Kanye West – Selah

Celebrity rapper Kanye West is a source of much discussion, particularly his controversial statements on former president George W. Bush’s alleged uncaring attitude towards blacks, former President Obama’s seemingly lack of connections due to his race, siding with Bill Cosby during his sex allegations, upstaging Taylor Swift during the 2009 MTV Music Video awards, blaming black slaves for choosing to remain in slavery, his luncheon with current President Donald Trump and, recently, his professing Christ and releasing his latest album, JESUS IS KING, released a few months ago.

There is much debate about His professed Christianity and, of course, his first Gospel album.  Is this just a publicity stunt?  Is he for real?  What motivates West to release Jesus music?  Whatever his reasoning, so long as the Gospel is preached, I join the Apostle Paul and will rejoice (Philippians 1:18).

I’ve been asked recently to review his song Selah.  Given its high news coverage, I feel duty-bound to immediately examine some of his music and will be generous in my analysis.

I won’t discuss his past albums given that they promote a sinful lifestyle.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Kanye-west-selah-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

There are several points West makes, some of which are factual and others are not. I listed the errors in summary at the beginning of section 2, which compromise West’s message.  The factual claims include:

• God as king
• Man reflecting God’s light
• Transformation from dead sinner to alive Christ follower
• Strength found in weakness
• Forgiveness not granted if we don’t forgive others
• We ought to evangelize, using the tools given to us
• We ought to bear fruit in keeping with our repentance
• Love your neighbor as yourself

Score: 6/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

I will assume that Kanye West’s profession of faith is genuine and comment accordingly.  With that in mind, much of it agrees with the Bible; However, there are several issues:

• Moments of pride in Verse 1, with a failure for West to admit that his outrageous past behavior is sinful, falsely comparing it to Noah’s perceived ridicule for preaching on God’s judgment via flood.
• A contextual misuse at the end of Verse 1.
• Midsection of Verse 2 is unclear.
• End portion of Verse 2 contains untrue statements about us being the truth, when Jesus is the truth.

[Verse 1]

Line 1a: Indeed! (Exodus 15:6, Exodus 15:11, 1 Chronicles 29:11, 2 Chronicles 20:6, Psalm 24:10, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 110:2-3, Psalm 104:1, Psalm 145:5, Psalm 145:12, Job 37:22, Isaiah 24:14, Isaiah 26:10, Hebrews 1:3-4, Hebrews 8:1, Revelation 4:1-11, and Revelation 19:7-16).

Lines 1b and 2: We possess the light of God, reflecting it so that others may see (Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 5:8, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:5-7, and 1 John 2:7-11).  It is not saying that we are the source of light.

Lines 3 and 4: That is, West believes he will enter into heaven as a good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21-23).

Lines 5-8: West believes his focus on matters most important to him seems outrageous to some; However, this is an example of pride.  He is not willing to admit that his behavior is an example of losing composure and is ungodly.  It shows a lack of humility.

Lines 9 and 10: Lean is a mixture of codeine cough syrup and soda.  It symbolizes a past life that has been discarded, a nod to Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24.

Lines 11 and 12:  There are two issues with this:

1. The Scriptures do not say if Noah was judged by those to whom he condemned before the flood (Hebrews 11:7). Some say that Noah’s reception of mockery a reasonable inference based on the wickedness of their hearts (Genesis 6:5), but it is not stated in Scripture. I’ll let this go in terms of scoring.
2. West presents a false comparison between Noah’s alleged judging of his peers for prophesying God’s impending flood and West’s received mockery for his poor behavior. West is not persecuted for righteousness (Matthew 5:10). He is persecuted for doing stupid, another example of a lack of humility.

Line 13: West’s planned ninth studio album that was never released.

Line 14: God cleansed West from the inside out.  See commentary on lines 9 and 10.

Lines 15 and 16: A contrast between the weak, who push through their workweek on their own steam, and the strong, who find strength in God (2 Corinthians 12:9-11), starting their week by worshipping God in corporate worship at church.

Lines 17-23: This is an incorrect usage of John 8:33-36.  Christ does not set us free from slavery to men.  He frees us from bondage to sin.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-11: The word ‘Hallelujah” is a compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, we are singing “we joyfully praise God in song” when we use this word.  Given my earlier commentary in Verse 1, I cannot praise God for some of the reasons he states; However, I will not deduct points for this.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: the word “woke” in this context is slang, referring to an awareness of social injustice.  West is calling us to do something about it.

Line 2: Combines Judas’ betrayal kiss (Matthew 26:47-50 and Mark 14:43-45) with the concept of forgiveness, that we should forgive people who betray us.

Lines 3 and 4: Combines the bitter cup that Jesus drank (Matthew 26:39-42) with his willingness to forgive those who didn’t understand when they put Him on the cross (Luke 23:34) to communicate the same message as line 2.

Lines 5 and 6: West believes he did everything within his power to forgive, but can’t pretend like he didn’t care when he was betrayed.

Lines 7: We win in the sense that asking for forgiveness frees us from becoming embittered.  It also helps us focus on God’s forgiveness.  If we don’t forgive, why should He forgive us (Matthew 18:21-35)?

Line 8: References the final resurrection (Luke 20:34-38, Acts 24:15-16, Romans 6:1-5, Romans 8:11-13, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Line 9: This is unclear.  What is it that we need?  I thought forgiveness, but it doesn’t make sense in light of lines 11 and 12.

Line 10: Refers to the corrupt government.

Lines 11 and 12: This is also unclear.

Lines 13 and 14: References that which has been entrusted to West, including an audience by which to preach Jesus.

Lines 15 and 16: While it is true that we are to make disciples of other nations (Matthew 28:18-22), we are not the truth.  Jesus is the truth (John 14:6).  We merely possess it.

Line 17: See latter commentary in Verse 1, lines 9 and 10.

Line 18: Bearing fruit of good works is expected of Christ followers (Matthew 5:16, John 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 3:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:6, Philippians 2:13, Colossians 1:10, 2 Thessalonians 2:17, 1 Timothy 2:10, 1 Timothy 6:18, 2 Timothy 2:21, 2 Timothy 3:17, Titus 2:7, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:1, Titus 3:8, Titus 3:14, Hebrews 10:19-25, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 John 1:7, and 1 John 2:6)

Line 19: Specifically, Luke 10:27.

Line 20: Sorry Kanye.  We aren’t the truth.  See commentary in lines 15 and 16.

[Outro]

Lines 1-4: Several calls to Casper the friendly ghost.

Score: 6/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers are likely West’s intended audience for this song.  Given the mix of truth and error, combined with deep-seated Christianese, this will cause much confusion and misinformation among his unbelieving audience.  There are moments of clarity within the two verses that, perhaps, will cause them to consider Jesus.  Particularly, its message of forgiveness.

Score: 4/10

4. What does this song glorify?

While some of it correctly identifies the transformed life of a Christ follower and the necessity for forgiveness, its false claims from West’s perspective, the errors outlined in section 2 places a thick, wet blanket on God’s glory shining through.

Score: 5/10

Closing Comments

Kanye West’s Selah is a disappointing song, especially given its intended audience of unbelievers.  Though it contains moments of truth, declaring God as king, proclaiming West’s trajectory from death to life, and the power of forgiveness, his pride creeps into some of its lines.  He also miscontexualizes slavery and errs when declaring us as the truth.

I cannot recommend this song for church use or evangelism.  Kanye West has a lot to learn.

Final Score: 5.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Selah (listen to the song)

Artist: Kanye West

Album: JESUS IS KING

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap

Release Year: 2019

Duration: 2:44

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.