Kanye Takes a New Spin with Jesus is King

Kanye West is an American rapper and record-maker that has produced nine studio albums during his career, which started in 2004. Seven of his studio collections have reached platinum in the United States. Kanye’s predominant career has made him a household name. 

His latest project entitled Jesus Is King, is technically a rap album but gives off a gospel vibe. The idea of Jesus Is King was created because of Kanye’s newfound devotion to Christianity. 

The lyrics on Kanye’s latest album is about keeping pace with what he accomplished a year ago with Ye, to the extent of the ratio to quality and cringe-inducing lyrics. On the song, “Closed on Sunday” Kanye says, “You’re my Chick-fil-A.” This bar gives a genuine message about the drawback to popularity an undeserved irrationality. 

Jesus Is King’s secret weapon is one Kanye has employed before in songs like “Two Words,” “Bring Me Down,” and “Ultralight Beam.” He can wield a harmonic chorus of voices like no one has ever done before.  

“Every Hour” opens the album in the middle of a performance by West’s Sunday Service Choir. The next song starts off on a slower tempo inspirational talk by Kanye followed by a string of hallelujahs.  

 “Everything We Need” adds Ty Dolla $ign, who delivers inspirational lyrics about a passing night storm, bouncing silky harmonies off himself.  

“Water” sends voices careening around the mix like a school of fish. Kanye, who excels by adding friends with varied skillsets into exceptional teams, is uplifted by singers hitting the notes he can’t.  

One of Kanye’s flaws on this album is that he did not rely extensively on the choir and developing Jesus Is King into more of a complete gospel album, at the expense of being quite as much of a typical Kanye record. Only a few tracks here even break the three-minute mark, and even then Kanye often seems to be scraping the barrel for lyric ideas. 

Overall, Kanye’s new spin on his music has been tasteful, to say the least. This album has not received as much attention as his past albums. With that being said, Jesus is King sold over 264,000 units during its first week of sales. This number is low for Kanye but is still very good.