'Jesus Is King' deconstructed

I can't post the full deconstruction in one post because it has too many characters but I'll reply to the thread song by song.

‘Jesus Is King’ Deconstructed
Italics = quotes, bold = scripture, regular = my thoughts

For each song I will say instrumentally where the song could have ended up on another one of Kanye’s albums. Each of his albums has a distinct sound sonically. Lyrically, none of these songs would have fitted on any of his albums. His lyrics have certainly developed & reflected his sonics over the course of his career. His rapping ability is certainly transferable to an album that glorifies God, as well as his production. The content of his previous lyrics cannot, but his literary style certainly can.

‘Up From The Ashes’:
Didn’t end up on the album but was played at his listening sessions as the intro to the album. You can listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e6vBqhCp18

I believe the title represents Kanye rising from his life of sin. Especially his public perception & the things he’s not proud of. He’s spoken of how Jesus has removed shame from his life, but there are still many things which didn’t glorify God that he will no longer engage in.

“I could tell you, He could show you”

Kanye speaks on how he can tell you about Jesus but Jesus can show you far better than Kanye could tell you. This is not necessarily a Christian concept, the concept of experiencing things for yourself & not believing what you’re told is prominent in all belief systems. I think a lot of the time it holds people back from engaging with Jesus. But Kanye says, once you experience the love of Jesus through revelation, it’s not something that can be explained with words. There is certainly evidence for God that can be explained, but the personal experience you have cannot. There needs to be a mix of evidence & experience to sustain you.

“I come to you empty, free of my pride”

A true sign of repentance. Often we try to hide & internalise our pride. Kanye has made his pride very public; so to use this language seems more dramatic in his case. Kanye has spoken of emptying himself of plans & relying entirely on what he believes God wants him to do, which is constantly evolving as he learns more about God’s will.

Instrumental on another album: ‘Kids See Ghosts’

‘Every Hour’:
Every hour is the only song on the album which doesn’t feature vocals from Kanye. I love the song, but I feel it could be easily misunderstood.

“Sing ‘til the power of the Lord comes down”

This lyric could be perceived as a transaction. Similar to Chance The Rapper’s lyric in his song ‘Blessings’:

“When the praises go up, the blessings come down”

I don’t believe we should sing for a selfish purpose, but in response to His selflessness. Easier said than done.

This song is a taste of the ‘Jesus Is Born’ album that is supposed to come out on Christmas. It is a Sunday service album, not a Kanye album. Considering Kanye’s recent track record with delivering albums on time, I’m skeptical that it will be released on Christmas. However, it not being a Kanye album & being an album about Jesus birth scheduled to be released on Jesus’ birthday; it’s hard to see him not releasing it on Christmas. I have a feeling that Kanye will executive produce the album, possibly feature vocally. I’m not sure whether it will be a Christmas carol album; all the original Sunday Service songs I’ve heard so far weren’t like carols. A Sunday Service video can be found below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0N6vRYcTk&t=5576s

Some comments from the above video:

• “Not being religious at all, but this video makes me want to find God.”
• “Wouldn’t mind him doing the Super Bowl.” (Imagine Sunday Service doing the super bowl. I don’t think it’s probable, but it would certainly be extremely fruitful.)
• “Ye needs to make a live album. This sounds better than the album does.”(A lot of people making similar comments online. I think ‘Jesus Is King’ was very rushed. Some of the melodies & instrumentals from songs came from ‘Yandhi’ (The album Kanye was working on in late 2018 but scrapped when he believed & confessed that Jesus is Lord, more on that in the deconstruction of ‘Selah’) so it makes sense that the album sounds bare. ‘Yandhi’ was supposed to be a sequel to ‘Yeezus’. ‘Yeezus’ production was extremely minimalist. He even recruited Rick Rubin to help with this. Kanye called Rick a reducer not a producer. The idea is that every sound is noticeable & impactful. If you listen to ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, especially ‘All Of The Lights’, there are so many layers that it sounds frantic & takes multiple listens to capture all the elements. Some would say it gives the music more replay value. I think Kanye didn’t want to distract people with layered production, he wanted the gospel to have centre stage in the lyrics.)
• “Kanye has a smile only Jesus can give him.” (Lots of people used to make fun of Kanye because he didn’t smile very much. When he did, it was very bright; but he was often very frustrated, especially getting Yeezy off the ground. I have never seen Kanye smiling this much.)
• “I am tired just watching the choir, this energy is insane.” (I thought something similar as I was watching it at first, but I felt more energised the longer I watched it.)
• “God is (the song) literally helped me avoid suicide. I listen to this album because it is the only positive thing in my life. This album came out at the right time for me, thank you God.”
• “I’ve never listened to gospel this much in my life. Thank you, Kanye! “Somebody pray for me!”

