Religion, music and the question of social justice in selected African American singers

Abstract

This article explores the theme of religion in the lyrics of Kanye West's Jesus Walks, Scarface's Somebody and Lupe Fiasco's Muhammad Walks Lyrics. Since the time of slavery, African Americans have evolved the musical genre described as Negro spirituals. While these songs mined themes on the quest for freedom, they also offered a veiled critique of the capitalist system that forcibly brought blacks to America. Black musicians have used songs with a religious undertone to attempt to come to terms with their subordinated life in a racial context. They have used the figures of God, Muhammad and Jesus as narrative tropes of the quest for political saviours. Religious discourse has therefore been instrumental in helping African Americans to create a new sense of community growing out of hundreds of years of domination by the white establishment. The songs analysed in this article indicate the power of narrative in providing alternative ideological options for African Americans.