Opening Thoughts
Kanye made this a Good Friday with the release of his 8th solo album under his own record company GOOD Records in collaboration with Def Jam. What was previously expected to be YANDHI Kanye scrapped the entire project after declaring he wants to focus on making gospel music.
The finished project, Jesus is King, is truly a gospel album through and though; which has brought a lot of criticism from listeners calling him a hypocrite as he went from banger lines such as, “Let me hit it raw like fuck the outcome/ none of us would be here without cum.” To asking his staff to abstain from premarital sex and making music about God’s grace in just 17 months. I personally don’t think where Kanye has been plays a factor in this album as each Ye album has been their own unique sound from the beginning. The rhetoric of this album leaks a bit of cringe but the production level and scope of this album prove Kanye’s genius as he goes back to some of his classic sounds in his most controversial album yet.
Track by Track Review
The album starts with an upbeat piano melody that sounds like it should be played in a saloon layered under a church choir that reminds you of Forrest Gump praying for shrimp. The very upbeat and praiseful intro is followed by the first track that actually showcases born again Ye. Saleh opens with a progression minor chords on an organ followed by Kanye ranting about the life he lived and proclaiming that his faith is the reason for scraping the YANDHI sets the tone for the rest of the album, the rest of the song is filled with a choir chanting, “HALLELUJAH” over and over again and ends with Kanye spazzing out, barking like a dog, classic.
The third track, Follow God, is what I would call the first real song on the album. Sampled from a Motown like track with a College Dropoutesque beat Kanye uses his classic flow on what is one of the best songs on the album to rap about his relationship with his father and search for God. The song ends with Ye spazzing like he often does in the YEEZUS album, classic.
One of the album’s highlights is followed by an absolute doozy. It’s so bad that it might be Kanye’s way of chastising us for our own sins. Closed on Sunday opens with a guitar melody that sounds like it's about to be an Irish ballad. The most ironic part is that the baseline sounds ridiculously similar to the baseline used in his single with Lil Pump, I love it. Instead of opening with, “You such a fucking hoe, I love it.” The lyrical genius talks about family and the sabbath with, “Closed on Sunday/ you my chick-fil-a.” Next.
The next “banger” on this gospel album, On God, features a nice Kanye flow rapping about his internal struggles with Satan over what sounds like the soundtrack to a Sonic the Hedgehog game. The hidden gem on this entire album is at the end of this track when you hear it, “YO PI’ERRE YOU WANNA COME OUT HERE?” A fucking Pi’erre Bourne beat on a gospel album, absolutely genius.
Everything We Need is probably objectively the best track on the album. Auto-tuned Kanye singing, a very crisp trap beat over some organ chords, and an angelic hook by Ty Dolla $ign.
Waters is the nicest sounding track on the album with a very modern bouncy beat with Ant Clemons harmonizing with a choir. Not a lot of content but a nice sounding song.
God Is has a simple classic beat. But the best part is Kanye singing, without auto-tune, about his faith and his voice gets raspier and raspier as it goes on. I don’t even care about the content but hearing Kanye like that made me happy.
Hands On is, in my opinion, the best song on the album. No bullshit, an amazing beat with Kanye’s best lyrics on the song referencing his past sins and even calling out the Christian community for rejecting him despite his self-acclaimed faith. The songs exist with Fred Hammond singing a ballad that reminds me of the outro of New Slaves on YEEZUS. Through and through the best song on a production level and lyrically.
The last real song, Use This Gospel, starts with a beeping that sounds like you forgot to put your seatbelt on that persists for the song’s entirety. Until Kenny Fucking G comes in and lays the sexiest saxophone solo of the decade. It’s so good that you completely forgot about Pusha T trying to rap about something that isn't cocaine. That aside a very well produced song with some other great Kanye bars.
The album closes with Jesus is Lord, which is just under a minute of Kanye basically praising God for just under a minute over some horns.
Closing Thoughts
It really is sad that the voice of a generation has moved away from producing albums that were bound to influence the next wave of mainstream rap music, but Kanye still proves that he is one of the best producers alive in a very clean album despite its off-key content. Kanye has always had a fuck you attitude and you hate to see him go from lines like, “I wanna fuck you hard on the sink/ after that I give you something to drink/ step back can’t get spunk on the mink.” To, “Closed on Sunday’s/ you my chick-fil-a/ hold the selfies/ put the Gram away.” But what says fuck you more than producing a gospel album in an era where religion is being pushed away more and more by the masses.
Score: 7.6/12
