The Revolutionary Millionaire? On Jay-Z, Hip Hop Music, and Moral Ambiguity

Morals in rap is like an oxymoron.. – Jay-Z

Jay-Z tweeted that, but he doesn’t really believe it (or so I shall argue). In fact, a close examination of his lyrics, writings, and interviews quickly demonstrates that he has an ethic and thinks about morality on a regular basis. What he meant to say, as far as I can tell, is that a systematic approach to morality and ethics, as traditionally defined in the European philosophical tradition, is irrelevant to America’s urban ghettos and the music that sprung from them. According to Jay-Z, morality in rap (and ghetto life) does not consist in adherence to a categorical imperative or divine command, in the calculated weighing of utility or consequences, nor the adherence to a social contract made between equals. Rather, morality is contextual, imperfect, and ultimately ambiguous. As medical and social anthropologist Arthur Kleinman argues in What Really Matters,

Ethics, a set of moral principles that aspire to universal application, must be seen in a context of moral experience, which is always changing and usually uncertain, in order to provide a more adequate vision of values in society and how to respond to their clash and change. Taken alone, ethics, such as principles of virtue and justice, can be irrelevant to our local worlds, just as local moral experience, such as discrimination and oppression carried out in the interests of the dominant group, as in the American South in the era of segregation, can be unethical, even downright evil – and can render people unable to criticize their own conditions…[Thus,] Individuals’ efforts to live a moral life in the particular circumstances of moral experience can lead them to formulate ethical criticism of those circumstances as well as to aspire ethically to values that go beyond the local reality and seek universal support (pp. 25-6).

What Kleinman argues in this book is that to understand whether one has lived a “moral life” one must consider the dynamic interaction between universal values, cultural meanings, social experience, individual subjective experience, and political economy and political power. When examining lives in this way we have far less heroes and villains and many more “everyday” people who are doing their best to live a moral life in an oftentimes dangerous world. I propose that an examination of the life and work of Jay-Z articulates this truth as clearly as any example provided by Kleinman in his wonderful book, and also serves as an example of the way morality functions in hip hop music in general.

Why Jay-Z?

Jay-Z is arguably the greatest rapper of all time. Any quick listen to his most recent work will let you know the stats to back that up. He has 11 #1 solo albums (besting Elvis Presley) plus his #1 joint album with Kanye West (Watch the Throne), two of which are considered all-time great hip hop albums (Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint), and several other albums and songs considered to be extremely important in the history of hip hop. He is generally considered to be, in addition to his unrivaled long-term popularity, a superb technician in the skills of emceeing, many considering him one of the greatest lyricists of all time. In addition to his success in music, he has published a NY Times best-selling book, Decoded, based on his life and the interpretation of his lyrics. And on top of all of that, he has been dubbed “Hip Hop’s Philosopher King.” (He’s also a bit of a theologian if you ask me.)

Jay-Z’s story is the dream of countless urban youth. Raised by a single mother after being abandoned by his father Jay-Z entered the drug business as a teenager. He quickly became, by all accounts, quite successful in this enterprise. However, he also had a talent and love for rapping and, just in time (soon after exiting the the drug business for the music business several of his former colleagues were arrested in a police sting), pursued a career as a rap star. Early on he was unable to secure a record deal and so he, with a few friends, eventually started his own record label, Roc-a-Fella Records. His first album is now considered a classic, and he has gone on to have arguably the most successful career in rap history. He is a hustler’s hustler with roots in the streets and real skill at an artist’s craft. He is a self-made millionaire, an entrepreneur par excellence, and the “bad guy gone good.” Jay-Z has lived the life most rappers only rap about.

“Rap critics say that he’s ‘Money, Cash, Hoes/I’m from the hood stupid what type of facts are those?”

“If you escaped what I escaped you’d be in Paris getting f***ed up too”

However, he is not without his critics. He has been accused of being an uber-capitalist who has disavowed the prophetic heritage of black religion, politics, and music for the shallow dreams of material wealth. At their most extreme, such critics accuse Jay-Z of selling his soul to the devil, often by joining the Illuminati, for the allure of worldly success. (MC Hammer even made a music video making this point. The video has since been removed from the internet.) Others accuse him of glorifying sex, objectifying women as mere sexual playthings or degrading them through consistent use of the word b****, and condoning the violence and criminal activities of America’s inner-cities.

His most flippant response to these critics is something like, “Look stupid, I’m from the hood. I was deep in the drug game. I’m not supposed to be living the life I’m living. In fact, I should probably be dead. Now why would you think I’d talk about anything else but the ‘good things’ in life? Namely, sex and money.” In these moments he accepts this characterization of (at least some of) his music, but defends it by appealing to the long distance he traveled from poverty to wealth and claims his critics would do the same thing if they were in his shoes. He appeals to his experience to qualify moral critiques of his life.

“Say that I’m foolish, I only talk about jewels/Do you fools/Listen to music/or do you just skim through it?/See I’m influenced/By the ghetto you ruined/That same dude, You gave nothin’, I made somethin’ doin’/What I do, through and through/and I give you the news with a twist, it’s just his Ghetto point-of-view”

However, he doesn’t always accept these critiques. In fact, he has made many songs exploring “deep” issues of love and life. Specifically, he regularly reflects on the pain of his childhood abandonment by his father and sees his experience as symbolic of the experience of many urban youth (Where Have You Been, Meet the Parents). He has made songs where he empathizes with, though doesn’t wholly justify, the life of a street hustler (This Can’t Be Life, Regrets). And he has made multiple songs dealing with familial and romantic love (Song Cry, You Must Love Me, Glory). Simply put, he doesn’t just rap about “money, cash, hoes.” He also raps about love, loss, and the difficult moral choices one finds in an American ghetto.

His reply to his materialistic critics doesn’t end with a list of songs that don’t fit their description of his music, however. He insists that he’s got a unique perspective on life, or “the news,” that provides a different insight into the nature of the moral life than one can find in the mainstream media, suburban churches, or America’s halls of power. Rather, he talks about many of the same things politicians and social critics discuss but with a “ghetto point of view.” He recognizes many of the problems that exist within American life, but his take, shaped by his moral experience of our social-political structures, is a bit different than those who haven’t seen what he’s seen.

In addition, he frequently refers to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and even Jesus in his songs and claims to be following in their footsteps. Jay-Z understands himself, not unlike Tupac Shakur or The Notorious B.I.G., to be a rapper who challenges the status quo through his art. Specifically, he challenges the status quo by giving voice to those who are at best ignored and at worst silenced in American public discourse. He makes people who wouldn’t normally hear such voices (especially suburban youth) listen to, and take seriously, the stories of those trapped in a cycle of poverty, drugs, violence, prison, and death. And he speaks to those still trapped in such a cycle as to give them hope and perseverance. At least, this is what he claims.

“I’m like Che Guevara with bling on, I’m complex…”

Of course, not everyone agrees with him. He is not Public Enemy, dead prez, or KRS-One. His music is often commercial and materialistic. For instance, one of the biggest hits of his career is a song titled “Big Pimpin’“. And he has been called out on this seeming contradiction in his music and message (you must read the whole thing, with an excerpt from Decoded).

Of course, Che Guevara is one of the most well-known Communist revolutionaries in history. Marxist social theory does not exactly extol the virtues of owning lots of extravagant luxury items, to say the least. So, to have a platinum necklace encrusted with diamonds in the shape of Jesus’s face (it’s own contradiction) bouncing off of Che Guevara’s commodified face is a glaring contradiction. Jay-Z’s response?

But to have contradictions–especially when you’re fighting for your life–is human, and to wear the Che shirt and platinum and diamonds together is honest. In the end I wore it because I meant it. – Jay-Z, Decoded, 27.

“I consider myself a revolutionary because I’m a [black man and a] self-made millionaire in a racist society.”

Since Decoded was released Jay-Z released an album with another artist whose career has been full of contradictions. Watch the Throne addresses these contradictions – between revolutionary politics, capitalist success, surviving and transcending the life of the street, and material indulgence – head on. It is, in part, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s defense of their luxurious lives. The most explicit defense is found in two songs: “Murder to Excellence” and “Made in America.” (Please listen closely to both songs.)

“Murder to Excellence” begins by recounting the, not so nice, state of black life in America. Specifically, it documents the high rates of violence that plague primarily black inner-city neighborhoods. This fact is most poignantly summed up in Kanye West’s line, “It’s a war going on outside we aint safe from…314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago.” The song then moves, with an abrupt change in beat, to an account of America’s black elite and the possibilities of success for black people in America. However, the song also laments the very few members of that “black elite.” Jay and ‘Ye call throughout the song for black solidarity to move from “murder” to “excellence.” This is most poignantly stated in Jay-Z’s line from the very first verse, “N****s watching the throne, very happy to be you/Power to the people, when you see me, see you.”

