In “radio music” today, the main
topic is hardly religion. The main
themes are about partying, significant others, and lack a general meaning
behind them. Outside of Christian
hip-hop, there is hardly much mention of Jesus.
That would change in 2004, when rapper Kanye West released the hip-hop
song “Jesus Walks” to the radio. The
song was featured on his debut album “The College Dropout”, and proved to be a
big risk decision as he was an up and coming rapper with something to prove. Considering the fact most rappers do not talk
about religion, this was something hardly anyone saw coming. The song divided many people, some praising
it highly and admiring West’s risk-taking skills. Others did not feel a song
about Jesus should be played on the radio, especially coming from a rapper, who
is viewed much differently than other musicians.
The
song, in which West proudly embraces his faith in Jesus, received mostly positive
reviews. A song like this had never
really hit airwaves, and would cause some controversy over the subject matter. Not
many artists around 2004 released songs about Jesus to the radio, and this
would cause an uproar to radio stations, who deemed it unfit for airplay. One of the most famous lines is “They say you
can rap about anything except for Jesus/That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes,
but if I talk about God my record won’t get played?” West said this because some radio stations
denied playing this song over the radio due to the subject matter. Radio will play songs about sex, money,
girls, and other topics but not religion.
I
brought this up because I am curious as to why more songs like this are not
released. West was making his debut album
at this time, and if an up and coming rapper released a record like this, why
don’t other established musicians release songs like it? The same topics are
constantly played over the radio, with most “musicians” asking for a simple
beat that is catchy. Then they add a few
simple lyrics with a catchy hook and the song is complete. Lyricism in today’s music is strongly lacking
compared to past years, and it is a shame to call some of the songs released
“music.”
Some artists (like
West) push the envelope, but not as much in today’s music. Most are likely
afraid of the public’s response, and the fact that they may lose some of the
fans of their fan base. But, everyone is
entitled to his or her own religion. So why not take the risk (like West) and maybe
release a single to the radio that is about their religion? I understand the nervousness one would have,
but many musicians have a devoted fan base.
I do not think one song would turn so many fans away that it would alter
their career. Heck, the song may even boost their fan base and establish their
credibility as an artist that is willing to take risks.
Adele
is a singer that dominates the radio today, with the majority of her songs
focused on themes about love. She has
been considered one of the musicians today that does not focus on trends that
are common among others. With an
extremely large fan base and established credibility, releasing a song about
her love for her religion would be great for music. For example, if she
released that song it would cause massive media attention and possibly bring
religious themes into the musical spotlight.
Personally
I used to disapprove of religious songs, as I thought they were slow or boring,
even though I agreed with the theme. However, after a friend showed me
Christian hip-hop I have enjoyed listening to Christian music. I know “Jesus Walks” is not a Christian song,
but its themes are focused on Christianity. I would like to see more songs about Jesus on
the radio (beside Christian radio stations), because it will spread more
information about Jesus, and could introduce more people to the Christian
religion.
I
uploaded the video to not only show the song, but also the second version of
the music video. West cared so much
about the song’s meaning that he made three versions of the video, the second
and third’s budget coming right out of his pocket. He really strove to have this song connect to
the audience and spread his message about Jesus. This type of behavior is rarely seen today,
and shows the great lengths Christians will go to in order to praise the Lord. It is great to see Christian musicians display
their profound faith in Jesus Christ in the songs they make. If artists on the
radio make songs about their religion, the quality of music will greatly
improve and religion will be strengthened among people.
First off, I would like to express my agreement with most of what you just preached. The lyrics in today’s music completely lacks originality and healthy controversy. Entire albums have the same theme in every song; artists build their careers off of the same ideas song after song, reworded in a way that fools mainstream listeners to believing it is something different. Your description of popular music was spot on with my own opinion. In your post, you posed the question of why artists do not make songs with religious lyrics. In response to that question, I have a couple theories.
ReplyDeleteI’ll begin with analyzing Kanye West, the artist of this song. I think it’s very possible that it is because people like him that more Christian songs are not made. I’ll explain what I mean. Although this song certainly does speak in favor of Christianity, I would like to think many Christians believe it is not enough to “talk the talk” but also to “walk the walk.” Making this type of song on his debut album undoubtedly set a standard many would argue he did not live up to. If he is bold enough to make a song with such a strong proclamation of his faith, he must live up to that proclamation if it is to mean anything. Kanye West’s career has since then been littered with controversy. After his famous Grammy interruption speech, controversial abortion tweet, banned album covers, and many more cases of non-Christian behavior, his Christian song loses so much of its impact.
The reason this is important is because many artists probably feel like they do not want to be held to these high Christian standards. It’s easier to be a Catholic when millions of adoring fans aren’t critiquing your every move. I would bet that being famous as well as a practicing Christian and giving the religion a good name is a challenging task. Many artists, I would guess, do not want this pressure, and prefer to keep their beliefs private for this reason.
A second possibility is that strong faith is hard to come by these days. I know a small number of people who are so passionate about their faith they would be willing to scream it from atop a mountain, and an even smaller amount of people who have airtime on the radio to do so. The reason it is rare could be that that kind of faith and devotion is hard to come by. Even if artists do have strong faith, saying something in a song is a lot like a tattoo; once millions of people have heard your opinion, you become a hypocrite if somewhere down the road you change you mind.
Those are my answers to the question “Why don’t more artist make songs about religion?” If you wanted answers, I hope those can offer some insight. Regardless, I thought it was a great post.
I agree completely with Sam on this one. I would like to say that its not so much a lack of artist making music about religion, its the lack of respect that the artist have for religion. Like Sam said if West was bold enough to make a song stating his faith then he should be bold enough to live by that and from his actions he doesnt. Also there are many rappers today that speak of religion but in such a bad way, they simply use it to make rhymes or make themselves feel powerful but comparing themselves to Jesus and even calling themselves God, on many occasions, like the rappers for example Jay-Z and Lil Wayne and even Kanye himself after making that song "Through The Wire" and "Jesus Walks".
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