Yep, it's a gospel record.
Kanye West has finally debuted ‘Jesus Is King’ at a massive premiere in Los Angeles. Check out footage of the event below.
The follow-up to 2018’s ‘Ye’ failed to arrive in September, despite the rapper sharing a track-list and previewing the record at his ongoing Sunday Sessions.
Last night, it finally debuted at a special listening and screening at the Forum in Los Angeles. Fans were treated to a showing of the 35-minute ‘Jesus Is King’ film, before West took the stage to perform select tracks from the record.
According to The Face, the performance was in entirely in keeping with the record’s gospel theme, with the floor of the Forum being transformed into a “pastoral landscape of reeds and long grass”.
As for the record itself, it’s said that Kanye has “made an album entirely of Christian music. None of the songs he played included swearing, all of the songs he played included allusions to God.”
Several of the tracks, including ‘Selah’, also see Kanye including specific bible references from the Gospel of John.
On ‘Hands On’, he also reflects the backlash to the spiritual album as he raps: “Said I’m gonna do a gospel album /What have you been hearing from Christians? /They’ll be the first ones to judge me /Make me feel that nobody loves me.”
Kanye’s spiritual U-turn comes amid claims that he was considering quitting rap because he believed it to be “the devil’s music”.
In a new interview with Christian media organisation Apologia, pastor Adam Tyson reveals that, after being “saved” by Christianity, Kanye considered quitting rap music altogether.
“One time, he told me that he wasn’t going to rap,” Tyson said. “I said, ‘Why not?’” to which Kanye replied: “‘That’s the devil’s music.’ I said, ‘Hey, man. Rap is a genre. You can rap for God.’
Tickets for the wider release of the ‘Jesus Is King’ film tomorrow are on sale now.
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