Yeezus Walks: Tracing Kanye's Religious Journey Across His Albums
We should have seen the writing on the wall. Last year,
Kanye West's
Ye publicized the deepest recesses of his id, arriving amid months of questionable behavior from the rapper. He
suggested slavery was a choice, sported a "
Make America Excellent Again" cap, and extended support to maybe the most divisive president
in history. The album marked a troubling entry in his lengthy discography before it was even released.
So it wasn't also surprising any time Kanye speedily left
Ye as a relic of the summer, moving on to albums he executive produced for the GOOD Music camp, including his
Kid Cudi group effort
Kids Visualize Ghosts. He revealed that he could be dropping another album in September 2018 called
Yandhi. Then, delays. Then, silence.
When he re-emerged in 2019, it was like it was to purge himself of
himself. Kanye started hosting
Sunday Service, a weekly traveling public worship featuring choir music (with performances by his children
North and Saint), dancing, and general rejoicing, all in the name of Jesus Christ. It's been attended by
A$AP Rocky,
Brad Pitt,
Big Sean, and throngs of everyday worshippers. These services, as well as the release of the humanizing single "Water," planned that the presumably self-centered
Yandhi couldn't possibly be his next musical step; he was back on a path closer to the religious walk of his early career.
The defining statement of this era likely would've been
Jesus Is King, an album reported by
Kim Kardashian West and confirmed through the Kanye's website for a September 27 release. However this week,
multiple reports came of even more delays. As of today, there's no album to speak of, though there really is apparently a
live show in Detroit called Jesus Christ Is King: A Kanye West Experience."
Despite the lack of a new album, Kanye's music has contained a pious slant — both in grappling with God and with deeming himself one — from the very starting. Right now, as we wait to be able to see if we'll ever have the ability to hear
Jesus Is King, we've trekked this religious journey across seven different eras of Kanye.
"Jesus Walks" (2004)
Kanye's 2004 ode to Christianity Jesus Christ Walks" — the fourth single from his debut album, The College Dropout — is still one of his signature songs. Supported by the spiritual voices of Harlem a capella sort the Addicts Rehabilitation Center Choir, Kanye kicked his career off asking God to show him the way. The rapper reportedly shopped the track to labels prior to getting signed by Roc-A-Fella Records, however no one would take the bait. "They mentioned you could rap about anything with the exception of Jesus Christ Kanye spits. "That means guns, sex, lies, videotape / Nevertheless if I talk about God my record won't get played." Kanye proved them wrong: It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, went double platinum, and won a Grammy for Best Rap Song. The structure had been laid.
"Devil In a New Dress" (2010)
A lot happened in the six long years between Kanye's religion-referencing debut and 2010's
My Pretty Dark Twisted Fantasy: a 2006
Rolling Stone cover that depicted the rapper in a crown of thorns; the 2008 death of his mother, which, and also the end of an engagement, spurred the creation of
808s and Heartbreak; the 2009 VMAs and his infamous Taylor Swift interruption. Kanye was never humble, yet by right now, he'd turned his gaze toward his satanic sexual impulses. As a substitute opposed to worship, Kanye roots "Devil" in hedonism. "The way you look should be a sin, you my sensation / I know I'm preaching to the congregation / We love Jesus yet you done learned a lot from Satan," he raps. It's a far cry from the Christian embrace in his earlier music. He's not seeking guidance from God; he's casting Him away and caving to his most devilish temptations.
"No Church in the Wild" (2011)
By 2011, Kanye and
Jay-Z had become rap titans, so obviously, their collaborative album,
Watch the Throne, was all braggadocio. Although opener "No Church in the Wild" raised the stakes, starting with a telling
Frank Ocean hook: "What's a mob to a king? / What's a king to a god? / What's a god to a non-believer / Who don't believe in anything?" Jay's verse yanks heaven down from the sky with a biting bar: Jesus Christ was a carpenter, Yeezy laid beats / Hova flow the Holy Ghost." Kanye continues the blasphemy by framing the verse around a threesome where
he's the one being worshipped. And if sex is their hymn, then lower back tattoos are their scripture: "Two tattoos: one read 'no apologies' / The other mentioned 'love is cursed by monogamy' / It's something that the pastor don't preach." He'd set the stage for the pure bile although to come.
"I Am a God" (2013)
An album named
Yeezus would seem incomplete without a song called "I Am a God." The
inspiration came right after a 2012 Paris Style Week dis from a designer who invited the rapper to a show on the condition that he not come to any other ones. The very next day, Kanye sprinted to the studio; on the song, he repeats that he's the highest worship point. The song's official credits note God as a featured artist. On the
Yeezus tour while in 2013 and 2014, Kanye brought out a male dressed as Jesus Christ to talk with as equals, bringing to life the song's line, "I just spoke to Jesus / He mentioned, 'What up, Yeezus?'" In fan-captured footage of a
Seattle show, someone off-camera notes that the rapper's "going way also far, man" — yet no one could touch Kanye any time he's reigning from above.
"Ultralight Beam" (2016)
Featuring
Kirk Franklin,
Chance the Rapper, plus a 10-person choir, gospel anthem "Ultralight Beam" is the religious fulcrum of Kanye's 2016 album
The Life of Pablo (originally titled
So Help Me God). With chants and prayers littered while in, it's Kanye at his most susceptible, open to change, pleading with God for strength. "Father, this prayer is for each person that feels they're not good enough," Franklin prays at the end of the track. "This prayer’s for everybody that feel that they're also messed up / For each person that feels they’ve mentioned 'I'm sorry' also several times." Ironically, "Ultralight Beam" leads into "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1," the critically acclaimed gospel-sampling song with a name that invokes prayer, however with a sexual twist. The rest of the album continues down that subversive rabbit hole.
Ye (2018)
The spectacle of Ye nearly enveloped the exceedingly personalized album, although flecks of religious light shine through. Deep in the ramblings and confessions ("I Thought About Killing You") are quiet nods to God, heaven, and past sins, a subtle return to the humbled Kanye we once knew. On "No Mistakes," Kanye offers divine forgiveness: "Make no mistake girl, I still love you / (Believe it or not, the Lord still shines on you)." Later on "Ghost Town," sampled dreams of ascending to heaven surround modest verses: "Someday I wanna wear a starry crown / Someday I wanna lay down like God did on Sunday." And "Violent Crimes" finds Kanye asking for forgiveness for the very sins that once made him a god: "Father forgive me, I'm scared of the karma / 'Cause right now I visualize ladies as something to nurture / Not something to overcome Kanye's slow walk back inside the church turned into a brisk jog toward the pearly gates.
"Water" (2019)
In December 2018, Kanye
revealed that Chance the Rapper had helped him reconnect with his faith, and at the turn of the new year, he started leading the gospel choir that would become his Sunday Service. While in one of those services, he debuted "Water," a track he executive produced although doesn't perform on. "Water" is about rebirth, purification, and the celebration of life with God's love. It's Kanye reckoning with his human form. While in the track, collaborator Ant Clemons delivers frequent chants of "water," like he's purging individual sins with each melody. Kanye ceding the spotlight feels like it may be another authentic step toward his religious return — a paying of respects before kneeling at the altar and declaring, Jesus is King." We'll visualize if we ever get to hear it outdoor of Detroit.
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