After several missed release dates, scrapped albums and a life-changing conversion, we finally got Kanye West’s ninth album, “Jesus Is King.” “Jesus Is King” is a gospel-infused hip-hop album that drew inspiration from Kanye’s recent conversion to Christianity. It’s a short album with 11 songs clocking in at 27 minutes. This follows the theme West established in 2018: he worked on a series of albums that were seven songs in under thirty minutes. He produced three albums and released two, including the critically acclaimed “Kids See Ghosts” with Kid Cudi.
While I respect that Kanye is trying to stay true to this theme of quality over quantity, my first gripe with this record is its length. Last year, Kanye scrapped his album “Yandhi” with little public explanation. Audiences waited a long time for a new Kanye West record and got a very short one. Short projects are fine when we get a new one every week for a month and a half, but after the long wait, the runtime leaves a lot to be desired.
As far as the actual music goes, “Jesus Is King” is a mediocre to decent addition to Kanye’s discography. When you think of Kanye West music, you think of soaring production, witty and conscious lyrics and albums that are experiences rather than just projects. “Jesus Is King” misses several of these marks.
The album kicks off with “Every Hour,” a piano-heavy track featuring vocals from the Sunday Service Choir. This song helps set the album tone and gives a nice launchpad for the rest of the gospel-heavy record. “Selah” is a dramatic track where we see Kanye spit some heavy bars, quoting scripture several times while describing how his faith is affecting his life. On “Follow God,” we hear production reminiscent of the album “Watch the Throne” with Jay Z. The next song, “Closed on Sunday,” is the valley of the album. It starts off with a corny refrain talking about Chick-Fil-A being closed on Sunday. The verse towards the end of the song redeems it a little bit but not enough to make this a good addition to the record. “On God” is another average track where the production and flow bail out the weak lyrical content. “Everything We Need” features a great collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign, a frequent guest on Kanye West records. And while the first half of this record really falls flat, the back half is far better.
In “Water,” which kicks off “side B” of the record, Kanye delivers a clean flow with great lyrics on top of a unique and catchy beat. This one is one of my favorites from the album. After that, “God Is” has Kanye’s most passionate rhymes about what Jesus has done for him. This is the closest we get to a stereotypical worship song on the record. On the third-to-last track, “Hands On,” we see a rare moment in the record where the lyrics are superior to the production. Kanye has nice bars on this track but the beat does the song no favors.
Finally, we get to the peak of the album, and probably a top-ten track in Kanye’s discography, “Use This Gospel.” This track is fantastic for so many different reasons. First of all, Clipse reunited on this song. Clipse was a rap group that consisted of brothers Pusha-T and No Malice. Pusha-T is arguably one of the top three rappers making music today, and to see him reunite with his brother on this track is an all-time Kanye West moment. Interestingly, the song has a couple verses and choruses before the beat drops. But before that, saxophonist Kenny G lays down a goosebump-inducing solo in the intro comprising of the melody sung by Kanye that takes the song to another level. As that fades out, the drums come in to round out the best track on this record. “Jesus Is King” ends with “Jesus Is Lord,” a short but great outro to the album featuring worshipful lyrics and horn-heavy production.
Overall, “Jesus Is King” falls flat as a Kanye West project but soars above similar projects in the genre. The album has a problem with consistency, while the production carries the weaker lyrics found on this album. From an artist who has made the most influential music of the 21st century, this album seems like a bit of a letdown. I rate it a 6/10 and rank it at number six out of nine in Kanye’s discography. But Kanye West is far from done with music, and I am already looking forward and excited to hear what’s next.
