Kanye’s gone to the gods on this sinful new album
It sounds like a computer’s circuits frying, glitching and twitching in all the right places. It could be a beat from Yeezus, Kanye West’s best album. It could be a banger.
But then West starts rapping, and it all falls apart. ‘‘How you get so much favour on your side?’’ West spits over Pi’erre Bourne’s scorching beat for On God. ‘‘ ‘Accept him as your lord and saviour,’ I replied.’’
Ugh. If you hadn’t already guessed by the title, Jesus is King is West’s Christian album, a gospel rap record wrapped up in Bible quotes, Jesus references, and lyrics designed to get you to follow him into the light.
Yes, West has found God, and he won’t shut the hell up about it.
His ninth album is this way right from the start. West has always known how to open an album majestically, from Dark Fantasy’s murderous intent, to Ultralight Beam’s movie moment and Ye’s twisted suicide note.
They’re warnings, songs designed to make you strap yourself in and prepare for the ride. Jesus is King immediately makes you want to change the channel, like your car radio accidentally tuned into the Christian network.
On Every Hour there’s no beat and no raps, just a gospel choir spending two minutes harmonising about the power of the lord.
West’s fans can’t say they weren’t warned this was coming. From his robed Coachella performance to all those Sunday services, the leaked snippets from the album’s listening sessions, and an interview with Zane Lowe when he declared he’s made those working on this album abstain from sex, the signs were all there.
But it’s still a shock to hear rap’s most potent producer, one also armed with the genre’s slickest tongue, quoting Bible verses every chance he gets.
‘‘Michael had some lows and some highs,’’ he raps on On God. ‘‘God is king, we’re the soldiers,’’ he bellows on Selah. ‘‘Jesus brought a revolution,’’ he sings in a cracked voice on God Is.
If you bailed after a few songs, no-one would blame you. It’s tough to hear all of this coming
out of the mouth of someone who, just a few months ago, scored a huge hit with I Love It ,a filthy sex banger where he calls himself a ‘‘sick f...’’
But, if you listen closely, there are moments that prove the Kanye of old is still in there. Follow God’s soul samples slap like something from The College Dropout, while Water’s beat is filled with soothing melodies.
On Closed on Sunday, West appears to compare his wife Kim Kardashian, to Chick-fil-A, an
American chicken fast food chain. Amid all the sermonising, it’s a rare sign West’s sense of humour hasn’t been completely lost to God.
Then, near the end of the album, West does something noone has been able to do for 10 years, reuniting celebrated drugrap titans No Malice and Pusha T from Clipse for Use This Gospel, a menacing, potent stunner. ‘‘I’m as crooked as Vegas,’’ raps Pusha. ‘‘Hold on to your brother when his faith’s
It’s still a shock to hear rap’s most potent producer quoting Bible verses every chance he gets.
lost,’’ replies No Malice, referencing the reason behind their split. Then Kenny G swings by for a ridiculous saxophone solo.
It’s brilliantly weird, a rare moment when West showcases all the skills that got him where he is. It’s the reason why fans still clamour for his music, despite the missteps, the weird interviews, the $50 pairs of branded socks, the decline in album quality.
Jesus is King could end there, on a high. Of course, it doesn’t. West tries his best to ruin it by spending 50 seconds singing ‘‘Jesus is lord’’ over and over again to end the album.
Sigh. Everyone loves the old Kanye, but this time it seems we’ve lost him to God for good.
Jesus is King is streaming now.