Jesus is King is 27 minutes of Kanye speaking to the church of Kanye. This is supposed to be a gospel rap album. Instead, this is an album about a born-again Christian who is interested in money and repentance. Jesus is King was released with Sunday Services and a short film.
The Sunday Services are meant to replicate church, but they are highly contrived. The church should feel natural and transcendent. This feels like a major cash grab. Kanye holds these services in churches, fields and even James Turrell’s Roden Crater. It’s doesn’t seem to be about the music anymore. It’s about spectacle.
Growing up, Kanye was someone I looked up to because he’s from Chicago like me. I have been a fan of his since 2004. He made it out with his music. Kanye’s entire career is based on his openness and truth. I wanted to be like him. He has his faults, but his music always moved me. Name any song from his catalog and I can sing it back to you. But his vocal support of Donald Trump is inexcusable and saying that slavery was a choice is intolerable. But here I am listening to his album. I want to see what he’s been working on.
In “Selah,” Kanye waxes poetic about the cleansing of his impurities and includes a recounting of the Bible. He then raps, “We got the minds/we got the youth.” The influence he has over the youth is undeniable, but it comes with a price. More specifically, $180 for sweatpants and $100 for shorts. The merch has Jesus is King and crosses screen-printed on them. Now, these items are missing from his site. Presumably, they sold out as much of his other overpriced merchandise does. The mental price that his words garner is taxing.
Then on the song, “On God,” Kanye speaks of his desire to overturn the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865. He also mentions, this amendment again on “Hands On.” Kanye has a connection with Trump, but he surely doesn’t have to ability to make this a reality. On “Airpool Karaoke” with James Corden, Kanye thanked and bragged about God for a delivering $68-million-dollar tax return to him. God didn’t do that, the IRS did under favorable-to-the one-percent tax policies. This is Trump time. Or it could be that Kanye classifies what he’s doing as a church and therefore tax-exempt. Either way, Kanye is delusional.
I have visited churches a handful of times throughout my life. The choir and gospel music are always the best parts. While in church, I found myself shamelessly singing along without even knowing the words. I was moved and felt better after. Listening to Jesus is King, I didn’t feel the same love, warmth, or transcendence. Kanye is using the gospel as a vessel to deliver his message of capitalism to the world. Over the years, he has grown in his ability to package a moment and sell it back to us as if it were a new idea. He made us go back to church. But this time it’s the church of Kanye that we are paying to be in. This is one congregation that is not so transcendent.
While I’m not religious, I can recognize what is happening with Jesus is King. This album is for born-again-Christians or sheep. Knowing Kanye’s history with religion makes this album even more confusing. He’s had songs about the devil and situating himself as a savior, Yeezus. This album works to situate Kanye as the vessel of Jesus’ word. He has said “…I’m letting you know what Jesus has done for me.” At 42, Kanye is probably reflecting on things he has done in his life and perhaps he wants to be cleansed of sins. I simply can’t relate nor forgive. He is lost.