Some comments from the ‘Every Hour’ song on YouTube:

• “I’m not religious at all but this song’s got me feeling like praising God”
• “This is literally what this generation needs right now”

Some comments from the genius deconstruction of ‘Every Hour’:

• “Titled after every hour we have waited for Kanye to drop JIK”
• “Kanye turning atheist into believers” (In reference to his song ‘Jesus Walks’ in 2003 when he says “I ain’t here to turn atheists into believers”. When Kanye performs that song now he says “We’re here to turn atheists into believers.”)
• “Gospel is so powerful, I’m not even religious but I feel the song to my bones” (Evidence of what I was speaking about earlier when deconstructing the line “I could tell you, He could show you.” from ‘Up From The Ashes’.)

Instrumental on another album: ‘The College Dropout’

‘Selah’:
“God is King, we the soldiers”

We are commanded in 1 Timothy 6:12 to:

“Fight the good fight of the faith.”

Later in the passage (1 Timothy 6:15) it states:

“…He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,”

The world does not make it easy for the Gospel to be spread. Persecution in terms of murder in “developed” nations is less common, but it does occur. What does occur though, is social persecution. This can often lead to people abandoning the faith, mental health issues & in severe cases; suicide.

“Everybody wanted Yandhi
Then Jesus Christ did the laundry"

Yandhi was delayed twice & fans were extremely upset. I personally was so frustrated. I was fine with him taking his time to work on it. But announcing a release date, getting people excited & then disappointing them was frustrating. Kanye in his words was not delivered until April 2019. He delayed the initial September 29th 2018 & November 23rd 2018 release dates well before his deliverance, so that’s no excuse.

It’s difficult to interpret which songs on ‘Jesus Is King’ were created during the ‘Yandhi’ sessions. I heard leaked versions of the instrumentals for ‘Selah’, ‘Everything We Need’ & ‘Use This Gospel’ prior to the release of ‘Jesus Is King’ but there could have been others on ‘Jesus Is King’ that were created during the Yandhi sessions. I’ve also heard explicit lyrics over all three of those songs. So Jesus Christ doing the laundry refers to Kanye cleaning up his life in general, but especially cleaning up ‘Yandhi’, considering Kanye scraps the name & content of the lyrics.

“They say the week start on Monday
But the strong start on Sunday”

For the world, the working week starts on Monday. As most of their lives revolve around their own performance, not the performance of Jesus on their behalf, their work & their careers is where they find their identity. Kanye creates a double entendre. The working week & the spiritually weak, referring to those who haven’t confessed & believed in Jesus Christ.

So the working week starts on Monday, but the spiritually strong start on Sunday. In contemporary culture, church is associated with Sunday. Believed to be in line with the Jewish Sabbath, although some believe that was actually on Saturday. Regardless, a Christian needs community to be strong. Church is a great place to begin your week, to strengthen yourself in communion with other believers. The strength is not in the building, but in the edification & support of other believers.

