We Formed a New Religion”: The Attempt at Authentic Consumerist Revolution in Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild”

We Formed a New Religion”: The Attempt at Authentic Consumerist Revolution in Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” April 24, 2014
Hip hop has served as  active voice against oppression  ever since it’s conception in the 1970s in the United States. Covering topics ranging from class, gender, race, institutionalization, injustice, and oppression, hip hop provides numerous examples of how music can inspire people on the subject of social change and political revolutions (Ogbar (2009), Chang(2005), Forman and Neal (2011)).The development and root of revolution can be created as a reaction against the lessening of being. Being, in this sense, can be defined as the ability to both feel human within a political context and to actualize that ontology vis-à-vis a freedom to act. 

This has been a central focus to hip hop ever since its beginnings and can be traced to the days of its philosophical precursors, including the blues and other culturally relevant time periods– It has always been a goal of these musical styles, conceived and elaborated by disadvantaged segments of the population, to shine a spotlight on the marginalized voices of a seemingly democratic society.  In the particular context of African Americans in the United States, religion has also played an important role in political and social struggles (Cone(1997, 2010)   Clark-Hine (2010). In this essay, I will explore the possibility that the ambitions of hip hop extend to continuing and perhaps even supplanting religion as a force for social change. In particular, I will focus on “No Church in the Wild,” a song by hip hop artist Kanye West that presents many interesting angles to explore in relation to the revolutionary potential of hip hop and religion, because it touches on various topics related to socio-political agency.

In this paper I will consider oppression in multiple ways, in an intersectional fashion that does not limit the variety of that excuses that can be used for the discrimination or oppression of an individual. There are several reasons for this choice of method.  . When viewing cultures and different environments in an intersectional manner, an essential piece of being and self develops after re-evaluating values and beliefs in a social phenomenon like this song does effectively. Without this re-evaluation, there is little room for a development of self that leads to a new essence. This interconnectedness of social structure or environment and individuation is the central piece of revolutionary efforts and can be an important point of departure. I will develop this piece by analyzing “No Church in the Wild.”

Read the rest here

Browse Our Archives