millennial society echo the sounds of the chain-gangs, bringing "Jesus Walks" to a folk-song level. Christian or not, as humans we can all empathize with the inescapable personal struggle between darkness and light we all experience throughout our lives.
As for the video, its chilling visuals speak for themselves. The most stunning of them however has to be the clansman carrying his hand-made burning cross, lighting himself on fire in the process.
Favorite Line: The chorus-- God show me the way because the devil's trying to break me down/ The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now/ And I don't think there's nothing I can do now to right my wrongs/ I wanna talk to God but I'm afraid cus we ain't spoke in so long.
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