Darrius Barron
Managing Editor
Kanye West has had a noticeably eventful career to say the very least, and I put an emphasis on “least.” The Chicago native found his way into the hip-hop scene by producing music for hip-hop juggernauts of the time.
After years of being known as one of the extremely talented producers behind Jay Z’s “Blueprint” and “Dynasty” albums, West was finally granted permission to release his very first rap album: “College Dropout.”
During the “College Dropout” album, West did something that was extremely rare in the world of secular music, much less the rap genre; he made a gospel song by the name of “Jesus Walks”, and featured it on a secular album.
Although “Jesus Walks” was the only gospel song on the album, West would channel his inner gospel and use a choir for other songs.
“College Dropout” released in 2004. Today, in 2019, West has given us “Jesus Is King”; an album that is entirely gospel music.
I am a person who has been known to defend West till the end, but as a native of West’s hometown would say about a subpar product, “this ain’t it, Chief.”
I do not think that the album is a total flop, but it failed to give me that excellent production that fans have known West to provide.
“Jesus Is King” opens with the abrupt sound of soprano vocalists singing which is no problem whatsoever, but the extremely loud level of the recording was an instant turn off for me.
The lyrics West recited on the album were not of the same quality that “Yeezy” fans have witnessed throughout the years, especially when it comes to songs with meaning.
The guest features on the album to my surprise were not predominantly gospel artists. With Fred Hammond, and the West’s very own Sunday Service Choir being the only gospel vocalists featured, other artists were that of rap duo Clipse, beloved R&B cheat code Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, and saxophonist Kenny G.
“Jesus Is King” may not be the best Kanye West album, but some songs still show that West’s creativity is still there, even if it does not shine as bright as it once did. On the second track, “Selah”, there is a moment of chill-invoking vocals as the choir sings “hallelujah” a cappella; taking fans back to the album “Watch the Throne” when the vocalist on the song “HAM” sang a beautiful opera, creating a great peace in consumers’ ears.
Overall, “Jesus Is King” is an album that someone would have to listen to more than once so that it can grow on them. I found myself turning the album off several times to listen to the old Kanye.
Fans may listen to this album once and immediately think back to 2016 when “The Life of Pablo” was released and the song “I Love Kanye” had everyone chanting “I miss the old Kanye.”
As much as I love Kanye, I do not think there should be another gospel album. Now that this is the discography, it is time for him to hang up his Jesus jersey and get back to the secular music.
Following suit with last year’s work, West decided to keep the album well under the traditional run time of one hour. “Jesus Is King” has a total run time of 27 minutes with just 11 tracks.
West has accomplished two things with this album. The first being the fact that he was able to get me to sit through a gospel album not only once, but several times.
The second feat West accomplished should go down in history as one of the greatest in hip-hop history; he was able to feature Pusha T on a song with the “Good Music Golden Child” only making one single drug reference.
According to Billboard, “Jesus Is King” debuted at number one on Billboard’s 200 charts. This makes West’s ninth album to debut number one.
I would recommend that everyone give this album a try; as previously stated, it is only 27 minutes. If you cannot give 27 minutes of your time to God, you are probably a radical atheist, or a Christian with an extremely short attention span.
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