“Made in America” recounts both Kanye West and Jay-Z’s rise to success. Kanye rose from being an obscure independent music producer in Chicago to an international superstar, and Jay-Z rose from selling crack cocaine to being one of America’s richest people. The interesting thing here, however, is that they recount these stories in light of a chorus that places them in the trajectory of Martin, Malcolm, and Jesus as black people who have “made it in America.” In addition, their primary music video and performances in promotion of the album have included over-the-top American flags. Jay and ‘Ye intend to make it clear that they are doing nothing else than living the American dream.

A common theme in black American political life has been the choice, for simplicity’s sake, between “integration” and “separation,” “revolution” and “reformation.” This has historically been symbolized by the historical “choosing sides” between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois in the early twentieth century, and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X in the second half of the twentieth century. In hip hop, perhaps this dichotomy is most clearly demonstrated in the constant debates about “conscious” hip hop and “commercial” rap. The key figures, for many, in this debate might be Chuck D or KRS-One and Jay-Z.

However, Jay-Z refuses to accept this dichotomy. Rather, he insists that he can integrate into the system and still be a revolutionary. More accurately, he insists that no matter how much success he achieves in the American economic and political system he can never fully be integrated. Therefore, his success is a revolutionary act because he is successful in spite of a system that intends to keep him from being successful. This doesn’t shield him from any critiques of materialist excess, hedonism, and the like, but it does nuance how one understands what he’s doing in his music.

“So I got rich and gave back, to me that’s the win-win”

How [do] you rate music/That thugs with nothin’ relate to it?”

In Decoded Jay-Z makes it clear that his life trajectory – from experiencing the effects of crack cocaine in American urban ghettos in the 1980s to becoming a global business – mirrors the trajectory of hip hop music. His story is, in many ways, the story of hip hop music. His ethics are, in many ways, the ethics of hip hop. Hip hop music is full of revolutionary politics, misogynistic patriarchy, material excess, religious devotion, sex, drugs, and violence, and the hopes and dreams of multiple generations. It is, in this way, a quintessentially American form of music. However, these Americans are those that have historically been excluded from being part of the American story. Jay-Z claims that he can be a revolutionary millionaire because he has now made their story part of the American story.

Whether this is true or not is up for debate. Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) has recently challenged whether this can be true or not in his new remix of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s extravagant celebration of extravagance, “N****s in Paris,” in his song and video “N****s in Poorest.” In this song, in an explicit reference to the Jay and ‘Ye album Watch the Throne, Yasiin calls people to “don’t get caught up in no throne…[because] They silver and they gold, aint never saved a soul.” Clearly, there are still many people who feel you have to choose, in the end, one or the other.

Jay-Z has tried to maintain a moral stance in the midst of selling crack and becoming a multi-millionaire. In both arenas he appeals to his context and dares people to judge his actions as immoral. Many are willing to judge them positively or negatively, but he refuses to choose, for himself, one or the other. He believes he can retain his moral integrity while living in the messy middle. He believes he can be a revolutionary millionaire. A moral drug dealer and a moral pop musician selling, at the same time, sex and hope because, as he (and others) reminds us, he is simply living the American dream. His implicit stance is that, whether selling drugs or music, one can be a moral capitalist and, therefore, attempts to redefine the definition of “revolution” in black political thought. He is not Marcus Garvey or Fred Hampton (even if he was born on the day Hampton died) nor is he Booker T. or Martin. Rather, he is paving his own way of living a morally coherent life in America.

Jay-Z, and hip hop music, can be judged, as all people can, regarding his morality. However, he insists that if you’re going to do so you must do so by taking seriously the contexts of his life – America’s urban ghettoes, America’s racist history, and America’s capitalist economy. Must one choose the purity of revolutionary separation or total inclusion if one is black and poor in America? Jay-Z not only answers with an emphatic, “NO!”, but insists that neither is actually possible. Morals in rap is not an oxymoron, then, but is something completely different.

