Monday, September 10, 2012

No Church in the Wild

I was listening to my men Jay Z and Kanye and thinking about the meaning behind their song No Church in the Wild. Okay, truth be told, I never listen to either one of these guys , but I did check out the song because there has been a fair about of theological reflection on its content. I have to admit it's catchy. "Catchy" is definitely an old guy term.

Amongst the lyrics I'm willing to print are:

[Frank Ocean]Human beings in a mob
What’s a mob to a king?
What’s a king to a god?
What’s a god to a non-believer?
Who don’t believe in anything?

We make it out alive
All right, all right
No church in the wild

[Jay-Z]
Tears on the mausoleum floor
Blood stains the coliseum doors
Lies on the lips of a priest
Thanksgiving disguised as a feast
Rollin’ in the Rolls-Royce Corniche
Only the doctors got this, I’m hidin’ from police
Cocaine seats
All white like I got the whole thing bleached
Drug dealer chic
I’m wonderin’ if a thug’s prayers reach
Is Pious pious cause God loves pious?
Socrates asks, “Whose bias do y’all seek?”
All for Plato, screech
I’m out here ballin’, I know y’all hear my sneaks
Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy, laid beats
Hova flow the Holy Ghost, get the hell up out your seats
Preach
Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, the impression I get is that it is a jungle out there, and religion is corrupt, and there ain't no church in the wild. And are they saying that they are gods?  If this is accurate -- correct me if I'm wrong -- the song is a bit of an endorsement of anarchy and everybody for him or her self.

I don't believe that and I still feel that religion at its best draws people into a community where worshipping God inspires them to be their collective best. Even counter cultural movements such as Occupy support that notion and religious groups got on board.

Enlighten me if I've got this all wrong. Do you know this song or spoken with anyone about it? A good topic for a study group?
at

3 comments:

  1. IanD9:29 AM

    First of all, this is a GREAT posting. Way to reference what the darned kids are listenin' to these days.

    I can't stand rap on principle, but I always stop myself and then remind myself that it's really just 21st century blues. In the 40s and 50s, recorded blues (either acoustic or electric) was anathema to adults and parents - some even called it "the devil's music." It took rebels like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and then their disciples (the Beatles, Stones, Jimi, etc.) to make it mainstream.

    Now, the mainstream music of many youth (and black youth, in particular) is the rap niche. As black culture popularizes its artforms, whites strain to co-opt them for themselves. Elvis and Eminem have more in common that you'd ever think at first blush!

    The bottom line is that rap (and blues before it) is a way of communicating an under-communicated world view. As for Jay-Z and Kanye, I'd say they're talking about the very things you just mentioned, David.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown7:58 AM

    It's one of my favourite songs by Kanye West, and I would most definitely agree with your conclusion that the song is in a way endorsing Anarchy, but I'd say it is more saying that the way government is approaching drug policy (in the US it is by any measure racist) that the lives of many young black men are forced into anarchy through black market dealings.

    I find that a lot of Kanye West's recent music has deep messages like this. I would recommend to you a song by Kanye West called Runaway.

    ReplyDelete
  3. David Mundy9:05 AM

    Thanks for your insights guys. I will check out that song Jonathan.

    If there is any question about the influence of these musicians consider this -- normally I get about 200 pageviews per day, down to about 150 during the summer months. Yesterday it was over 300, the most ever. I will have to use popular song titles more often!

    ReplyDelete