“To whom the son set free is free indeed”

We have been set free, as Kanye loves to say “Jesus has won the victory”. But it’s also related to the idea of being God’s soldiers. We must fight to free people from their lives of sin. The first fight is to show them that they even are sinners. Our culture is so self-righteous & subjectively moral that people don’t even believe they’re inherently wrong.

A comment from the genius deconstruction of ‘Selah’:

“For half an hour, I was a devout Christian”

Speaking on the 27 minutes they spent listening to ‘Jesus Is King’. The evidence of the fruit of this album is in plain sight.

Instrumental on another album: ‘Yeezus’

‘Follow God’:
Statistically the most popular song from ‘Jesus Is King’, ‘Follow God’ debuted at #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It currently (Tuesday 12th of November 2019 8:36pm) has 57,302,080 streams on Spotify, more than twice the amount of any other song from ‘Jesus Is King’. A lyric video was released for the song in October 2019, shortly followed by a music video on November 8. I believe it was the most popular as the lyrics are not convicting & preaching the gospel overtly, more so an explanation of Kanye’s recent relationship with his dad. As well as the instrumental is very reminiscent of “the old Kanye”.

“People really know you, push your buttons like typewrite”

Kanye speaks on a concept I don’t know a person that can’t relate to; our family members are usually the one’s that tempt us most to sin. We spend so much time with them, they know us intimately, for them we have the deepest feelings. It’s a melting pot for affection & contempt.

“I was looking at the 'Gram and I don’t even like likes”

Not sure how this relates to Kanye’s relationship with his dad or if it’s even supposed to; I just love the lyric. We crave the attention Instagram gives us even though we know it can’t truly satisfy us.

“But nobody never tell you when you’re being like Christ”

I don’t like extreme language; e.g. nobody, always etc. But I appreciate the idea. As humans we are inherently negative, we look for what’s negative because we perceive it helps us to survive. In some scenarios it does; in most scenarios it results in disconnection, hatred & in severe cases murder or suicide.

Some comments on the ‘Follow God’ song video on YouTube:

• “No matter who is president, Jesus is still King." (”Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth - Colossians 3:2)
• “Imagine not listening to this album just because it’s a gospel album”
• "Everyone that hates the album and Kanye West… that ain’t Christ like”
• “2019 is wild” (Probably suggesting, who would’ve thought Kanye would’ve laid down his pride & be preaching the gospel in 2019)

Kanye’s first video from ‘Jesus Is King’ is ‘Follow God’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivCY3Ec4iaU). It fittingly begins with a monologue from Ray West, Kanye’s father. The video is set in Cody, Wyoming where Kanye has bought multiple ranches. Ray West says:

“What does it really mean to follow God? Like as I stand here today, I’m reminded of the first time my children ever got an opportunity to be in snow & when we walked outside in the snow, they were very fearful. In terms of, the steps that they would take, & what I did, was I walked in front of them, & I took steps, & I said to them, “Instead of creating your own footprints, walk in the footprints that I’ve already made.”

Ray tells a story, possibly a true story or a made up story to make an analogy. He’s saying that Jesus came to Earth to make the footprints for us to walk in, that’s what it means to follow God, to imitate Christ. As he is telling this story, the video begins with a shot of Ray & Kanye in an open plain with snow (fittingly), walking. The camera pans as they walk. As the monologue is ending, they get into an ATV & the song begins. Then the camera follows Kanye driving the ATV. Then there is a slow motion shot of the ATV roosting (spitting up) snow. Then it cuts to a Sherp which is a vehicle which can drive through shallow bodies of water. Then they do donuts in the Sherp.

The video has been compared to Kanye & JAY Z’s ‘Otis’ music video. ‘Otis’ also features a male role model figure for Kanye, JAY Z, who he made a song about called ‘Big Brother’. ‘Otis’ came from their collaboration album ‘Watch The Throne’, which was perceived to be the epitome of braggadocio. The ‘Otis’ video features Kanye & JAY Z chopping the top of a Maybach & driving around recklessly, swerving at high speeds. This represents their feelings of control & freedom. The ‘Otis’ video is set in an industrial area. It features theatrics: fire & fireworks. It features women & celebrity cameos. The song has a scream at the end.

