Kanye stands in Kanye’s way on Jesus is King

Kanye West has always thought of himself as a prophet of sorts, a conduit destined to receive divine inspiration from God himself.  This belief, or dare I say delusion, that he has been chosen by the creator has led him to compare himself to Gandhi, Einstein, and Steve Jobs, just to name a few. His faith permeated into his first hit single, “Jesus Walks”, and his ego led him to proclaim “I am a God” on 2013’s Yeezus (2013). This combination of Christianity and unbounded ego proves fatal on the recently released Jesus is King (2019), a self proclaimed gospel rap album.  

After announcing he would devote the rest of his career to only making gospel music, and as videos from the highly covered Sunday Services began to surface on the internet, Kanye fans began speculating the content of his upcoming album. Later in the summer, after Kanye originally announced the album as Yandhi and missed a slew of release dates, the project leaked onto Youtube and online forums.  This led to Yandhi being scrapped in its original form, and remade to be released as Jesus is King.  

2013’s Yeezus was controversial among Christians and Kanye was criticized for the audacious decision to compare himself to both Jesus and God on the album, and his claim of divine inspiration. To me, it seems perfectly logical that we are hearing the holy words of God through Kanye as he raps such infamous lines as “Eatin’ asian pussy all I need was sweet and sour sauce” or “Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign”.  This is not to say I am not a Kanye fan, I too love Kanye as Kanye loves Kanye. In fact, I would argue that Yeezus is his best work (that’s an article for another time).   

Anyways, on to the album at hand. In short: it is bad. In full: Jesus is King fails in two aspects – its gospel is tarnished by Kanye’s ego and materialism, while sonically it is unfulfilling. The few highlights on the album (notably “Selah”, “Water”, and “Hands On”) are not enough to make up for the notable amount of mediocre or outright bad tracks (“Closed on Sundays”). Not exactly known for his humility, Kanye would have been better off leaving the typical braggadocio out of his lyricism, but can’t resist slipping in some lines here and there. The most outstanding example would be his line on “On God” in which Kanye proclaims he is the “greatest artist, resting or alive”. Not too shocking given his track record, but such lack of humility makes it harder to take the gospel aspect of the album seriously. “God is” reminds me way too much of Christian rock, where the quality of the music suffers in favor of what I would call “pastor rap”. “Closed on Sundays” is outright painful to listen to, with such horrible dad jokes as “Closed on Sundays/ You my Chick-fil-a” and the cheesiest bible bars you can imagine. Kanye’s rather shallow and material obsessions shine through during “On God”, in which he describes his harrowing challenges as high tax rates and the ability to feed his family through a billion dollar sneaker brand. Such eye-roll inducing hardships, and the materialistic focus, undermine the depth and substance of Kanye’s gospel and leaves it as what it really is – a rather empty and incoherent understanding of Christianity.

“Selah”, one of the highlights, manages to actually produce the sense of awe-inspiring power the album seems to try to achieve throughout its runtime. The church organs and immense drums, along with the choir, complement Kanye’s preachy rapping surprisingly well. Ant Clemons has some beautiful verses on “Water”, and “Hold On” shows Kanye admitting his weaknesses and flaws. One of the tragedies of the album is Kanye’s tinkering with “Use this Gospel”.  Formerly “Chakras (Law of Attraction)” on the Yandhi leak, it was one of the most breathtaking songs on the project. After its remixing, “Use this Gospel” lacks all of the dimension and depth that made “Chakras” so special.  

Kanye’s Christianity, and its influence on his music, is well known. Only time will tell whether his claim to have turned his music career over to christ will hold true. Time will also decide if Jesus is King will be forgotten as quickly as the unimpressive ye (2018).  I think it will be both forgotten and viewed as a stain upon Kanye’s discography. Jesus is King has some compelling moments, a veneer of beauty and awe that quickly crumble upon closer inspection of Kanye’s message.  Quietly and consistently, Kanye unveils his flawed view of Christianity to us on Jesus is King, an album whose lack of musical merit is overshadowed by its failure at gospel.

Article by Everett Williams