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 gender. Although the situation has changed during the 20th century and over the last decade, the norm remains largely Christian and masculine; African Americans now mostly fit the “All-American” stereotype. However, there are of course outliers – deviations from the standard norm; these outliers beg the question of what the norm actually is, why it is that way, how it got to this point, and what the norm will be in the future. Kanye West's 2004 single "Jesus Walks" is written as an ode to Jesus who helps him and all other Christians through difficult times in their lives. Sampling the same beat and background vocals, Lupe Fiasco customizes West's song to fit his own spirituality, in "Muhammad Walks." Finally, Matisyahu uses his gift of verse and beat-boxing to broadcast a rap about his religion, Judaism, on the airwaves and on television. Matisyahu and Lupe Fiasco challenge the societal norm of Christianity, while Kanye West solidifies the claim that Christianity is a syncretic religion. Chronologically, “Jesus Walks” came first among the 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 created a purely Christian rap song that heavily advocates religion and bluntly states that the goal of this song is to "convert atheists into believers." At this point in his career, West had just released his critically acclaimed debut CD; he was finally receiving praise for his middle of paper ......sin, however, as Lupe says, their real leader is Allah. Lupe is not trying to "sell" his religion, he is simply posting the information in order to inform rap fans about Islam, and perhaps to clear up some common misconceptions in the media. While “Jesus Walks” was very syncretic and “King Without a Crown” did not seek to influence people to embrace Judaism, “Muhammad Walks” strikes a happy medium – not directly seeking people to embrace the religion, but writing a song with lyrics that would also be suitable for an information brochure on Islam. To connect these songs and videos to culture, we would have to narrow down what we mean by “high” culture. In this case, it would be safe to say that Kanye West's music is considered high culture in North America in 2011; at least Kanye West likes to think his music is considered high culture.