Jesus Walks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Jesus Walks" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Kanye West | ||
| from the album The College Dropout | ||
| Released | 2004 | |
| Format | 12" maxi single | |
| Genre | Rap | |
| Length | 3:13 | |
| Label | Roc-A-Fella/ Island Def Jam |
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| Producer(s) | Kanye West | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Kanye West singles chronology | ||
| "All Falls Down" 2004 |
"Jesus Walks" 2004 |
"Talk About Our Love" 2004 |
"Jesus Walks" was the third single from Kanye West's debut album The College Dropout. Released in 2004, the single peaked at #11 in the USA becoming West's fourth top-20 single; it also peaked at #16 in the UK. The song is essentially a spiritual song (an image of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro appears on the single's cover), in which West discusses how Jesus "walks" with all manners of people, from drug dealers and murderers to regular citizens. It also explains West's views on how the media, including radio, seems to shy away from songs including the name of God. The lyric "If I talk about God my record won't get played?" shows this. The song was co-written with rapper (and close friend of West's) Rhymefest. The track is built around a sample from the Arc Choir's "Walk with Me," and also prominently features a sample of machine gun fire.
While West was working on The College Dropout, Rhymefest — at that time unsigned to a record label — played a version of "Jesus Walks" to West, and after hearing it, West asked him to let him use it for his own album. Rhymefest sold the song to West in the hope of gaining a greater profile, and was involved in producing the song. They co-wrote the chorus and first verse together. At the Grammy Awards of 2005, "Jesus Walks" became only the second rap song to be nominated for Song of the Year, following "Lose Yourself" by Eminem from the year before. West and Rhymefest won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song for co-writing the song's lyrics. "Jesus Walks" was nominated for several gospel awards before the awards committees learned that the song contained some explicit language, and removed it from these awards.
In total, three separate videos were made for "Jesus Walks", each funded by West himself. One depicting a black prison camp inmate who joins the KKK, one of Kanye as a preacher in a baptist church and showing a prostitute, an alcoholic and a drug dealer going to pray in the church (this version is the one shown on MTV, VH1, and BET), and one depicting the life of Jesus in the current day.
"Jesus Walks" gained West further mainstream exposure when it was prominently featured in trailers and commercials for the 2005 film Jarhead.
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[edit] Punk'd incident
In 2004, Kanye West was filming the music video for this single, when the team from MTV's Punk'd posed as the Los Angeles Film Commission shut down the shoot for violating a law about filming on Sundays without a permit. To the audience's amusement, Kanye stole the music video footage back from them and then jumped into his van for his safety until Ashton Kutcher stopped the van. Rhymefest, the co-writer and the one that found the Arc Choir sample for West, was the first to greet him as he stepped out of the van after learning he had just been Punk'd. Chris Milk, who directed the music video, also told West that he already paid for the film.
[edit] Single Tracklist
[edit] A-Side
- Jesus Walks (Clean)
- Jesus Walks (Dirty)
- Jesus Walks (A cappella)
[edit] B-Side
- Heavy Hitters (Clean)
- Heavy Hitters (Dirty)
- Heavy Hitters (A cappella)
[edit] Related music
[edit] Mash-ups
- A mash-up song titled "Zombies Walk!!" and attributed to Two Faced John McCartney mixes together "Jesus Walks" and "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!" from Sufjan Stevens' indie rock album Illinois (2006). Download an MP3.
[edit] Remixes
- Kanye West feat. Mase and Common
- 'Jesus Walks In The Jungle' by DJ Zinc
- 'Muhammed Walks' by Lupe Fiasco
- Unofficial Jesus Walks Remix by G-Unit
| Kanye West |
| Albums and EPs |
|---|
| The College Dropout | Late Registration | Graduation| Freshmen Adjustment | Freshmen Adjustment 2 | Late Orchestration |
| Singles |
| Slow Jamz | Through the Wire | All Falls Down | Jesus Walks Talk About Our Love | Diamonds from Sierra Leone | Gold Digger | Heard 'Em Say | Touch the Sky |
| Related articles |
| Production Credits |
