Released October 25, 2019
6 / 10
Favorites
Follow God, Hands On (feat. Fred Hammond)
Least favorites
Water (feat. Ant Clemons), God Is
"JESUS IS KING" blends Kanye's brand of hip-hop with gospel, drawing too heavily from Ye's deck instead of rising to the occasion sonically. The album's more Evangelical-inspired tracks have a lot of the ingredients of your typical 20th century gospel, inhabited by mountains and valleys of choirs and church organ, yet they're much more sparsely populated than the gospel songbook canon. For all its praise and talk of the greatness of God, "JESUS IS KING" doesn't deliver much substance, asking for our blind faith in Kanye's craftsmanship rather than summoning a miracle to convince us he's still the creative genius he claims to be. There isn't much complexity to dig through and the album doesn't feel as heartfelt as the bulk of Kanye's discography despite its thematic grandeur. The thing is, Kanye is still so audibly concerned with Kanye that preaching about love and rooting for a universal awakening to the power and salvation that supposedly comes with faith sounds somewhat hollow. He sounds entitled at times and quite disconnected from the world beyond Calabasas. It's particularly striking how On God combines sounding thankful for his blessings and complaining about his wealth privilege at the same time. Are we supposed to empathize because "The IRS want their fifty plus our tithe"? And he goes on to say, in the same breath: "Man, that's over half of the pie"; completely oblivious to the irony of the food pun that should have reminded him of people who struggle to put food on the table. Kanye hopes we now understand that "That's why I charge the prices that I charge" and has the nerve to add "I cannot let my family starve". Truly Kanye sounds more deeply entrenched in his bubble than ever - let me add that there is nothing wrong with wealth; but the complaining here sounds insensitive and spoiled. Once you get past the lyrics, the glowing synth arpeggios that occupy most of the musical space are impossible to miss. The track is a bit of a messy effervescence but I'll give it that it's not a boring one. The other track on "CROESUS IS KING" - umh, I mean "JESUS IS KING" - that sounds a bit callous is Everything We Need. After his discourse on wealth in On God, basically equating success and salvation, hearing the self-proclaimed billionaire repeat "we have everything we need" nails the coffin shut. Is he talking to us or to himself when saying "Switch your, switch your attitude"? Musically, the track is part of the "less is more" gang but suffers from the lack of conviction and passion from its performers. When not sounding tone-deaf to the average person's life experience, "JESUS IS KING" seems to be preaching a darker, hostile even, version of a religion that places love above everything else. Selah, one of the album highlights, sounds like an announcement for a Christian take-over. Channeling Inquisition realness, the whole atmosphere is set up as to convey an impression of preparations before some great battle. The choir chanting Hallelujahs for 45 seconds seems fitting and surprisingly not overdrawn. There is just something off with the drama and orchestration that combines "Love God and our neighbor" with martial drums. Closed On Sunday worships in a similar way, turning to God for protection in an offense-over-defense tactic that doesn't ring very "Christ-like" - "Try me and you will see that I ain't playin' / Now, back up off my family, move your hands". It's pretty unclear which flavor of Christianity Kanye is preaching. In spite of this confusion, Closed On Sunday is a strong track, from its opening tingling with scratching chords and background vocals turned instruments. And in true Kanye fashion, the song unravels differently in its second half in a surprising turn of events. The somber Hands On works quite well with its content of reproach and frustration. Production is clear, with gyrating distorted vocals on the wall and a strong vocoded performance from Fred Hammond - which is peculiarly reminiscent of Francis And The Light's style. There is a lot of Kanye in "JESUS IS KING", but less surprise and re-invention in one of his most modest work musically. Selah's sonics could have been constructed from scraps of "Yeezus"' rejects , albeit with a slightly different production style that doesn't attend as much to Kanye's voice. Follow God channels the earlier Kanye, wrapped around a sample from Christian soul band Whole Truth. Lyrically it's Kanye at his best: he's really playing with the musicality of words while sounding sincere and engaging. His cadence is unstoppable yet he's very easy to follow. Bringing up conversations with his father, his staccato flow documents what it means to be "Christ-like" - don't expect to learn much though. It's when Kanye sounds farthest from the Kanye we know that he's the least inspiring. Water could very well have been a Childish Gambino track. Like a fish out of water, it stands out as a foreign element to "JESUS IS KING". Reverberating Ant Clemons feels like a sample from Beyoncé's Lion King album, the song is way too literal with its tacky water sounds - a big fat yawn overall. God Is is the most straightforward worship track on the album but it quickly falls short of the expectations set by the brilliant opening sample. Listening to Kanye straining his vocal chords keeps you on edge until you can't take it and tune out the praise. It really is odd that Kanye as a fervent Christian sounds much less passionate that Kanye the heathen. I cannot help but wonder if, in the making of "JESUS IS KING", Kanye relied too much on God for inspiration and not enough on himself.
Favorite lyrics
"Lifelike, this is what your life like, try to live your life right People really know you, push your buttons like typewrite This is like a movie, but it's really very lifelike Every single night, right, every single fight, right?"
Follow God
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