Unlike ‘Otis’, ‘Follow God’ features Kanye & Ray driving in an ATV & a Sherp in Cody, Wyoming in the middle of a plain. Not a Maybach in the middle of an industrial area. They are driving at a slow speed, by themselves. To me this represents a feeling of patience & peace. The ‘Otis’ video feels frantic by comparison. The ‘Follow God’ video has no theatrics, the back drop consists of nothing but snow & open plains. The change of scenery is significant but not intentional, maybe subconscious. When Kanye filmed the ‘Otis’ video, he hadn’t started Yeezy yet. But he’s in an industrial area. Fast forward: 8 years later, he’s the 100% owner of a 3 billion dollar company, & owns ranches in Cody to manufacture his produce. ‘Follow God’ also has a scream at the end.

At the end of the ‘Follow God’ video, there’s a text which reads:

“My dad came to visit me at one of our ranches in Cody, Wyoming. He talked about his love for fishing, and how he would like to come here in the summers.

It took me 42 years to realise that my dad was my best friend.

He asked me, “How many acres is this?”

I told him 4000. He replied with these three words:

“A black man?”

Kanye has spoken frequently on his views of the importance of people, especially black people, buying & owning land. He speaks on how counter-cultural it is. How he’s going to provide jobs for those exiting prison. How the things that make up black culture in USA today, are not owned by black people. How they are luxury, extravagant & expensive; but depreciative.

Instrumental on another album: ‘The College Dropout’

‘Closed On Sunday’:
“Closed on Sunday, you’re my Chick-fil-A”

Kanye received significant backlash from this lyric. Chick-fil-A is a Christian owned restaurant chain, which donates money to Christian organisations. Some of the organisations they have donated to, have been outspoken against the LGBTQ community, as this community conflicts with Jesus’ intention for humanity.

“When you got daughters, always keep 'em safe
Watch out for vipers, don’t let them indoctrinate"

The first line reflects Kanye’s song ‘Violent Crimes’ from his ‘Ye’ album, in which he talks about his fears as a father of his daughters being taken advantage of & how his view of women has changed since he became a father. Ironically after that he went to the inappropriate contenthub awards, but has since repented & stated that Jesus has delivered him from sex addiction & objectification of women.

It’s extremely prominent for religion to be classed as indoctrination. But literally any world view can be indoctrinated. The concept of indoctrination is actually beneficial. If there’s overwhelming evidence that something is the truth, to indoctrinate your child with that information will save them from harm. To teach them that fire will burn you, will save them from harm. That premise is backed by evidence. So is Jesus Christ being Lord. Kanye is saying, I know the truth & I won’t let you indoctrinate my children with lies.

“Stand up for my home
Even if I take this walk alone
I bow down to the King upon the throne
My life is His, I’m no longer my own”

Lyrics providing extreme evidence that Kanye is a true believer. Not only is he taking a public stand for the benefit of his children, but I believe he means that even if Kim doesn’t confess & believe, that will not sway him. These lyrics are so straightforward that it’s outrageous to any longer assume he’s a cult leader & false prophet.

“Jezebel don’t even stand a chance”

Sometimes as Christians we give Satan so much power. But he never stood a chance. When he rebelled against God, God already knew he would rebel before he did & his rebellion was so pitiful he was thrown out of heaven without even being able to attempt to fight. I often think about how stupid Satan is. To defy the Being that created you & to be convinced that you’ll outsmart Him. Since he was kicked out of heaven, his only mission is to lead as many people astray as possible & that will continue until Jesus returns to throw him into the lake of fire.

