Fans React To Watch The Thrones ‘No Church In The Wild’
“We stopped checking for monsters under the bed, when we realized the monsters were inside of us.”
Many of the rap and Hip Hop artists of today can attest to feeling like the monster is within them. “No Church in the Wild” by Kanye West featuring top rapper Jay-Z and controversial lyricists Frank Ocean debuted earlier this year on the much anticipated album entitled, Watch the Throne were the rap duo, “Mr.West” and “Hov” demonstrated why they are notable in the rap and Hip Hop scene. The spirituality between beat and rhyme was evoking.
ILLUMINATI SYMBOLS EMBEDDED IN JAY-Z, KANYE WEST’S ‘WATCH THE THRONE’ ALBUM
The song was produced by 88 Keys, Kanye West, and Mike Dean. The song samples the opening guitar riff of “K Scope”(Phil Manzanera), the drums from “Sunshine Help Me”(Spooky Tooth) and vocals from “Don’t Tell a Lie About Me and I Won’t Tell the Truth About You” (James Brown), as well as Orchestra Njervudarov when the beat changes to the lion’s roar.
A current rejection of traditional organized religious worship is what, “No Church in the Wild” lyrics openly expresses. In listening to the song we first hear Frank Ocean sing: “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 doesn’t believe in anything? Will he make it out alive? Alright, alright, no church in the wild”; the examples presented are of one being/entity being proved insignificant by its comparison to another being/entity. Hierarchy of the universe is presented in the hook, as well as, Social Darwinism in “will he make it out alive?” a survival of the fittest mindset.
Continuing on, Jay-Z follows Frank Ocean with the first four lines of the song illustrating, imperfections and failings with things that are supposed to be pure, holy, and true. “Tears on the mausoleum floor/Blood stains the Coliseum doors/Lies on the lips of a priest/Thanksgiving disguised as a feast”; the last two verses reference towards a broader dishonesty and cruelty on the part of those in religious authority throughout history.
Throughout the song, the duo plus Mr. Ocean tell a tale of religious debauchery and chaos with minimal input of their own lives. The song first released its official music video then later released another. Although the first video had no relevance to the lyrical content, it had an underlying meaning. The video was a reversal of roles with African Americans and Caucasians during slavery.
The video begins with the instrumental playing loud and the year “1862” appearing upside down; in retrospect this already indicts to the viewer that things are backwards. The first visual image is of trees then of a snake in the grass. I hate to sound cliché, but given that the song itself is based around the Hip Hop culture and religion I feel the snake ties into the idea of it being the presence of evil towards mankind in the beginning of the Bible. Following this scene we see three African American men who look angered. Touching on the scheme of three men could be notable to the idea of the use of three in the Bible. From this scene we witness that the three men are after a Caucasian man who bears whipping marks on his back. The video shows a series of still shots. Some of the still shots are either of the Caucasian male, or of African American women who look displeased.
The design of slavery is nothing more than the power over another. The historical notion of the video was captivating. It was the reversal of racism, and the strong lyrics of Hip Hop artist Jay-Z and Kanye West. Jay-Z is an artist who has always produced songs with meaning as well as Kanye West. Kanye is a divisive artist who I feel was the creative motif around the video. The song, “No Church in the Wild” while having that initial concept is directed at religious values in today’s society.
Some people take the lyrics and music video and disregard everything I have mentioned above. Many feel it is referencing to the “anti-Christ”, or Illuminati; not to say that it couldn’t be but given the thought that Jay-Z has written songs mentioning things about religion such as his song entitled, “Lucifer” most believe this is a follow up track to denounce religion. Kanye West was not out of the norm in participating in a song like this one given all the controversy that follows him.
When I first listened to the song I felt that the instrumentals were very catchy, and it made me listen. The lyrics weren’t disturbing, or overly hatred towards religion. The song pointed out flaws of religion and religious leaders. I appreciated that because I am a religious person. If a person is not religious, or is overly religious I could see the song being taken out of context. With that being said the original video to come out that portrayed slavery in a different light designated with my thought of how it would be if roles were reversed. The risk that they took on representing the reversal is what made me enjoy the song even more. Of course it didn’t go word for word with the picture, but the theme of the song’s lyrics went with that of the music video.
Jay-Z and Kanye West are two artists that expand the limits of creativity in the Hip-Hop scene. They incorporate historical and political values into their rhymes while always keeping a fresh beat to it that gets the listener to listen. I recommend everyone to listen to this song, but actually analyze it word for word and come to term with what they feel they are expressing. I think it is a song that years from now will still be contentious.
Lyrics analyzed from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/kanye_west_jay_z/no_church_in_the_wild.html
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Black Social Light 