They Run This Town - What you Didn’t know About the Music Industry

Strange symbols, weird rituals, cryptic messages? These types of characteristics are usually indicative of a mystical cult but not of your favorite pop artists or the music industry today, right? Over the past several years numerous music videos and performances have raised questions as to the motivation and meaning behind the music.  Could there be themes in music and videos which are lost on the casual listener but which contain strong cultural messages designed to shape society?

Recently numerous songs have been released which point to directly to blatantly anti-Christian themes. Artists like, Jay-Z, Rhianna, Beyonce, and most notably Lady Gaga have included in their music a pointed agenda which can only be interpreted as a push by these artists and the media industry as a vehicle to challenge societal norms. Could it be possible that our favorite music artists are simply vehicles for the industry to send these subliminal messages to our society in order to effect change on a grand scale?

After watching the Video Music Awards on MTV earlier this year, many viewers were struck by the strange performances and several outright references to Satan. Among the unexplainable creepiness of the show was included a eulogy to Michael Jackson elevating him to god status, a public mock-suicide by Lady Gaga, and a public declaration of a prayer to the ‘Darklord Satan’ headed by Jack Black.

But what exactly are the themes and images being portrayed today? Is there a link to the occult or is this simply a giant coincidence. Everyone has seen the satanic imagery in The Rolling Stones classic, Sympathy for the Devil, Led Zeppelin’s, Stairway to Heaven, and Ozzy Osbourne’s, War Pigs. However, could this trend also be masked today in the popular music industry with an innocent exterior.

Take for instance pop icon Beyonce who has become the idol of American teenagers for the last decade. One of Beyonce’s newest hits ‘Sweet Dreams’ outlines a strange conversation between her and a lover. Yet, this song seems to have a deeper meaning which can be seen through the symbolism of the music video. It is important to remember that music videos are meticulously planned out, imagery is key. The video begins with a dove appearing to levitate Beyonce off of a bed in what may be seen as an allusion to occult practices and black magick, followed by numerous strange images throughout the video.

Here it is important to note that Aleister Crowley once labeled as the ‘wickedest man in the world’ founded Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Eastern Temple), which is a professed satanic cult and incorporated into its sigil a dove which is flying downwards connected with specific imagery of the Eye of Horus inside of a triangle. Coincidences, perhaps, but coincidence is just that. If a certain image is repeated we may begin to derive that a theme is prevalent. So where else do we see this type of imagery?

Along with Beyonce, another pop icon who has traveled down a mysteriously dark path is Rhianna. For the past few years this R&B star has climbed to the top using her looks and upbeat style to join Beyonce as a regular on the charts. Recently though she has found success by taking a much different approach to her art.

Her new #1 single, “Russian Roulette” displays a disturbing theme made only more unsettling by the images portrayed, in her music video. In it, she seems to be enslaved, tortured, and put through traumatic events. However, the lyrics are turning the most heads. Although this song was an instant hit almost immediately upon its release there were complaints regarding the heavy suicidal message permeating the song.

More importantly this symbology is showing up far too often in Rhianna’s music and photo shoots to write it off as coincidence. A good example of this comes in another one of her newest hits where she teams up with Jay-Z to produce ‘Run This Town’. In the song both artists sing some unnerving lyrics but it is the music video that has some wondering. Unknown to most of his fans Jay-Z grew up under the tutelage of Dr. York, the founder and leader of the Islamic, black power fraternal group the Nuwaubian society. ‘Run This Town’ and its music video have an undercurrent of violence and black power which just might be a harkening back to Jay-Z’s roots connected with a possible vision of the future.

Jay-Z has also created a clothing line including designs which have many undeniable occult references. The imagery on his shirts contain the eye of Horus, obvious Masonic symbols and phrases, and direct references to Satanism. “Do What Thou Wilt”, which stretches across one shirt is a phrase taken from Aleister Crowley’s, Book of the Law, which he used to found Ordo Templi Orientis. It is apparent that with the type of imagery Jay-Z has chosen to place on his clothing line and with his direct endorsement of Crowley’s iconic phrase, he is taking a pitted stance against Christianity.

If all the coincidences that have been outlined can be brushed aside there still remains the outrageous performances and influence of our newest pop icon, Lady Gaga. We all love her music and think her outfits are crazy but few can watch or listen to her music without noticing blatant sexual references or the darker more sinister aspects to her music videos. Throughout her music video to her hit single ‘Bad Romance’, themes such as a triangular hand sign with her eye in the center and references to the satanic church’s sigil of Baphomet, the ancient identification of Satan, are prevalent. Once again this is the same shout out to Crowley’s imagery from the sigil of O.T.O. However her performance at the VMA’s where she committed a ritualistic mock-suicide in front of 50 million viewers sealed her image as an artist at least interested in the occult.

What do we conclude when observing these signs, symbols, and lyrical messages that permeate the music of the industry’s biggest stars? Whether one buys into the conspiracy theories, ties it to the occult or links it to secret societies, once an individual is made aware of these repetitive subliminal messages, one must contemplate the personal implications that this knowledge brings. As Christians we must decide whether it all amounts to a mere expression of art or something more sinister. If there is really an agenda being propagated through music, and if the industry is actually aligning itself with the dark spiritual forces we know to be active in this world, we must take a stand and control what we allow to perpetrate our minds and speak out against this agenda.