Shad, Beyonce and Kanye West: three preachers and their sermons

Please note: due to music licensing agreements, we have geo-fenced this episode. If you're outside Canada, you can hear this week's conversations on our podcast. 

List compiled by Vish Khanna

Kanye West - 'Jesus Walks'

The way Kathie Lee needed Regis, that's the way I need Jesus.- Kanye West

The fourth single off his debut album, The College Dropout, 'Jesus Walks' is a controversial song endorsing Christianity. It became Kanye's third Top 20 single, was certified Gold, and won a Grammy for Best Rap Song.

West raps that radio programmers don't like spiritual content. They prefer less alienating fare like 'guns, sex, lies, and videotape'.  

This cut was the first real indicator that Kanye viewed himself as a kind of musical missionary. It predates his more materialistic and hedonistic lyrical forays. Here he is more than willing to embrace and explore the tension between joy and pain, religious and secular fare, poverty and wealth, power and oppression.

West ends by saying he dreams of hearing a song about Jesus amping up a club (or concert hall)... which 'Jesus Walks' inevitably does when West performs it live. 

Beyonce - 'Lemonade'

[I] went to the basement, confessed my sins, and was baptized in a river, I got on my knees and said 'amen'... and said 'I mean.'- Beyonce

The media fanfare regarding Beyonce's new visual album 'Lemonade' (there's a corresponding HBO film) has focused on its lyrical allusions to the alleged infidelities committed by her husband Jay Z.

Others have noticed that it's a record full of anger, forgiveness, and redemption, possibly drawn from the artist's own personal struggles and how she draws from her religious faith to deal with life and love.

Christianity Today observed that the record contains "a plethora of Christian references, including mentions of the 'Holy Book', 'baptism', and visuals of the Bible. 'Chapters' within the visual album are named 'emptiness', 'forgiveness', 'resurrection' and 'redemption'."

The track 'Pray You Catch Me' could not be more plain in its spiteful invocation of a higher power to help enact vengeful justice:

Prayin' to catch you whispering
I'm prayin' you catch me listening
I'm prayin' to catch you whispering
I'm prayin' you catch me.

Shad – "Rose Garden"

Rabbi said don't trust in cash prizes Same things that float your boat can capsize it Tell the snakes they can take a hike like gas prices. - Shad

Shad is open about reflecting his Christian faith in his music. He's said that he presents his faith in a language that anyone can understand, no matter their belief or background.

One of his most enduring singles is 'Rose Garden', which takes its cue from a country hit by Lynn Anderson.

Seemingly about navigating the ups and downs of a romantic relationship, Shad employs it as a dialogue with God: 

I didn't promise you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There's gonna be some rain sometimes

His lyrics are split into two parts: the first verse is spiritual and contains many Biblical allusions; the second is secular, invoking earthly possessions but tied back to the 'leading the less fortunate/strength in the face of adversity' messaging of the first verse.

Throughout his work, Shad blends optimism with pessimism, the good with the bad, and struggles to make sense of it all, leaning mostly on his own faith and the belief it instills in himself to guide him.