Further Resources

To explore this topic further I recommend reading Arther Kleinman’s book What Really Matters to understand his argument about how morality actually functions in the world, and Jay-Z’s stunning book Decoded. Also, a few weeks back a friend asked me to put together an 80 minute Jay-Z playlist to introduce someone to his music. I think that playlist works especially well to understand the dynamics I’ve talked about in this post. The playlist is below:

1. Can’t Knock the Hustle feat. Mary J. Blige [Reasonable Doubt]
2. D’Evils [Reasonable Doubt]
3. Regrets [Reasonable Doubt]
4. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) [Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life]
5. This Can’t Be Life feat. Beanie Sigel and Scarface [The Dynasty: Roc La Familia]
6. U Don’t Know [The Blueprint]
7. Heart of the City (Aint No Love) [The Blueprint]
8. Song Cry [The Blueprint]
9. Renegade feat. Eminem [The Blueprint]
10. Meet the Parents [The Blueprint 2]
11. Public Service Announcement [The Black Album]
12. Empire State of Mind feat. Alicia Keys [The Blueprint 3]
13. Murder to Excellence (with Kanye West) [Watch the Throne]
14. Made in America (with Kanye West) [Watch the Throne]
15. Glory feat. B.I.C. (aka his daughter, Blue Ivy Carter) [No Album]

The Theology of “No Church in the Wild”

Jay-Z and Kanye West have come under quite a bit of scrutiny lately about their, ahem, “religious” and social beliefs and activities. Are they members of the Illuminati? Does Jay-Z really believe he’s God? Is it idolatrous/blasphemous for him to have J-Hova (as in Jehovah, since he’s the “god of rap”) as a nickname? Is Kanye a Christian? Should he have been nominated for a Christian music award for his song “Jesus Walks”? Isn’t he racist against white people? Doesn’t he only date white women now? Aren’t they both uber-capitalists who are now spokesman for the system? Where did their counter-cultural/black power messages go? And etcetera and etcetera…

I don’t want to get into those questions too much (though I find the capitalism question quite intriguing and multidimensional), but, instead, look at one of the most popular songs off of their new joint album Watch the Throne. The song is titled “No Church in the Wild” and it was a trending topic on twitter the day the album was released. It seemed everyone was listening to it. It is, in fact, quite an intriguing little piece of music. Let’s break it down…

[Hook: 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?

Each of these couplets are examples of one being/entity being proved insignificant by its comparison to another being/entity. One human in a mob of people? Insignificant. The masses to a king? Insignificant. A king compared to God? Just another piece of dust. Now, here’s the interesting part: God to a non-believer who views religion and/or the divine as a human construction or superstition? Absolutely nothing. In the hierarchy of the universe presented in the hook the one who sheds belief in a (specific) god is the most powerful being in that universe. Whoa.

Will he make it out alive, alright, alright, no church in the wild

However, there’s no guarantee that the most powerful being in the universe, the non-believer, can survive in this universe. “Will he make it out alive?” There’s no way to tell because there’s “no church in the wild.” Two things: “no church” and “the wild.” There is no set of believers that has a monopoly on truth (another instance of Jay saying he’s not part of the Illuminati?). There is no specially selected group of people with special access to the divine will (buh bye Calvinism). There is no divinely ordered structure to human society (so long Hinduism, Confucianism, and several traditional African religions). We live in “the wild.” Is Jay a “state of nature” theorist? This seems rather Hobbesian, if not Nietzschian. Jay seems to believe that there is some sense of “survival of the fittest” (does any street hustler NOT believe this?). You either win or you lose. You live or you die. In a world like this, is there room for a god? Probably not.

[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
Tears on the mausoleum floor, blood stains the Colosseum doors
Lies on the lips of priests, Thanksgiving disguised as a feast

First, Toure has already done a good job breaking down Jay’s verse from a purely lyrical perspective. Go check that out. I’ll do some of that, but I’m more interested in the theological argument of the verse. Having said that, what a grand way to start a verse! Do you have the image in your head? Tears on the floor of a mausoleum? That grand testament to the greatness of a single human being sullied by tears of sadness? Mausoleums are supposed to be testaments to greatness and inspire reverence and awe, not tears. Are they the tears of family members who miss their loved one now claimed by the masses? Are they the tears of the poor upon whose backs it may have been constructed? Are they the tears of the dead king who wanted to live forever so bad he had a mausoleum built in his honor but still lies decaying underneath it? Who knows, but wow. Blood on Colosseum doors! The blood of gladiators spilled for human entertainment? This great testament to human accomplishment is sullied, from its construction to its destruction, with the blood covering its doors. These two testaments to human ingenuity and greatness proven irrelevant by the everyday human fluids of tears and blood. And then the verse gets going!

