Jesus Is King
Jesus Is King | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 25, 2019[1] | |||
Recorded | August 2018 – October 2019 | |||
Genre | Christian hip hop | |||
Length | 27:04 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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Kanye West chronology | ||||
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Jesus Is King is the ninth studio album by American rapper Kanye West. The album follows a religious theme, with West describing it as "an expression of the gospel." West had formed his Sunday Service group in January 2019, performing gospel songs and covers of songs from his discography. Sunday Service performed the songs "Water" and "Everything We Need" live prior to release.
The album features guest appearances from Clipse, Ty Dolla Sign, Kenny G, Fred Hammond, Ant Clemons, and Sunday Service. The album features production from West, Benny Blanco, E*vax, Finatik N Zac, Francis Starlite, Labrinth, Pi'erre Bourne, Ronny J, Timbaland, and Warryn Campbell, among others. Mike Dean, a frequent collaborator of West's, served as the album's mastering engineer in addition to mixing nine tracks and providing additional production for one.
West quit using medication to treat his bipolar disorder and began recording in August 2018, originally announcing the album as Yandhi. The album missed two initial release dates in September and November 2018 under its original title, before being delayed indefinitely. In August 2019, West's wife Kim Kardashian reannounced the album as Jesus Is King but it missed two planned release dates for late September 2019. The album was released simultaneously with a concert film of the same name on October 25, 2019.
Background and recording
August–November 2018: Yandhi, Chicago and Uganda
Throughout May and June 2018, five seven-track albums produced by West at his ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming were successively released as the Wyoming Sessions. Pusha T's third album Daytona was released first, followed by West's eighth studio album Ye, West and Kid Cudi's debut collaboration album Kids See Ghosts, Nas' twelfth album Nasir, and Teyana Taylor's second studio album K.T.S.E. (all 2018). On Ye, West acknowledged his bipolar disorder diagnosis. He stopped taking his medication for the disorder in June 2018 during the rollout of the Wyoming Sessions albums.[2][3]
In July 2018, Chance the Rapper announced that West was coming to Chicago to produce for his seven-track debut album.[4][a] West was seen in the city at the end of August 2018, and confirmed to Fox News that he was recording material with Chance.[6][7] West later stated that his recording sessions with Chance had helped him reconnect with his roots and his faith in Jesus.[8] That same month, West released the non-album singles "XTCY", which was cut from Ye, and "I Love It", a collaboration with American rapper Lil Pump. The latter debuted during the inaugural Pornhub Awards that West directed.[b] In September 2018, West reactivated his Instagram account after a half-year absence,[10] with indications that he was working with producer Ronny J and Chicagoan artists Chance the Rapper, Chance's brother Taylor Bennett, and G Herbo. Through his Instagram, West confirmed that he was collaborating with American rapper 6ix9ine and began posting snippets of new music.[11][12][13] West also announced that he was permanently moving back to Chicago, which his wife Kim Kardashian was not aware of until she heard about West's announcement through social media,[14] and that he was actively working on a collaborative album with Chance titled Good Ass Job.[15] West didn't move back to Chicago and Good Ass Job never materialized.[16][17]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Yandhi_Cover_Art_%28Free_License%29.jpg/220px-Yandhi_Cover_Art_%28Free_License%29.jpg)
On September 17, 2018, West announced his ninth studio album Yandhi, just three months after the release of his previous album Ye, revealing the cover art and initial release date of September 29, 2018.[20] On September 27, 2018, West visited The Fader headquarters to preview new music from Yandhi and invited people to change up the lyrics. Songs previewed included vocals from Ty Dolla Sign, 6ix9ine, and posthumous vocals from XXXTentacion; West was awaiting Rihanna to send in vocals for a track.[21] A working track list for the initial version of Yandhi included "I Love It" with Lil Pump, "We Got Love" with Taylor and Lauryn Hill (originally intended for K.T.S.E.),[22] and "New Body", which Kardashian coordinated to get Nicki Minaj featured on the track. Other tracks included "The Storm", "Bye Bye Baby", "Hurricane", "Alien / SpaceX", "Last Name", "City in the Sky / Garden", and "Chakras".[14]
West was the musical guest for the season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live, slated to coincide with the release of Yandhi on September 29, 2018.[23] Universal Music Publishing Group accidentally leaked that this initial version of the album was to be eight tracks long, with Ant Clemons contributing to seven tracks.[24] After the album went unreleased, Kardashian later announced a rescheduled date of November 23, 2018.[25] That same day, West visited the TMZ offices for an interview, admitting that the album wasn't actually finished yet and that he would be going to Africa in two weeks to continue recording for Yandhi. West talked about recording in Chicago and how he "felt the roots" but wanted to go to further his energy by touching African soil and recording in nature. West said the previous five albums he released in 2018 as the Wyoming Sessions were "superhero rehabilitation" and declared that Yandhi was a "full Ye album", comparing it to his critically-acclaimed albums Watch the Throne (2011), 808s & Heartbreak (2008) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). West stated that "the alien Ye is like, fully back in mode, off of medication."[26]
