Jesus Walks

Album

College Dropout: The Mixtape

Label

Roc-A-Fella

Genre

Christian hip hop

Media Type

CD

Duration

3:13

Composer(s)

Kanye WestChe SmithMiri Ben-AriCurtis Lundy

Entered Chart

May 8, 2004

Peak Date

Jul 31, 2004

Released

May 25, 2004

Recorded

2000–2003

Catalog #

002709

In total, three separate music videos were made for "Jesus Walks," with the second and third financed by West himself out-of-pocket.[30] All three were premiered on June 21, 2004, at TriBeCa Cinemas, where West explained, "That song evokes so much emotion, and four minutes of imagery limits the ideas that you're supposed to give for the songs, so I had to do three."[51] West had originally wanted Hype Williams to direct the first version of "Jesus Walks" but decided not to because he had heard that Jay-Z was thinking about enlisting Williams for "99 Problems."[51] Instead, West went with Michael Haussman for the music video, which was filmed in California and budgeted at $650,000.[30][52] In the video, West is portrayed as a preacher rapping before a congregation from a pulpit while angels guide a prostitute, an alcoholic, and a drug dealer to his Baptist church.[51] "His hate is so all-consuming that he tries to carry the burning cross back up the mountain. That's the physical manifestation of his hate, and he wants it to get to the top of the mountain for the world to see. He's so blinded by his hate that he doesn't [consider that his robe will burn]. But God forgives him and causes it to rain, therefore extinguishing [the fire], and that's a sort of baptism; washing away his sins. I doubt anyone's anyone got all that, but it's nice to at least make an attempt to build in some layers. I know a lot of it is going to be lost in the translation of just being a music video, but the song is so deep and powerful it necessitates going the extra step with the visual metaphors." —Chris Milk on the video's metaphoric imagery[52][53] West was not satisfied with the music video and convinced then-label head Dame Dash to commission another, this time for $500,000.[30] The second version was directed by Chris Milk and takes place in the deep South. The core concept behind the video, which Milk described as his most complex narrative, was to take various deplorable characters and merge them with biblical iconography in order convey the message that God is with them. The secondary objective was to display the duality of man.[54] The video stands as the most metaphorical of the three, as it features West rapping in a hallway which is filled alternately with hellish flames and angelic light, in conjunction with footage of drug traffickers being pursued through a barren desert by police, prison camp inmates battling with guards, and a Ku Klux Klansman setting himself on fire while carrying a burning cross up a mountain.[52] The video was named as one of the best of the 2000s decade by Dugald Baird of The Guardian.[55] The final version of "Jesus Walks" was filmed in West's hometown of Chicago and co-directed by himself with Coodie & Chike (Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah of Channel Zero). Filmed guerrilla-style within the course of one day at a budget of $40,000, the third version was the least expensive of the three. It depicts Jesus in the modern day, literally walking beside the protagonist as he travels from his home to church, performing miracles along the way.[30] The video premiered on MTV.com on June 23, 2004.[51] The music video received several wins and nominations; It earned two nominations at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year and Best Male Video, winning the latter.[56] It won Video of the Year at the 2005 BET Awards.[57] The music video earned two nominations for Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.[58] "Jesus Walks" was nominated for Best International Video at the 2004 MuchMusic Video Awards.[59] The music video received three nominations at the 2005 Music Video Production Awards, for Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Hip-Hop Video.[60] At the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards "Jesus Walks" was nominated for Video of the Year.[61] The video earned a nomination for Outstanding Music Video at the 2005 NAACP Image Awards

"Jesus Walks" is a song by American rapper Kanye West. It was released on May 25, 2004, as the fourth single from his debut album The College Dropout (2004). The song contains a sample of "Walk with Me" as performed by the ARC Choir. "Jesus Walks" was acclaimed by music critics, who praised its compelling sonic atmosphere and boldness in its open embrace of faith. It was met by widespread commercial success, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming West's fourth consecutive top-twenty hit in the United States. The single was accompanied by three separate music videos, each of which visually interpreted a portion of its multifaceted context in different ways. "Jesus Walks" continues to be a crowd favorite and stands as one of the most-performed songs by West, who has included it within all of his headlining tours. At the 47th Grammy Awards, "Jesus Walks" was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song, and received a nomination for Song of the Year. Various publications placed the song on several year and decade-end lists, and have since listed it among the greatest of all time. The song was named the best song of 2004 on Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll.[1] Pitchfork listed it at No. 123 on its list of the 200 Best Songs of the 2000s,[2] while NME placed it at No. 69 on its list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" in October 2014.[3] Rolling Stone named the song No. 19 on their list of the 100 Best Songs of the 2000s, and later placed it at No. 273 on its 2010 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.