The lips of priests – those entrusted with telling the truth of God’s message to the people – are covered in lies. In today’s world we can’t help but equate this with the lies of Catholic priests who molest children for their own sexual satisfaction and sense of feeling powerful. Whoa. America’s key holiday, Thanksgiving (along with Independence Day), is the day we are supposed to remember God’s wonderful provision for our nation and the sacrifice of our ancestors to create this country from nothing. Except, oh yeah, it was done on the backs of the genocide of America’s native population. This is no event for Thanksgiving, it is an event for mourning. For lament. For repentance. But anything except Thanksgiving.

These four “beautiful” things are not so beautiful because they are tainted by tears, blood, lies, and murderous theft. This is the world we live in: even those things that we consider most beautiful are examples of the “wild” nature of human existence. And our neatly constructed world begins to shatter…

Rolling in Rolls Royce Corniche
Only the doctors got this, I’m hiding from police
Cocaine seats, all white like I got the whole thing bleached
Drug dealer chic, I’m wondering if a thug’s prayers reach

Ok, from a lyrical perspective this is simply nice wordplay. Jay drives a car that only well-paid medical professionals usually drive, so he’s “hiding from police” because they wouldn’t expect to find him driving in it. Why not? Oh, because he’s a drug dealer, but still dressed rather “chic.” He tells us this by describing the color of the interior of the car. In the rap world he has just bragged about his wealth, flaunted his street cred, made a nice wordplay with “cocaine seats,” talked about his fashion game, and made a reference to Tupac. In other words, these four bars cover everything you’re supposed to do in a whole verse!

The Tupac reference? ‘Pac is famous for lines like “wondering if a thug’s prayers reach.” He made a song called “I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto” and often wondered in his songs if God cared about urban youths, gang members, and prostitutes. In fact, he even claimed God would overlook their sins because of the lot they were dealt in life (ala Luke 16:19-31). In the context of this verse, there is that connotation, but one also has to ask whether a thugs prayers can reach a God who doesn’t exist.

Is Pious pious cause God loves pious?
Socrates asked whose bias do y’all seek?
All for Plato, screech, I’m out here balling, I know yall hear my sneaks

Jay paraphrases “The Euthyphro Dilemma”: Do the gods love pious (holy) things because they are pious, or are those things that are pious made pious because the gods love them? Put another way, does God command those things that are just because they are just, or are the things God commands just simply because it is God who commands them? This is a question that goes back to Socrates and has been a starting point for philosophers and theologians ever since. While Jay’s interpretation of Socrates answer isn’t totally on point (Socrates rejects the second option), Jay says it’s a matter of opinion. In a world like this (with sullied mausoleums, priests lips covered in lies, and drug dealers driving around like doctors) is there a point to this question? Your answer depends on your bias. In other words, the pious, holy, and just are human creations that don’t necessarily fit with what we see in the world. Jay answers Socrates’s timeless metaphysical question with a modern sociological answer: it depends on who’s answering the question and what they already have been shaped to believe about the world. There is no “final” answer to this important philosophical-theological question. We just can’t know.

Also, there have been twelve popes throughout history named “Pius,” so this line also functions as a jab at established religion, especially Roman Catholicism. Did “God” choose these men because they were pious (history says probably not – for example, Pius XII was pope during WWII and his record towards Nazism is sketchy at best), or do we declare them pious because God selected them? If the latter, bad God; if the former, blind God.

Not gonna do much w/ the Plato-screech-sneaks line other than to say that the last part is quite a nice piece of double imagery.

Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy he laid beats
Hova flow the Holy Ghost, get the hell up out your seats, preach

Here he goes again equating himself with God. I really like the “Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy laid beats” line because it humanizes Jesus and shows that musicians create things just like manual laborers do. Also, in constructing this new Trinity Jay still leaves the question of “God the Father” unanswered. The classic Christian formulation is that God is three persons in one: Father, Son, Holy Ghost/Spirit. According to Jay, in music ‘Ye is the Son and he’s the Spirit but we don’t know who the Father is. At the end of his verse we still don’t know if there is a god, and if so who that god might be. Drawing on a certain form of the theodicy question Jay tells us that if there is a god there’s no way to know, but looking at the world it’s pretty hard to believe there is one. so, “get the hell up out your seats” and try and survive in “the wild.”

