What Kanye teaches us about culture and values

One thing that many people don’t know about me is that I enjoy a good rap song now and then. There’s really only a few that I like and I can’t exactly pin down what it is that makes me like them.

So I listened to a Kanye West song today called “Diamonds from Sierra Leone”. As I listened to it, I realized Kanye had some very deep insights concerning the values that culture stamps onto our lives. I have a professor that tells a story about culture in nearly every one of her classes. I’ve had her a few times, so I know the story well. The basic message is that one’s culture cuts deep. The culture that you grow up in forcefully instills values and shapes character in a way that is often impossible to change. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but problems occur when our culture instills values in us that we eventually want to change. Kanye recognizes this tension in the song.

He starts out describing his new found knowledge of “conflict” or “blood diamonds”. He talks about how he owns some diamonds, and is afraid that they may be conflict diamonds. He goes on to say this:

Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connected to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here’s the conflict
It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life try-na get that ice
On a polo rugby it look so nice
How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?

The line that strikes me the most is “It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold”. While that proclamation may be debatable, Kanye clearly believes this. In his culture, it has been instilled upon him to value diamonds and jewelry, and the status that those items bring. But he can’t shake the knowledge that his jewelry may have funded war in Sierra Leone. “How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?”

I love the song. It reveals Kanye’s own personal struggle, but I also think it reveals a prevalent struggle in human nature.

I can relate somewhat. As I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve come to believe that possessions and money should be valued much lower than my culture values them. But translating that belief into practice is much more difficult. All my life growing up I’ve been taught to value financial security. I remember college being strongly promoted for the financial advantage it provided and very little emphasis put on the personal growth and academic education that would occur there. How do we get past this value that has been instilled so deep?

I’m not sure it can be done by human power. As with any deep change that needs to occur, we need to turn to God. I think praying to God for change is an extremely useful practice. We can involve others in our lives to pray for us and hold us accountable to the changes that we want to occur. God is in the business of transforming, and I think it is within God’s power to transform even the deepest values that have been instilled in us.

Can you think of some other values that your culture instills in you that aren’t in line with God’s kingdom?

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