Kanye West and his relationship with Christianity has always been a central fixture of his discography. His lyrics directly referenced his religion, often finding himself trying to reconcile his own faith with the mythos of braggadocious materialism that he so carefully cultivated within the public eye. But it was that very public who, to West, seemed to turn its back on him after a series of politically unpopular statements and multiple highly publicized bouts of mania throughout 2018. 

Following a retreat from the limelight late that year, West returned with Sunday Service, a weekly religious sermon customized for the influencer era, featuring a choir clad in Yeezy apparel who sings cleaned up gospel renditions of contemporary pop songs to a crowd of celebrities and high paying fans. In these Sunday Services, West offered himself as a broken man who gave himself to his faith, the beginning of an attempted redemption arc for an artist infamous for seeking controversy at every turn. This push towards piety culminated to a hard turn towards gospel rap in his latest album, “Jesus is King.” 

Now, gospel and soul are not new to West’s music. In fact, samples from those genres served as the foundation from which he built his career as a producer in the late 90s and early 2000s. That is not to say, however, that the complete embrace of gospel rap for the length of an album is not a departure for West, it is. But what West delivers with this album is, unsurprisingly, a Ye-branded version of gospel music, where the focus is not on God but West himself. 

Much of the album seems to focus on how West feels constantly under siege from those around him and society at large, using his newfound religiosity as a wagon to hitch this persecution complex onto. This is most clear on the second verse of “Selah” where he draws a direct parallel to himself and Jesus Christ, “With Judas, kiss and make up/Even with the bitter cup/forgave my brothers and drank up.” In this piece, West presents himself as a christ-like figure, comparing his trials and tribulations in the media with Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. For a gospel album, this seems awfully blasphemous, but we have to remember, this is a Kanye West album. On Kanye West albums, the topic at hand is usually himself. 

Aside from the confusing messaging, Christian youth group slang and at times sloppy production in the mix, there are a handful of great moments on the album, a pretty big handful, in fact. The Kenny G sax solo on the tail end of “Use This Gospel,” the exuberant hallelujah chant on “Selah,” basically all of “Hands On,” and anytime the Sunday Service choir is used, which is often. 

However, these fantastic moments do not offset a lot of the tone-deaf lyrics that West delivers on this album. At one point, Kanye defends his overpriced merch saying that he does not want his family “the Kardashians” to “starve.” It comes off as delusional and hopelessly out of touch. 

On paper, a gospel rap album from West piques a lot of interest. He has flirted with the genre before, offering cutting social commentary on the effects of police brutality in relation to cycles of poverty on “Jesus Walks,” and delivering a beautifully desperate devotional in “Ultralight Beam.” An album of songs like those is highly feasible from West, but “Jesus is King” was not that. 

Image from Kanye West via YouTube