Some comments from the ‘Closed On Sunday’ YouTube song video:

• Kimmel: “Are you a Christian Rapper Kanye?”, Kanye: "I’m a Christian Everything”

Instrumental on another album: ‘Yeezus’

‘On God’:
Sonically & lyrically I like the song, but no lyrics in particular stand out to me.

Instrumental on another album: ‘The Life Of Pablo’

‘Everything We Need’:
“We began after the storm inside”

The storm (struggles) was the catalyst for seeking something beyond the material & superficial.

“We have everything we need”

Speaking on the lack of contentment in western culture (pun not intended). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we literally have everything we need. Ultimately, all we need is salvation. We consider the necessities of sustaining life on Earth to be oxygen, water & food, which is true, But they’re all ultimately meaningless if you’re spending eternity seperate from God. God has also given us rational minds to create solutions for the problems we experience on Earth.

2 Peter 1:3-4 says:

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

“Switch my, switch my attitude
I’m so, I’m so radical
All these people mad at dude
This for who it matter to
What if Eve made apple juice?
You gon’ do what Adam do?
Or say, "Baby, let’s put this back on the tree” 'cause“

After being delivered Kanye’s demeanour is significantly different but similar at the same time. He’s always been radical; it’s just now he’s radically proclaiming the gospel. So many people, especially African Americans, were mad at Kanye for wearing the Make America Great Again hat & meeting with Donald Trump. Kanye doesn’t 100% approve of Donald’s behaviour. What I’m certain he agrees with, as I’ve heard him speak about it is: Donald’s refusal to tell people lies regardless of the consequences. Kanye wore the hat as a symbol, as a sign of support for that mentality, not necessarily all of Trump’s behaviour.

Kanye is making this album first & foremost for Jesus, followed by his family. Which leads me to believe, the next few lines are referring to Kim, I could be wrong. She may have confessed & believed privately, but not made the radical declaration that Kanye has. So I assume he means, if Kim is behaving in a way which doesn’t glorify God, is Kanye going to go along with that because he’s her husband & wants to please her? Or is he going to first & foremost fear & love God, which will result in love for his wife.

This song features Ty Dolla $ign, they have collaborated previously. Ty has shown his inclination towards gospel. He has also collaborated with Lecrae. Kanye spoke of asking people not to have pre-marital sex while working on the album & not to work with other people who weren’t glorifying God while working on the album. As for the pre-marital sex, I assume he’s talking about Ty, possibly others, as Ty’s own music speaks a lot about his sexuality. But Ty himself spoke on Kanye not wanting him specifically to work with other artists while working on ‘Jesus Is King’. Not sure where Ty is at with his faith, he hasn’t made such an open declaration as Kanye.

Some comments from the ‘Everything We Need’ YouTube song video:

• “This album feels like a fresh shower after running through dirt my whole life.”
• “I wasn’t feeling Kanye anymore, but this album changed that.”
• “Never turned my back on Kanye, just gave him space. Welcome home Kanye.”

Instrumental on another album: ‘Ye’

‘Water’:
Water reminds me of a psalm, it’s like a prayer. Kanye crying out to God but not in a desperate way, just in recognition of his sovereignty. This song was first premiered at Kanye’s Coachella performance. It features Ant Clemons, I’m excited to hear his first solo project.

Some comments from the YouTube song video for ’Water’:

• “This whole album is like a long diss track to Satan.”
• “I’m not Christian but this is definitely in my top 3 favourite albums of all time.”
• “People say the mixing is bad but this is like a massage for your mind”(Mike dean is possibly the most acclaimed mixer of music of all time…)
• "I just felt like I needed this honestly, this whole album." (When this album title was revealed, I wasn’t going to church or spending much time & effort to learn more about Jesus. I still considered myself a Christian. But I had a feeling this album would inspire me & it has.)

