What will happen if one of the greatest artists of all time decides to make a gospel album? If he decides to never cuss again in Hip Hop and preach about Christianity after making songs like I Love It, Hell of a Life and I'm in it for the past 10 years? What will happen will alienate the fans but will make new ones too along the way. Like 808s & Heartbreaks and Yeezus, Jesus is King is an album that is going to mark a shift in the culture.
The Life Of Pablo
Let's start with The Life Of Pablo, The Pablo in the title refers to 3 different Pablos, First The famous artist Pablo Picasso, The second the infamous Pablo Escobar, and the third Saint Paul or Paul the Apostle. Each of these people can be seen in the work and life of Kanye West. Focus on the Apostle Paul because that's what motivated Kanye to refer to The Life Of Pablo as a Gospel Album and the music certainly is gospel-inspired even if the lyrics clearly aren't and this Paul later transformed into the road Kanye took instead of being Picasso or Escobar Kanye became spiritual after a breakthrough moment in his personal and work life.
Let us fast forward to the infamous project YANDHI. Kanye started Sunday Services while he was working on his follow up album of YEEZUS, YANDHI. Whatever happened in 2018-2019 the choir and their hymns praising Lord helped Kanye and inspired him to be Christian in practice and not just in theory leading to the scrapping of the much-anticipated album Yandhi and instead we got Jesus is King an album that was not what anyone expected from Kanye.
JESUS IS KING
The album starts with an energetic song performed by the Sunday service choir Every Hour. This song is probably the most energetic and sets up expectations high for the coming album as there is no verse in this song by Kanye. Selah suddenly starts off with precisely the opposite theme quite and focused in stark contrast with the previous song Every Hour which was filled with energy and sung by a choir. But Selah too delivers an energetic climax with Kanye rapping over drums and choir chanting Halleluiah, this song will truly lift you up no matter if you are religious or not.
Next up in the album are songs like Follow God which is an underrated Kanye song the only problem with this song is despite being top-level in production and in lyrics it's too short for an album that took 5 delays. In this song, you can see Kanye is not claiming to be a perfect Christian but a man who is trying his best to be one. His family is not perfect and it is only highlighted by the fact he raps about his father tells him he ain't like Christ. Follow God is definitely a Kanye West song that will stay on repeat for some time.
Next up is where the album starts to become disappointing songs get shorter and the content the song runs thinner production stays top their there is no compromise in that but it is still not enough to make this a decent album. The song Closed On Sunday despite being serious in theme got lyrics like You My Chick-Fil-A, No need to mention there are no drums or beat drop, and the whole song is just bland or simply something Kanye can produce in a day, not 2 years and 5 delays. Songs like On God and Everything We Need are barely 2 minutes in length and lyrically not satisfying but the upside is that the production is fresh and this song Water will leave you with a clear and focused mind that song is meditative and features Ant Clemons to add up to the content this album lacks right from the beginning.
God Is, a great song that stands tall lyrically and length is sufficient to 3:23 minutes, Contains energetic beat transition and Kanye is pushing himself in this song sonically. Next up the album delivers a song that reaches the 3-minute mark. Lyrically it is way better than On God because the preaching is not corny.
Hands On, If you love Kanye for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, then this song is something opposite of that albums any song, you won't vibe with it. Extremely minimal and lyrically tense Fred Hammond loses that tension that is built up by Kanye throughout the song rapping about how people won't accept him as a Christian. This song is very much similar to New Slave in Yeezus in structure extremely minimal and releasing of pent-up energy in the outro of the song by another artist. Lyrics are also directed towards people trying to box him in.
Use this Gospel is great, and a great disappointment at the same time because of one single song The Law of Attraction. If you have never heard The Law of Attraction, a leak from Yandhi. Then this song is great for you the music, the flow is great. This song's remix had Eminem rapping on it in the upcoming Jesus is King 2. But, if you have heard The Law Of Attraction then you are going to perceive Use This Gospel as a downgraded version of the song. Lyrics and flow alongside the mixing are downgraded and feels unfinished. I hope to see this song's full potential revealed in the long-awaited Jesus is King 2 or the leaks that will eventually be out someday if Kanye keeps delaying this project too.
TOP PICKS
Despite being a delayed and short project. There are some songs that you can put on repeat certainly the charm of Kanye's production is still there even if the content is running thin within the lyrics.
- Follow God.
- Selah.
- Hands On.
SKIPS
- Water
- On God
- Closed On Sunday.
RATING
Despite being a bad album, I enjoyed Jesus is King because it was something different. This album could have scored more if I was a God-fearing Christian but I am a fan who expected more from Kanye West. I hope to see more Christain oriented songs like Kanye's Wash Us In The Blood which was mixed by Dr.Dre and is working on Jesus is King 2. Jesus is King gets a 3 out of 5 for being a mix of disappointment and potential.
3/5
