In 21st century North America, there is a strange, seemingly unanimous idea that, to fit the norm, you have to be white, Christian and male. Although the situation has changed during the last 20th century and the last decade, the norm is still largely Christian and male; African Americans now fall, for the most part, into the “all-American” stereotype. However, there are, of course, outliers – deviants from the standard norm; these outliers lead to questions about what the norm really is, why it is the way it is, how it became the norm, and what the norm will be in the future. Kanye West's 2004 single titled "Jesus Walks" is written as a hymn to Jesus who helps him and every other Christian in difficult times in their lives. Sampling the same beat and background vocals, Lupe Fiasco customizes West's song to fit his spirituality, on "Muhammad Walks." Finally, Matisyahu employs his gift of poetry and beatboxing to deliver a rap about his religion, Judaism, via radio and television. Both Matisyahu and Lupe Fiasco challenge the social norm of Christianity, while Kanye West solidifies the claim that Christianity is a syncretic religion. Chronologically, "Jesus Walks" is the first of three songs and videos. It could be argued that West's foray into the religious rap music genre is what paved the way for Matisyahu and Lupe Fiasco, because "if [West talks] about God, his record won't get played." Lyrically, West has created a purely Christian rap song that strongly supports religion and says, in no uncertain terms, that the goal of this song is to "convert atheists into believers". At this point in his career, West had just released his first critically acclaimed CD; he was finally receiving praise for his... middle of paper......ssein, however, as Lupe says, their true leader is Allah. Lupe is not trying to “sell” his religion, he is simply showing the information to inform rap music fans about Islam and perhaps to clear up some misconceptions that have been spread in the media. While “Jesus Walks” was highly syncretic and “King Without a Crown” made no attempt to entice people to adopt Judaism, “Muhammad Walks” takes the middle path – not overtly seeking out people to join the religion , but writing a song with lyrics that would also be suitable for an information booklet on Islam. To connect these songs and videos to culture, we would need to scale back what is meant by “high” culture. In this case, it would be safe to say that Kanye West's music is considered high culture in 2011 in North America; at least, Kanye West likes to think his music is considered high culture.