What's Rockin' the Reverend?

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Originally uploaded by Greg Blosser.

I really enjoy posting about artists that many of you may not be familiar with. In fact, one of my greatest joys in life is unearthing some new or obscure musical delight from the far reaches of the cd rack at one of the local, independant rock and roll record stores here in the city. So it is with great inner conflict that I make this post. I've recently acquired Beck's new album Guero (it's a B+) as well as Over the Rhine's Drunkard's Prayer (A-). The Frames' record Burn the Maps came highly recommended as well, but I haven't yet fully embraced it. On the floor of my car there are albums by Richard Buckner, the Firey Furnaces, Iron and Wine, Arcade Fire, and Franz Ferdinand. These are on the floor, while the cd player is occupied by a quite different tenant. I've got M. Ward, I've got Anthony and the Johnsons, Blonde Redhead, and Earlimart. I could write about Kevin Thista's Red Terror and their Beatlesque pop rock masterpiece Wake Up Captain or Bright Eyes' simultaneously pensive and explosive post modern piece of folk artistry entitled "I'm Wide Awake and it's Morning". Perhaps next week I will. Alas, I cannot tell a lie. This week I have been rocked by Kanye West and his hip hop offering "College Drop Out". It is not new or obscure. Heck... It's not even rock and roll. And yet the frequency and magnitude of the rocking it has delivered to the funky presbyterian over the last several days must be acknowledged. Of course I address this record with some ambivalence. While about half of the album I heartily endorse and even recommend to the discerning listener (there is a "clean" version available for those who would prefer), the other half of the album is filled with content I simply cannot endorse. (I'm not referring to particular vocabulary which is most likely the reason for the parental advisory label). Those of you who know me, know I am not prudish as relates to my interaction with the broader culture. And still the misogony strikes me as particularly unhealthy, offensive, and inconsistent with the bulk of Kanye's weltenshaung. (Google that). Of course the possibility always remains that the objectional content is parody. I have a hunch some of it is, but I am not sure. Probably I am too presbyterian and not nearly funky enough to detect the subtleties of hip-hop parody.

Those parts of the album that are good and uplifting are very good and very uplifting to me personally. This album makes me wanna boogy. Pure and simple. Plus there is a considerable amount of incisive cultural critique, and spiritual insight. the likes of which we Christians should hope to hear in our churches and seminaries! Consider these excerpts from Mr. West's "flow" :(wow, I even sound white just typing that sentence).

"Obscene, we living the american dream, the people highest up got the lowest self esteem, the prettiest people do the ugliest things for the road to riches and diamond rings"

"We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom, we buy a lot of clothes but we don't really need 'em, the things we buy to cover up what's inside, cause they made us hate ourself and love their wealth... I wanna act ballerific, like it's all terrific, I got a couple past due bills, I won't get specific, I got a problem with spending before I get it, we're all self conscious, I'm just the first to admit it"

"And I don't think there's nothing I can do now to right my wrong (jesus walk with me) I wanna talk to God but I'm afraid cause we ain't spoke in so long"

"I ain't here to argue about his facial features, but here to convert atheists into believers, I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers, the way Kathy Lee needed Regis, that's the way I need Jesus"

And one last note, there's some guy named J. Ivy who raps near the middle of the song Never Let Me Down. His portion of the song is the most powerful piece of poetry I've heard since Bob Dylan's Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie. Every time I hear it I am bowled over by it's power and profundity. I could reprint it here, but you must hear it to appreciate it rightly.

"Take 'em to Church".