Kanye West enters gospel phase with ‘Jesus Is King’
A review on rap mogul Kanye West’s ninth studio album, ‘Jesus is King'.
Kanye West has always been a musical genius who isn’t afraid to try new things. He’s been best known for his production, constructing instrumentals for elite rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas, The Game, Cam’ron, Ludacris, T.I and many more prestigious artists.
Its undeniable West has made a significant impact on music, marking him as one of the most influential musicians who’ve elevated the genre of hip hop into becoming mainstream music.
Kanye has had an interesting past two years. He dropped his eighth studio album ‘Ye’ in June 2018, which was a scattered and confusing project.
After that, he had been preparing his ninth studio album ‘Yandhi’ with the initial release date of 29 September 2018. The album missed its release, along with the second planned date in November 2018.
Yandhi had been postponed for over a year until West's wife Kim Kardashian tweeted, 'Jesus is King,' hinting a September 2019 release, which did not happen.
The album finally arrived on 25 October 2019, being released with a concert film of the same name that was based on his gospel group Sunday Service.
Jesus is King is best described as a gospel album, with West completely accepting his Christianity and emphasising the significance of being a believer in God and Jesus on most tunes.
The album contains six guest appearances: Ant Clemons, Ty Dolla $ign, Fred Hammond, Kenny G, and Pusha T alongside his brother No Malice, reuniting as the rap duo the Clipse.
It’s also completely clean, containing no explicit language on any of the 11 songs.
Throughout his career, West has frequently fused religion with hip hop. One of his most successful religious records is 'Jesus Walks', which appeared on his first album 'The College Dropout' in 2004.
More recently, West extended his religious references by naming his sixth studio album 'Yeezus', a metaphorical combination of his moniker 'Ye' and Jesus, which was released in 2013.
There was also a melodic gospel element on his song 'Ultralight Beam', which was the first track on his 2016 album 'The Life of Pablo', which West characterised as "gospel with a lot of curses on it".
The message behind Jesus is King has been West’s deepest biblical record with Christian contextuality, but it feels unfinished.
On the ablum’s second track, titled ‘Selah’, you hear the profound echoes of the Sunday Service choir, saying the phrase ‘Hallelujah’, with West reciting biblical verses that puts emphasis on his Christian faith, making it sonically cohesive.
West took a gospel approach with the Jesus is King album, exploring biblical and spiritual elements
The third tune, 'Follow God', is a brief yet pleasant ballad with a soulful sample. Aside from that, it has little to do with the album's religious theme and lacks lyrical content.
'Everything We Need' initially had posthumous vocals by rapper XXXTentacion, but they were most likely deleted owing to the excessive swearing. However, this reduces the song's overall impact, with West adding a second verse that contributes nothing to the music.
Although Jesus is King has considerably more clarity than 'Ye' did last year, with a distinct topic and consistent sound, it is not in the top tier of Kanye West's discography owing to lacklustre rapping, uninteresting flow over instrumentals, and a lack of substance.
