American Gangster - Jay-Z

Joseph Smith | 13 March 2008

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American Gangster
Jay-Z
Universal

Jay-Z has picked up on the themes of race relations and crime in the USA in his new album American Gangster which contains songs inspired by the Ridley Scott film of the same name.

The film American Gangster tells the story Frank Lucas who lived the ‘American dream’: moving out of the projects and through drug dealing was able to buy everything he ever wanted and gain street cred and admiration from both friends and enemies. However, the money was ill gotten gain. The respect was earned immorally and given grudgingly.

In American Dreamin’ Jay-Z sings of a money focussed life of big cars, big houses and fame all gained through crime. He basically tells Lucas’ story but adapts it as his own. The American dream of total financial security and self-sufficiency and reliance ended up being a nightmare for Lucas. Jay-Z’s song tells the same story with the same dire consequences.

In Pray Jay-Z sings of a life surrounded by crime, drug selling and drug taking and asks that people pray for him when there are seemingly no other opportunities. When he is low, he says he gets down on his knees to pray. He asks for forgiveness, deliverance and righteousness. But he admits that he cannot help going back for a second helping of the “sweet taste of sin”. The line echoes Paul’s writing in Romans 7:19 “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.”

God’s name is never from Jay-Z’s lips in any of these songs. Neither is the recognition of the immoral choices he is making and their dire consequences. In No Hook he again asks for God’s help in the midst of overdoses and homicides.

In Party Life Jay-Z exalts all that is superficial: loose women, an abundance of alcohol and being the best dressed, coolest man in the room. It is obsession with holding onto these trappings that often cause our disconnection with God. As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10 “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. While money is not evil in and of itself, the Bible reminds us that greed is one of the main barriers keeping individuals from knowing God.

In Say Hello Jay-Z sings “Only God can judge him, only he without sin, can you tell me if my means can justify my ends?”. In character, Jay-Z asks if he can be a cruel, cold-hearted criminal if he believes he is doing it for the right reasons. God calls us to life a life of love, honesty and integrity. As the prophet Samuel says to Saul in 1 Samuel 15 following Saul’s disobedience to God “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice.” Utilitarianism is never the right choice.

Once again Jay-Z has delivered an accomplished rap album. His adaptation of a film’s major themes to lyrical content for an entire album is a formidable feat and he has complemented the original motion picture well. Of course, like the film, gritty depictions of violence, drug use and frequent coarse language are recurring elements, so be warned.

Like so many rap artists, Jay-Z raps about a universe where God exists, loves and judges. Also like so many rap artists, Jay-Z sings about and essentially glamourises a living a life that dishonours God and ignores his purpose for his creation. Jay-Z seems to acknowledge the disparity between what he does and what he ought to do. He even seeks God’s forgiveness. But in the end it seems that repentance – a turning back to God and a leaving behind of the old ways – is not a choice that Jay-Z is inclined to make. Like the film, Jay-Z’s American Gangster is a telling, if not disturbing parable.