Did Kanye Really Find Jesus?

Kanye really wants you to believe he found Jesus.

New music from Kanye West will always be a culture-changing moment. Whether that fills you will pride or attacks you with bitter disgust, it’s hard to deny that this is practically a fact of life. Despite widely-mocked delays, the release and immediate response to Kanye West’s ninth album Jesus Is King has been just as discussed and important as previous (and better) releases. Like it or not, when Kayne talks, we listen, and like always he had a lot to say. The angle here is: he’s preaching about following God now?

Look, I’ve always been a fan of Kanye West and unfortunately, I feel like I always will be. I’m on the side of the spectrum that while I certainly do not condone his various controversial stunts, I always, despite my best intentions, find myself sticking by him based solely on the fact that he really is one of the greatest artists of our time.

Every album, somehow withstood every controversy and out-of-pocket statement, is a cultural and musical force that deserves to be paid attention to. Jesus is certainly not West’s best release, and to be honest the best things going for it are the cover art and Kenny G, but rating a Kanye album as bad would really be arbitrary because there has yet to be an utterly useless album released under his name.

I guess it would be best to just say that this album is better than Ye, which I am eager to call his worst, while no where near the likes of Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus or even Pablo. Still, it’s good, really good. Even with all the God stuff.

Its not that I don’t think gospel music has a value in 2019. I think it’s really cool that Kanye has the kids contemplating religion and all the existential thought that comes along with that in this current societal environment. Yesterday I was engaged in a truly thought-provoking conversation on notion of God and the purpose of prayer with a self-described agnostic, a Christian and an atheist. Sure enough, that discussion was prompted after passerby invited us to partake in their own Sunday Service proceeding.

And for how interesting and deep as these conversations can be, there is still a part of me that just isn’t buying Kanye’s convictions. In order to maintain my own sanity, I’ve had to convince myself that Kanye is so far-out on some genius visionary trip that all of the crazy that he has spewed over the past few years is all part of some enormous practical joke he’ll let us in on sometime in 2020 because otherwise I’d have to accept the MAGA hat and abhorrent views on slavery as fact and therefore I would no longer be able to listen to Graduation without feeling like a degenerate.

And while I’m sure you can pull up that freaky Zane Lowe interview and any of one the original Sunday Services that started this whole mess as proof of his seriousness, but, I’m not sold. I will however buy tickets to the IMAX movie, and I’m sure I’ll have weird feelings about it, but it wouldn’t be a Kanye experience any other way.