Friday, June 1, 2012
No Church In The Wild - Video Review?
Since being released earlier this week, the video for "No Church In The Wild" has caused major uproar, mainly because it doesn't feature Jay Z or Kanye West anywhere during the five minute plus timeframe.
Instead, it seems to represent an underlying theme that is becoming more and more prevalent in the music they've made together recently:
question religion, humanity, and everything surrounding it.
Directed by Romain Gavras, this video is extremely political and controversial, and quite frankly I could probably write a 20 page essay examining the theories/ opinions surrounding this detailed piece of art, but I'll keep it simple and summarize the main points that come to mind.
The video opens with a man holding a Molotov cocktail in his hand, it's apparent there's many supporters willing to fight this war with him.
He then launches the flaming bottle at a barricade of police, and a riot ensues.
Jay Z's verse has the eerie lines:
"lies on the lips of a priest/ Thanksgiving disguised as a feast..."
Then he goes on to ask:
"Is Pious pious cause God loves pious?
Which seems to reiterate the ongoing "myth" that Jay Z doesn't believe in man made religions, some go as far to say he's involved with the Illuminati.
Interestingly enough he compares himself to a God at the end of the verse:
"Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy he laid beats/ Hova flow the Holy Ghost, get the hell up out your seats, PREACH"
During the mayhem, clips are constantly shown of Greek God Statues, and as the riot in the video displays more violence, the statues are shown covering their eyes, almost as if to say "not even Gods can support this madness anymore."
On the back of one of the helmets belonging to a riot team member, is P94, which ironically enough can be quickly translated to Precinct 94 in Brooklyn, NY, fairly close to where Jay Z grew up and also well known for having the Pope visit in the mid 70s.
Following his visit, a street next to the precinct was named after him.
In the video, the rioters are fighting against the "enforcers" who are wearing P94 helmets quite often.
Why the number, there's got to be some significance behind it right?
Is this another "not so hidden" symbol blatantly denouncing government/ religion as a whole?
Kanye's lyrics go further into detail concerning the possible formation of "a new religion," and the destruction of religions as our society understands them.
"We formed a new religion, no sins as long as there's permission/ and deception is the only felony."
The new religion seems to be centered on subjective reality, the idea that everything is ego driven, or in other words, each person should embrace his/ her beliefs and that's all that really matters. (research Thomas Nagel if you want further detail)
What do you think this video represents? Am I reading too far into the lines? Does Jay Z really think he's God or a God? Has he completely lost faith in our society and government regulations?
Or is he simply leaving a bunch of "clues" out there for fans like myself to purposely discover?
Being the keen business man Jigga's shown to be, knowing that drama sells, and will continue to in the foreseeable future?
I'll stop selling dreams now and let everybody formulate their own opinion........ enjoy the video.
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