FALLING SHORT...EVERY DAY:

Kayne's vision: Musician mixes rap, religion (Lola Ogunnaike, 6/25/04, NEW YORK TIMES)

Mel Gibson, it turns out, is not the only entertainer with a passion for Christ. At a small gathering of music-industry insiders and record executives Monday night at the TriBeCa Screening Room, rapper Kanye West held a premiere for the three music videos (yes, three) that he planned to release with "Jesus Walks," the third single from his multiplatinum debut album, "College Dropout."

The first video was to play on MTV, the second one on MTV 2 and the third on MTV.com online.

Damon Dash, the co-founder of Roc-a-Fella Records, West's label, said MTV was reluctant to play the second video, the most controversial, in light of the outcry over Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl stunt.

"The Janet Jackson incident had nothing to do with where we put these videos," said Graham Fuller, an MTV spokesman. "The label gave us three different versions of the video, and we asked them where they wanted them to be played."

In keeping with the song's religious overtones, the first video takes place in a church. Scenes of a jovial choir and of West dressed as a preacher are juxtaposed with images of urban blight: cracked sidewalks, dilapidated buildings, downtrodden city dwellers. "God show me the way because the devil's tryin' to break me down," West raps while standing at a pulpit.

Later in the song, he rhymes: "I ain't here to argue about his facial features/Or here to convert atheists into believers/I'm just tryin' say, the way school needs teachers,/The way Kathie Lee needed Regis,/That's the way y'all need Jesus." By video's end, sinners (a prostitute, a drug dealer and a drunk), all seeking repentance, find their way back to the Lord's house.

West refused to describe himself as religious. "Religion just means that you do something over and over," he said. "I will say that I'm spiritual. I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. And I will say that I fall short every day."