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This video as well as the lyrics are thought provoking. Its stirred up controversy in both religious and hip hop circles. In order to completely understand The Jesus Walks video you must have a knowledge of what the ghetto is, a knowledge of racisim, the religious views of Kanye, and a brief background of Kanye west.

A ghetto is characterized as being an area of the inner city consumed by minorities that has great disparity ie single parent, and low income homes. Gang violence, drug dealing, and prostitution are often associated with streets in ghettos. There is a lot of racism that takes place in the ghetto, both internal and from outsiders. Many people from the ghetto see it as such a negative place that they begin to hate themselves and their surroundings. Police and other authority figures profile people from the ghetto. The media also portrays people from the ghetto as untamed, and animalistic which leads to the people from the ghetto hating themselves and alleviating growth.

Though Kanye West was not raised in the ghetto, his parents made sure he could connect with his African American peers who were less privileged than he was. Kanye is known for being outspoken and speaking with no filter. he was born in Atlanta, GA to a former Black Panther who was one of the first black photojournalist, and who is now a Christian counselor (Father) and an English Professor (Mother). This most likely explains Kanye's character. He is very intelligent and articulate, but at times has very outrageous ways of expressing himself that sometimes makes him look less than intelligent and rowdy.

Kanye west has done interviews expressing negative views of Christianity. According to his blog he has apologized and expressed that He is a Christian and his negative views on the religion are just that, negative views on the traditions created by man. Jesus Christ is his personal lord and savior and Kanye only disagrees with the hypocrisy of people who claim to be Christian. "I one thousand percent believe in God, I believe in Karma, I believe in being a good person. I’m not trying to tell people what they should believe or not believe. To each is his own. I was in situations where someone constantly used Jesus to show me how baaaad a person I was or how not perfect or not Christ like I was. When I say I don’t want to be Christ like I’m saying I’m fine with not being perfect. I’m fine with being a human being. I’m happy with just that." Kanye West (The religious beliefs of Jesus walks Director Chris Milk were not found)