In 2004 Kanye West released his debut album The College Dropout, which featured a song titled "Jesus Walks." Infamously, Kanye played the song for multiple record labels prior to its release but nobody thought a song about Jesus would be successful and resonate with radio listeners. Well it turned out they were wrong as the song was released to critical acclaim and even reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Fast forward 13 years and the hip hop landscape has changed drastically, but Kanye's affinity for putting his religious views in music has not. With the release of The Life of Pablo in February 2016, he impressed listeners with the intro track "Ultralight Beam," which features Chance the Rapper and a prayer from gospel singer Kirk Franklin. This track, along with others like "Low Lights," proved that there remains a place in mainstream music for religion and faith, even if it can sometimes be a difficult topic to convey properly. Pablo didn't just start the resurgence of gospel influences in hip hop, he opened the door for other artists to more fully explore Godly messages in their music for the second time in his career.
The next artist to continue this trend would nonetheless be Chance the Rapper, who quickly rose to the top tier of rappers with the release of his third free project Coloring Book. Releasing a few months after Kanye's latest effort, the mixtape explored faith and religion even more thoroughly. Tracks such as "How Great," which starts off with a two-minute rendition of "How Great is Our God" sung by his cousin Nicole. Other tracks like "Blessings" and "Finish Line" dive even deeper into the rapper's relationship with God and prove that he does "speak to God in public."
The inspiration for writing this article came from Big Sean's recently released album I Decided. First off, it is an excellent album and I highly recommend you give it a listen ASAP. I was somewhat surprised after my first listen by how much he referenced God and the blessings he has been given throughout his life. My favorite song on the album is "Sunday Morning Jetpack," which has Sean reflecting on Sundays with his grandmother and prayers being answered. And of course, Big Sean was signed and mentored by none other than Kanye himself.
Hopefully this trend within hip hop continues into 2017 and beyond as it is inspiring some of the best music available across any genre. Music you can emotionally connect with and that has a good message is the kind of thing that needs to be embraced and shared.