[Hook]

[Bridge: The-Dream]
I live by you, desire
I stand by you, walk through the fire
Your love is my scripture
Let me into your encryption

With the bridge Kanye goes a different direction with “the wild” metaphor than Jay did. Whereas Jay equates “the wild” with a type of “state of nature” where in the competition of life bad things happen, ‘Ye equates it with a type of hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure.

[Verse 2: Kanye West]
Coke on her black skin
Make a stripe like a zebra, I call that jungle fever
You will not control the threesome
Just roll the weed up until I get me some

Ok, funny image, but ‘Ye does a couple things here: uses “jungle” imagery to set up his version of “the wild” the same way Jay used mausoleum/Colosseum imagery to set up his version of the wild in the first verse. Except ‘Ye’s version includes two types of drugs and two women in some sort of psychedelic sexual orgy. Okay.

We formed a new religion
No sins as long as there’s permission
And deception is the only felony
So never fuck nobody without telling me

Aha! The new religion is one that places the highest value on honest sexual pleasure and exploration. ‘Ye has long been an advocate of open relationships and here he makes it plain. For him, it is a religious value. As long as sexual partners are open and not hiding their trysts it is ok to go outside one’s primary relationship for sex. No need for monogamy because we “live by you, desire.”

Sunglasses and Advil, last night was mad real
Sun coming up, 5 a.m., I wonder if they got cabs still?
Thinking ’bout the girl in all leopard
Who was rubbing the wood like Kiki Shepherd

Ok, ‘Ye had a crazy night with zebra girl, coke, and weed. He’s mad confused and reminiscing on leopard girl. So, he had zebra girl and leopard girl in his threesome. Sounds like “the wild” to me! Seriously, the last bar is pretty good. Kiki Shepherd hosts Showtime at the Apollo, the place where she and guests rub a piece of wood for good luck. Nice!

Two tattoos one read “No Apologies”
The other said “Love is Cursed by Monogamy”
It’s something that the pastor don’t preach
It’s something that a teacher can’t teach

Here it is: “Love is cursed by monogamy.” There we have it. Love is the highest virtue of this new religion, and monogamy kills it. So, preachers and teachers are actually hurting love by pushing monogamy on us. This is clearly a jab at established religion. Also, it makes one wonder what ‘Ye’s definition/understanding of love is. It seems to be deeply tied to sexual expression, but I’m not sure if it means more than that. The point, however, is that rigid rules hinder a life of love more than it helps it.

When we die the money we can’t keep
But we probably spend it all cause the pain ain’t cheap, preach

One of the things I like about Kanye’s music is its trasparency, honesty, and contradiction. I believe he does this better than anyone since ‘Pac. One of the things that defines ‘Ye’s music is a deep contradiction between the life he lives and his highest values. He often makes light of or defends is hedonistic lifestyle defined by fashion, sexual pleasure, parties, and good music. But there are other times, even on this album, where he recognizes the transient nature of this lifestyle and its shallowness. He ends this verse, a defense of open relationships and a hedonistic approach to life, with a recognition that material things are unimportant at one’s funeral. He says we can’t keep our money, and seems to imply we should therefore spend it all on coke and sex, but it’s not totally clear. Is his recognition that we don’t keep money when we die a recognition that we can’t take our sexual partners with us when we die too? It’s hard to tell…

[Hook]

So, what’s the theology of “No Church in the Wild”? It seems to me the main message is that organized religion is unable to make sense of life in our world that is so “wild.” There may be a god but the god we see in organized religion is probably not that god. God, if there is one (or many), is probably more like a guiding spirit than anything else. To survive (Jay’s verse) and enjoy (Kanye’s verse) our life on earth we have to pursue our own way outside of established religion, even to the point of creating our own religion as ‘Ye does. There is no guarantee that we will do it right (“does God hear a thugs prayer;” “we can’t take it with us when we go”), but we know organized religion probably doesn’t do it right either. So, like the writer of Ecclesiastes would say, the best we can do is enjoy our work, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we will die.

This is clearly something those committed to organized religion don’t like to hear, but it raises questions we must answer: What does your religion have to say to a world defined by so much meaningless suffering and injustice? How does your religion respond to the culture of sex today? Is your religion doing more harm or help in the world and in people’s relationships? At least, these are the questions Jay and ‘Ye have not found adequate answers to from the religion they’ve encountered.

So, what is the theology of “No Church in the Wild?” I’d say it’s some blend of an agnostic surivival of the fittest ethic with hedonism and a longing for something more without knowing anyway to discover it.