Album Review: Jesus Is King - Kanye West

After over a year of build-up, false release dates, and politically charged rantings and ravings, Kanye West has finally released his 9th solo studio album Jesus Is King. If you can’t tell by the title, Mr. West is proclaiming to have been recently saved by the Christian faith, and his most recent album is meant to tell his fans and listeners “what Jesus has done for him”, according to him during a conversation with esteemed interviewer Zane Lowe for Apple Music. In usual Kanye fashion this album is completely unique from any of his previous projects, but it still left me scratching my head and unsure of how we got to where we are with one of the most hard-to-understand artists in the genre. To put it bluntly, I miss the old Kanye.

Kanye West was once, in my opinion, one of the most creative artists in all of pop culture. A revolutionary producer, social provocateur, and always-unpredictable presence, Kanye represented the best qualities of a “woke” performer. His music was never too overtly preachy, but his older albums were packed full with well thought out social commentaries reflecting issues not only in his community but of those felt by millions across the country. Every album seemed purposeful, intentional, and crafted to a specificity only he could achieve, and unfortunately that magic has dissipated to the point of being nearly non-existent. Even if you remove the cultural context from Jesus Is King (which I think you never should - context informs all art), it just isn’t up to the high standard Mr. West has previously set for himself.

To clarify: I have absolutely no problem with Kanye West releasing religiously-themed music. Artists should feel free to share their life experiences with their audiences, and it’s becoming apparent that the last year has been a rebirth for Kanye personally. Some of my favorite Kanye songs, “Jesus Walks”, “Ultralight Beam”, and “Saint Pablo”, directly invoke religious imagery and symbolism in a beautiful and compelling way. The problem with Jesus Is King is that, to me, these themes feel hallow. There is a lot of musical potential on this project, and not every song is terrible (a couple are actually very enjoyable to listen to), but for some reason the project as a whole just totally falls short for me. Most of the lyrics on the album are nonsecular, but for some reason, I don’t feel like there’s a lasting message like there has been on previous faith-based Kanye tracks. I think there needed to be more thematic substance for this project to be successful in my eyes. I’m not going to go into too much depth about why I find this album problematic contextually, but I would also like to clarify that any disagreements I have with Kanye’s ideologies and opinions have nothing to do with his identity, but instead have to do with his logical inconsistencies and substantive shortcomings. That’s all I’ll say there… let’s not get riled up.

The worry I had for Kanye’s mental stability is starting to lessen as he seems more and more comfortable in his own skin with every public appearance he makes. I’m glad that he’s making music that seems to be speaking to a lot of people, but it just isn’t doing so for me. The intellectual artist that I enjoyed for so long seems to be of the past now, and I will still enjoy his older projects, but this just completely missed the mark for me.

Good tracks: “Selah”, “Follow God”, “Use This Gospel”

Bad tracks: “Closed On Sunday”, “On God”, “Hands On”

Score: 3/10