JESUS IS KING album review

Kanye West has been internationally recognized since his debut with Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996. He has made albums upon albums, targeted toward a specific audience: teenagers. His style, from sped up vocal samples to classic soul records, intrigues teens more than any other rap-listening age group. If he “cares about the fans” and “does it for the people,” why did he release an album that makes the general population gag? 

This is a review on “JESUS IS KING” by Kanye West. 

By focusing an entire album on religion, Kanye lost most of his frequent listeners. The vast majority of teens ages 14-18 experience an identity crisis based on religion. No teenager is fully sure of their beliefs, and it can make some uncomfortable when people pester them about it, especially their favorite musician.  

“Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1.” “All Mine.” “Gold Digger.” These are all famous songs by Kanye West. They are all in separate albums. They each are the highlight of the album. Usually, every 11-song album released by an experienced artist will have one or two songs that meet the wants of the public; those become the most famous. However, in “JESUS IS KING,” all the songs flow together. There is not one song that stands far above the others. This could be Kanye trying to show his fans that he makes his music for himself and his individuality, or it could just be one awful album. 

 Additionally, there were very few credits given to soul singers featured in his album. Five out of eleven songs have the feature in the title of the song when, in every song, there is a soul/gospel group sampled for background or intro music. Kanye claims to be supporting the gospel singers, “his people,” but he will not credit them on his songs. Interesting.  

 Again, Kanye has been doing this for a long time. Throughout his whole career, his genre has been Hip Hop/Rap. But, it would be reaching to say that “JESUS IS KING” qualifies as true rap music. Every song is pretty much the same: starting with a gospel intro, then some preaching, then a few words about how it is to have a daughter, then, finally, closing with more gospel that he is not singing. 

Kanye will remain godly, but he just needs to calm down about God for a bit, especially in his music.