Instrumental on another album: ‘Kids See Ghosts’

‘God Is’:
”You won’t ever be the same when you call on Jesus’ name
Listen to the words I’m sayin’, Jesus saved me, now I’m sane“

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17

People have always called Kanye crazy. The reason I like Kanye so much is because of how “crazy” he is. His disregard for the norm. Even when he was lost in the world, he always had roots in Jesus. He was always aware of the slavery humans that don’t follow Jesus have to sin. But now that he’s been delivered, less people are calling him crazy. Still some, yes, (more on that in the breakdown of ‘Hands On’) but less. I even abandoned agreement with his philosophy mid last year, when he started to speak in very new age terms. But in his words, Jesus brought back the sanity.

The thing with Kanye’s “fans” before ‘Jesus Is King’ who have now abandoned him; they mainly liked him for entertainment purposes. Now in a recent interview he said he’s no longer an entertainer, he only lives & works to serve God. So now that he’s doing less reckless & irresponsible things for people to make fun of, they’re less interested for the time being. But now, he has a large part of the church worldwide supporting him. The fruit of his life is hard to ignore. He’s acting in humility, saying I’m a recent convert, I’m learning & growing.

“This ain’t 'bout a dead religion
Jesus brought a revolution”

Some people associate Jesus with rules. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”

Jesus came to fulfil what we could not. In Romans 5:20-21 Paul writes:

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The law of the Old Testament was not supposed to be a way for us to get in to heaven. God knew he was setting a standard so high that we could never attain it. He set it so that we would come to the end of ourselves; to recognise the need for a saviour. The revolution Kanye speaks of is the destruction of the ideology that works can get you into heaven. Not a single human being in existence other than Jesus has lived or will ever live a sinless life. Romans 3:21-24 says:

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:27 says:

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

The revolution is that:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21

Youtube comments from ‘God Is’ song video:

• “I’m not even a believer but this makes me want to be saved.”
• “This song makes me realise that I need God and I don’t deserve anything from God!”
• “This song won me over. You can’t make something like this as a publicity stunt.”

Instrumental on another album: ‘Ye’

‘Hands On’:
This song features Fred Hammond, a prominent gospel artist.

”Made a left when I should’ve made a right
Told God last time on life
Told the devil that I’m going on a strike
Told the devil when I see him, on sight
I’ve been working for you my whole life“

Kanye spent most of his life going left, doing things differently & trying to stand out. He now realises he should’ve made a right, made himself right with God & done what’s right morally. Kanye had a song on ‘Yeezus’ called ‘On Sight’ which vented his aggression at those blocking his path in the fashion industry. Kanye now realises:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

• Ephesians 6:12

”Nothing worse than a hypocrite
Change, he ain’t really different"

Both believers & non-believers think Kanye’s a hypocrite. To go from your last single being ‘I Love It’, debuting it at the inappropriate contenthub awards & now being radically delivered? He’s a hypocrite because he lived such an open & extravagant life of sin which he was proud of & now he’s judging those who live the same. He’s made an outward change but on the inside he’s still the same.

“Told people God was my mission
What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?
They’ll be the first one to judge me
Make it feel like nobody love me
Make you feel alone in the dark and you’ll never see the light”

Extremely convicting lyric. A lot of the people we judge based on outward behaviour may still confess & believe in Jesus. We ask people to come as they are & then we expect them to change straight away & if they don’t we try to force them to. It’s only a continual revelation of God’s love & will for their life that will bear fruit. It’s possible to judge in love but most of the time we say we’re judging in love but we’re really just judging in bitterness. This leaves people feeling isolated. They’ve left behind the world & don’t feel like they can go back to that lifestyle; but they also don’t feel welcome in the church because they have to hide their sin.

"I can feel it when I write, point of livin’ in the right
If they only see the wrongs, never listen to the songs”

He’s extremely frustrated that especially over the last two years people judge him by his behaviour without listening to what he has to say. Or if they do listen to what he has to say, it’s through headlines or word of mouth, without taking the time to listen to it in context in the way he intended it to be heard. His music is the best place to receive that, followed by long-form interviews; not just clips & headlines on Instagram.

“I’m not tryna lead you to Visas
But if I try to lead you to Jesus
We get called halfway believers
Only halfway read Ephesians“

A lot of people have called Sunday Service a cult & his conversion a marketing ploy; after all Christianity is lucrative business. There are a lot of false teachers in the world today, 2 Peter 2:1-3 says:

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

I was a little sceptical when I first heard of Sunday Service. As I mentioned earlier, in 2018 Kanye was speaking a lot about New Age concepts & I hadn’t heard him openly professing faith in Christ so I thought it might have been a way for him to feed his ego. But he’s so blatantly bowing down to Christ in his life right now there is little evidence to suggest otherwise. But now if he tries to help other people find faith in Christ, people will say they’re not true believers. Ephesians is a letter Paul wrote; which is often described as a good starting point for growing deeper in the faith.

”I deserve all the criticism you got
If that’s all the love you have, that’s all you got
To sing of change, you think I’m joking
To praise His name, you ask what I’m smoking
Yes, I understand your reluctancy, yeah
But I have a request, you see
Don’t throw me up, lay your hands on me
Please, pray for me”

Fred admits that he’s done wrong & he deserves criticism. He also acknowledges you can only give out what you have inside. If the love of God is not deeply ingrained within you, he can’t expect you to forgive him & love him even after he repents. People of the world think that Christianity is a joke, a crutch & they’ve been lead to believe it lacks evidence. I already have a post on the evidence for God & Jesus but I plan to do more soon. They think if you’ve put your faith in Jesus you’ve been deceived & you’re not in the right state of mind, as if you’re under the influence of drugs. Finally he asks, instead of deconstructive judgement, pray for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0N6vRYcTk&t=3693s

In the link above, there’s a video of Sunday Service performing at The Forum in Inglewood, California. At the twelve minute mark Kanye says the following:

“I need prayer, not judgment. We need a chance. A chance to learn God at our own speed. Nobody’s going to do it the same way. Nobody’s going to go to the right scripture. We’re human beings. Then people judge Christ by judging human beings saying “I was at this Church and this person did this” but this person’s not Christ. Repenting in our sins, learning & growing.”

Some comments from the Youtube song video for ‘Hands On’:

• “I think Kanye brought me back to Jesus. 2019 is wild.”
• “Kanye: Tell the devil when I see him, on sight. The devil has left the chat.”
• 2010 Kanye: “Cop lights, flash lights, spot lights Strobe lights, street lights (All of the lights, all of the lights) Fast life, drug life Thug life, rock life Every night (all of the lights)” 2019 Kanye: “Cut out all the lights, He the Light.”
• “LISTEN UP CHRISTIANS. HE FELT LIKE NO ONE LOVED HIM. MEANS WE AREN’T DOING OUR JOB”

Instrumental on another album: ‘The Life Of Pablo’

‘Use This Gospel’:
This song features The Clipse & Kenny G. This song was originally called Chakras (Law Of Attraction), just one example of the new age themes Kanye was exploring on ‘Yandhi’ before his deliverance. The Clipse are one of the most acclaimed rap duos of all time. They used to comprise brothers Malice & Pusha T. Until Malice had his own conversion in 2009 after their associates were sentenced to prison time, some life in prison, on drug distribution charges. Malice changed his name to No Malice after reading about warnings against maliciousness in the bible. Pusha T then started working with Kanye on ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ & was eventually signed to GOOD Music, Kanye’s label.

No Malice released an album in 2013 & another in 2017. Pusha had a collaboration on the 2013 album. No Malice has not featured on any Pusha T music since The Clipse separated. No Malice has stated he only makes music to edify & that is not the intent of his brother’s music. Kanye got them to reunite on ‘Use This Gospel’. People exclaimed on Pusha’s lack of drug references in his verse. Kenny G also features after Kanye asked him to perform at his house on Valentine’s day for Kim in February 2019. Kanye showed Kenny some of the music he was working on. I assume it was still Chakras at this point & Kenny said the saxophone would sound good on it. Kanye recorded him playing on the spot.

”How could He not be the greatest?
In my bed, under covers when undercovers had raided
My presence is happy belated
Fashionably late, I’m just glad that you made it
The best is yet to come, I’m just glad that you waited
They all say they real 'til it’s time to appraise it
I seen them come and go, you only the latest
But who am I to judge? I’m crooked as Vegas“

Kanye said he won’t speak on Pusha’s journey, except that he knows that God is real, which is evident in this verse. No Malice has been a Christian for ten years & is very outspoken about his faith. He’s also five years older than Pusha & has been a leader all throughout his life. Pusha obviously looked up to his brother throughout his life but didn’t follow his brother into the faith. Pusha has debatably enjoyed more success as a solo artist, releasing mixtapes & two critically acclaimed albums, including one produced entirely by Kanye last year.

Pusha speaks about the undercover police that raided his house when his associates were convicted. He’s grateful that he didn’t end up down that path, despite doing his fair share of wrong. I assume the next lines mean, he’s late to the faith compared to his brother, but God is just happy to have him back, the prodigal son scenario. However No Malice is not like the other brother in the prodigal son story, he’s also extremely happy his brother is starting to see the light. Once again, speculation as Pusha hasn’t explicitly expressed his faith in Jesus.

Maybe he means, his life will get better if he begins to put his faith in Jesus & he’s glad God didn’t turn His back on him. I think the next lines mean, there have been numerous rappers & people in pop culture in general, who’ve expressed faith in Jesus & then denounced him publicly. But then the verse comes to a resolve as he admits he can’t judge them as he obviously hasn’t accepted Jesus yet or understood what that means.

”A lot of damaged souls, I done damaged those
And in my arrogance, took a camera pose
Caught with a trunk of Barry Manilows
They sing a different tune when the slammer close
From the concrete grew a rose
They give you Wraith talk, I give you faith talk
Blindfolded on this road, watch me faith walk
Just hold on to your brother when his faith lost“

No Malice speaks on the regrets of the people he hurt, I assume especially his wife who he admitted to cheating on before repentance & deliverance. He was caught up in the life of the rich & famous. Not only that, he was associated with a life of crime. Now that his friends are in prison, their ears are open to hear about Jesus, because they’re desperate. Before his friends were convicted, he told them he was done with that lifestyle & was trying to change his life. The conviction solidified his resolve & he committed to living his life to glorify God only.

He speaks on how his heart was hard but he eventually blossomed. The majority of rap today is talking about a life of luxury & sin, whereas No Malice only speaks about the gospel for the purpose of edification. He speaks on how he’s living not by sight but by faith. He closes by expressing his concern for Pusha & being his brother’s keeper.

Some comments from the Youtube song video for ‘Use This Gospel’:

• “If God can turn Saul into Paul, he can use Kanye.”
• “2019: Christianity is on a steep decline, Kanye: Hold my bible”
• “I don’t even like Kanye that much & this song is so amazing”

Instrumental on another album: ‘The Life Of Pablo’

‘Jesus Is Lord’:
“Every knee shall bow
Every tongue confess
Jesus is Lord”

A simple & bold ending; an altar call.

Instrumental on another album: ‘Late Registration’

maintenance man said:

What an awesome analysis! I don't listen to rap, and when I try it simply doesn't work for me - that may be a generational thing - I'm a little older. It's great to read an analysis from someone who truly knows this kind of music. I'm fascinated by Kanye's transformation. I think it's fantastic to now have an evangelist who speaks this language and can therefore connect with many who would be unlikely to ever come to Christ in any other way. Praise God, for Kanye!

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I absolutely agree with you. There are some other genres I don't listen to but I can appreciate that they reach a demographic that I probably don't engage with as much.