On October 12, 2018, West arrived in Uganda and restarted work on the album in a dome-shaped studio set up in the Chobe Safari Lodge at the Murchison Falls National Park.[27] West played new music, including a studio recording of the "We Got Love" remix, for a group of about 100 Ugandan school children during a charity event.[28] In an October 21, 2018 interview, Quavo stated that his trio Migos had recorded for the album.[29] In November 2018, following a Kids See Ghosts performance with Kid Cudi at Tyler, the Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, West tweeted that he felt the album was not finished, and that he would "announce the release date once it's done", delaying the album indefinitely.[30]
December 2018 – October 2019: Sunday Service, leaks and Jesus Is King
On the first Sunday of 2019, West began the first "Sunday Service" rehearsal, where he performed gospel arrangements of songs from his discography and other songs with choir group The Samples[31] and frequent collaborators such as Tony Williams and Ant Clemons. Guest performers have included Francis and the Lights, Kid Cudi, and 070 Shake.[32] During the second Sunday Service in January 2019, West and a choir performed two unreleased songs titled "The Storm" and "Garden", sung by Clemons.[33] Also in January 2019, West began splitting time between Los Angeles and his newly purchased house in Miami, being seen in the latter city recording with artists such as Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Timbaland, Migos, Tee Grizzley, and YNW Melly.[34] On February 14, 2019, West met saxophonist Kenny G for the first time after hiring him for a Valentine's Day performance. The day after, West began previewing new songs to him in the studio and Kenny G suggested that his saxophone "would sound really good" on "Use This Gospel". West pulled out a microphone and Kenny G recorded his part, keeping the track for later reverb and EQ tweaks.[35]
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On February 25, 2019, Sunday Service was rehearsed outdoors for the first time. A video of West playing a keyboard and leading a group of musicians and singers in recording a cover of Fred Hammond's "This Is The Day" was tweeted by CyHi the Prynce and went viral.[36] "Sunday Service" has been held every Sunday since January 6, 2019. The first public Sunday Service performance occurred at Coachella for Easter on April 21, 2019,[37] with the debut of the new track "Water", performed with Clemons and Ty Dolla Sign.[38] West has claimed that he was "radically saved" around this time and later enlisted a personal pastor for weekly Bible studies.[39] In a July 2019 episode of Queen Radio, Nicki Minaj stated that West had recently told her that he was a born-again Christian.[40]
In July 2019, tracks dated from a late-December 2018 session of Yandhi began leaking online, including "New Body" featuring Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign, "The Storm" featuring XXXTentacion, Ty Dolla Sign, and Clemons, a solo track entitled "Bye Bye Baby", and demos of "Alien / SpaceX" and "Law of Attraction", both featuring Clemons.[41][42] The leaks were precipitated by "group buys", online money-pooling efforts organized by fans in order to purchase the tracks from a well-known leaker. Producers who worked on "Law of Attraction" denounced the leak of their track as an "invasion of privacy",[43][44] while GOOD Music president Pusha T wrote on Twitter that "it ruins all that we have in store for [you] guys."[45] Paul Thompson, writing for The Fader, noted that the leaks didn't receive mainstream attention and were a "minor story" compared to older leaked Kanye songs. Thompson cited factors such as the lukewarm reception of his previous album Ye and that songs don't typically enter "popular canon" nowadays unless they're released on streaming services.[46]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Cedar_Mountain_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg/220px-Cedar_Mountain_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg)
On August 29, 2019, Kardashian announced Jesus Is King by posting a handwritten tracklist of the project on her Twitter. The note also listed a September 27, 2019 release date.[47] In early September 2019, West was reportedly finishing up the album with Pusha T at his newly-purchased ranch in Cody, Wyoming,[48] the same state where West recorded his previous two albums Ye and Kids See Ghosts.[49] Following a listening party in Detroit, Kardashian announced that the album would miss its September 27 release date and would instead be released two days later on September 29, 2019, as mixing had to be finalized.[50] Within the two days, West had rerecorded the track "Selah" and was still awaiting a new Minaj verse for "New Body". The September 29 release date was also missed.[51] According to TMZ, the album had already been completed, but West was continually revising it since he was unsatisfied with the end product.[52] In October 2019, West continued working on the album in Wyoming and invited Swizz Beatz to help finish the album.[53] On October 21, West tweeted out a new release date, October 25, 2019.[54] The album missed its midnight premiere, with West tweeting that three tracks still needed improvements on their audio mixing.[55] The album was ultimately released on October 25 around 12:00 PM EST, twelve hours later than initially scheduled.[56]
Music and production
Jesus Is King is a Christian hip hop record, and features a significant gospel influence.[57][58] Complex journalist Eric Skelton considered that it was not a sonic departure from West's previous work, noting its "healthy doses of bass, pretty chords, hip hop sensibilities, and pop melodies", and claimed that it borrows elements from his past albums such as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Ye, and The Life of Pablo (2016),[59] while Samuel J. Robinson of Rolling Stone highlighted its use of trap drums, ambient flourishes and samples. However, Charles Holmes, also of Rolling Stone, described it as a "far more muted, stripped-down affair than most West albums", save for the track "On God" produced by Pi'erre Bourne due to its "galactic, fiery, and intense" beat.[57] He also considered that, despite its gospel influences, "Jesus Is King is a gospel album in the same way a square is a rectangle", only fitting "the most basic criteria", and wrote that its production consists largely of recognizable gospel components such as "pared-back guitars, mournful organs and pianos, and choral arrangements deployed like soul samples".[57]
Themes and lyrics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/President_Donald_Trump_and_Kanye_West_2018-10-11_%28Cropped_2%29.jpg/220px-President_Donald_Trump_and_Kanye_West_2018-10-11_%28Cropped_2%29.jpg)
Jesus Is King focuses on religious salvation with the entire album being clean of explicit lyrics, including verses from guest features. West spoke at the listening party in New York on September 29, 2019, stating "This album has been made to be an expression of the gospel and to share the gospel and the truth of what Jesus has done to me. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he does for me, my soul cries out."[51] Adam Tyson, who became West's personal pastor after April 2019, was present in the recording studio of the album and helped tweak certain lyrics "to articulate the gospel more clearly".[39]
West references the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that abolished slavery on "On God" and "Hands On";[60] West had previously called for the repeal of the amendment in September and October 2018 due to the penal labor exemption that suggests that the enslavement of convicts is legal.[61][62] "Selah" includes a reference to West failing to release Yandhi.[51]
Release and promotion
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Jesus_is_King_-_The_Forum%2C_LA_%2848951268196%29.jpg/250px-Jesus_is_King_-_The_Forum%2C_LA_%2848951268196%29.jpg)
Originally titled Yandhi, the album was set for release on September 29, 2018 but was postponed to November 23, 2018. West later postponed the album again in November 2018 with no new release date set.[30] In January 2019, a representative for West denied a report claiming West was refusing to submit the album to gain leverage in a legal dispute with his record labels.[63] On August 29, 2019, Kardashian announced Jesus Is King with the release date of September 27 alongside a notebook featuring the track list via Instagram. A representative for West reported to E! News that Jesus Is King would be his "latest album".[64] During a Sunday Service performance on September 16, 2019, West confirmed the release date that Kardashian tweeted out.[65]
On September 27, 2019, following a Sunday Service performance in Detroit, West previewed the album and an upcoming IMAX film also entitled Jesus Is King at the Fox Theatre. Kardashian then announced the album had been pushed back two days to be released on September 29, 2019, stating that mixing had to be finalized and that there'd be two more listening sessions in Chicago and New York.[50][66] The album also missed that date with no explanation provided by either West or Kardashian.[51] On October 12, 2019, West announced a tentative release date of October 25, 2019 at a Washington, D.C. listening party.[1] West ultimately confirmed via Twitter on October 21 that this was the official release date and pre-ordering for the album began the following day.[67][68][69] The day before release, West announced his next studio album, revealing that on December 25, 2019, he will release the Sunday Service album Jesus Is Born.[70]
During the early recordings of the album, "I Love It" with Lil Pump was released as a single along with a music video in September 2018. West performed "I Love It" with Lil Pump and "We Got Love", a duet with Teyana Taylor featuring a pre-recorded voice memo by Lauryn Hill, on the season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live that coincided with the original September 29, 2018 release date. West closed the show by performing "Ghost Town" from Ye with Kid Cudi and 070 Shake and giving a speech in support of Donald Trump.[71] West recorded a music video for "We Got Love" with Taylor on October 1, 2018 in the TMZ parking lot,[26] though the music video was never released. Both "I Love It" and "We Got Love" were initially intended for Yandhi.[14]
With the Sunday Service group, West has performed the songs "Everything We Need" and "Water" live in January and April 2019, respectively.[33][38] When premiering "Water", West announced the song as a new track.[38]
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 57/100[72] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
The Daily Telegraph | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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NME | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Jesus Is King received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 57, based on five reviews.[72]
Jordan Bassett from NME wrote of the album: "Where last year's truncated, seven-track 'ye' largely felt sterile and unfinished, a collection of messy, half-realised conceits, here is an album with absolute clarity and confidence."[76] Bassett continued, calling it "concise by West's standards" but not one of his "masterworks" like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and The Life of Pablo, though claimed that "there's density and focus throughout."[76]
Track listing
Track listing and credits adapted from Tidal.[77]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Every Hour" (featuring Sunday Service Choir) |
|
| 1:52 |
2. | "Selah" |
|
| 2:45 |
3. | "Follow God" |
|
| 1:45 |
4. | "Closed on Sunday" |
|
| 2:32 |
5. | "On God" |
|
| 2:16 |
6. | "Everything We Need" (featuring Ty Dolla Sign and Ant Clemons) |
| 1:56 | |
7. | "Water" (featuring Ant Clemons) |
| 2:48 | |
8. | "God Is" |
| 3:23 | |
9. | "Hands On" (featuring Fred Hammond) |
|
| 3:23 |
10. | "Use This Gospel" (featuring Clipse and Kenny G) |
| 3:34 | |
11. | "Jesus Is Lord" |
|
| 0:49 |
Total length: | 27:04 |
Notes
- ^[a] signifies a co-producer
- ^[b] signifies an additional producer
- "Selah" features additional vocals by the Sunday Service Choir, Ant Clemons and Bongo ByTheWay
- "Everything We Need" and "Water" feature additional vocals by the Sunday Service Choir
- "God Is" features additional vocals by Labrinth
Personnel
Credits adapted from album liner notes:
- Josh Bales – recording engineer (all tracks)
- Josh Berg – recording engineer (all tracks)
- Mike Cordone – trumpet (11)
- Mike Dean – mastering engineer (all tracks), mixer (2–4, 6–11)
- Scott Desmarais – assistant mixer (5, 11)
- Zack Djurich – recording engineer (2, 6)
- Andrew Drucker – recording engineer (2–7, 10–11)
- Jesse Ray Emster – recording engineer (2, 6)
- Steven Felix – recording engineer (2)
- Shane Fitzgibbon – recording engineer (1–2, 6–7)
- Robin Florent – assistant mixer (5, 11)
- Kenny G – saxophone (10)
- Chris Galland – mix engineer (5, 11)
- Jeremie Inhaber – assistant mixer (5, 11)
- Jess Jackson – mixer (2–4, 6–11)
- B. Lewis – guitar (6)
- Manny Marroquin – mixer (5, 11)
- Jesse McGinty – euphonium, French horn, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, tuba (11)
- Jamie Peters – recording engineer (2, 6–9)
- Sage Skolfield – recording engineer (4, 6)
- Sean Solymar – assistant mixer (4, 6)
- Randy Urbanski – recording engineer (2–11)
- Federico Vindver – mixer (1)
Notes
- ^ Chance's debut studio album The Big Day was later released in July 2019 with no contributions from West.[5]
- ^ "I Love It" was later included on Lil Pump's second studio album Harverd Dropout, released in February 2019.[9]
References
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- ^ Carl Lamarre (July 12, 2018). "Chance the Rapper Says Kanye West Is Heading to Chicago to Produce His New Album". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
- ^ Mr P (July 26, 2019). "Chance The Rapper drops The Big Day, featuring everyone but Kanye West". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
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- ^ Alex Young (August 30, 2018). "Kanye in Chicago to work on Chance the Rapper's new album". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
- ^ Jessica McKinney (August 30, 2019). "Kanye West's Road From 'Yandhi' to 'Jesus Is King'". Complex. Archived from the original on August 31, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
{{cite web}}
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timestamp mismatch; August 31, 2019 suggested (help) - ^ Michael Saponara (February 20, 2019). "Lil Pump Shares 'Harverd Dropout' Track List Featuring Lil Wayne, Quavo & Lil Uzi Vert". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
{{cite web}}
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/|archive-url=
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- ^ a b Kyle Eustice (January 19, 2019). "Kanye West Debuts New Music During 2nd "Sunday Service"". HipHopDX. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
But around the 26-minute mark, Kanye appears to give the audience an instrumental taste of Yandhi in the form of a previously unheard song, "[Garden]."
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Rolling Stone has not confirmed Jesus Is King's release date or track list.
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The Grammy winner will release his latest album Jesus Is King next month, his rep confirmed to E! News.
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