The story of Jesus Is King starts with Yandhi, an album that was announced last year, which had been delayed repeatedly, until Kanye announced that even he was not sure when the album would finally see release. Effectively, the album was cancelled. All that remained were a few low quality leaks and snippets of some unfinished songs. That’s when news on Kanye laid stagnant for a while, until rumors of Kanye working on a new album while retooling these leaks and snippets began. Then, videos and audio of Kanye traveling to different continents and cities to perform with his new gospel choir began to crop up, performances eventually dubbed “Sunday Service” by his fan base. Finally, a new album was announced, and after one more delay, Jesus Is King was released to streaming services on October 25.
Kanye’s has experienced much controversy over the years. From putting his entire life savings into the production of his debut album, The College Dropout, to encouraging his mother to get a low risk surgery that unexpectedly proved to be fatal, to drunkenly stumbling onto the stage of Taylor Swift’s Best Music Video acceptance speech at the MTV Awards while loudly proclaiming that Beyoncé deserved the title, to associating himself with the most controversial president ever, the public has scrutinized, insulted, and made a fool of Kanye. If it wasn’t for his amazing, groundbreaking, and incredibly influential music, he may have been viewed as the symbol of modern idiocy and belligerence.
Kanye’s incredibly creative mind is the reason he’s so respected in the artistic world. His personality and controversial experiences are a significant part of his music, and he is open about this when he is in the studio. From referring to his overwhelming debt on The College Dropout to singing about his breakup and the death of his mom on 808s & Heartbreak to calling himself a “scumbag” and a “jerkoff” for ruining Taylor’s special moment on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye’s music has always been personal. But recently, with albums like Ye and Kids See Ghosts he’s started to push the boundaries of his mind, and Jesus Is King is a continuation of this experiment. For the first time in his discography, however, even though there are excellent parts of Jesus is King, the creative instability in Kanye’s mind is starting to show.
The album starts off incredibly strong with “Selah.” Layered with choir and organ synths, Kanye explains how he delayed Yandhi because he found God. The track ends on increasingly loud gospel chants, and is immediately followed with the jam soul-beat “Follow God,” featuring a repeated sample of Whole Truth’s “Can You Lose by Following God”.
This incredible start to the album, however, is cut short with the half-baked “Closed on Sunday,” where Kanye raps about how God is his personal “Chick-Fil-A”. This track is unnecessary, and one part of Kanye’s mind that you’d rather not see.
However, this brief exposure is immediately outshined, as this terrible cut is followed by one of the best songs of the year, “On God.” This track features powerful echoing vocals and a synth riff to die for.
But almost right afterwards, once again, Kanye proves how inconsistent he can be, with the worst song on the album, “Water”. This unsuccessful experiment tries to blend beach rap with gospel, and even the serviceable vocals from the choir are not enough to save this song. Kanye’s verse is boring pop song incarnate. The instrumental is near unlistenable, and the entire song is a reminder of how rocky Kanye’s creative high and lows can be.
After “God Is” and “Hands On,” both very solid songs which dig a little deeper into Kanye’s psyche, the album closes out with the excellent “Use This Gospel.” Featuring autotune, a saxophone solo from Kenny G., and a gospel chorus, this is the most divisive song on the album in terms of style.
On its surface, Jesus Is King is about one man praising and making songs dedicated to God, but as you progress through the album, it becomes very apparent that this album is once again about Kanye himself. After years of going through mental struggles and public scrutiny, it’s incredibly gratifying to see how Kanye has finally found his catharsis. However, the inconsistency of the album is really what dilutes many of the great moments in the album. Tracks like “Water” and “Closed on Sunday” are mood killers, and the whole album is a little too short to hide these missteps. This album is raw and compelling to the core, but Kanye needs to remember that with the raw comes the good, the bad and the ugly.
Article by Edwin Jiang of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons