Music Moose

Kanye West delivers his ninth studio album, but this time it’s far from the usuals as it’s a Gospel album. Ye himself is onto a brand new chapter in his life which features a new found love for his faith.

1. Every Hour

The opening track finds Kanye’s  ‘ The Sunday Service ‘ choir give a powerful gospel ballad over bright piano accompaniment. The choir repeatedly give thanks to God within the verses. This sentiment depicts images of the second coming , as the choir repeatedly sing ‘ Til the power of the lord comes down ‘ , which perfectly captures the title of the album ‘ Jesus is King ‘ and makes for one of Kanye’s most spiritual intro’s yet. 

2. Selah

The title ‘ Selah ‘ refers to the common Hebrew word found in the book of Psalms. However the meaning of the word is unknown , scholars believe the word to mean ‘ to lift up ‘ or ‘ exalt ‘. 

During the opening lines Kanye references his 2016 gospel record ‘ ultralight beam ‘ reiterating the notion that he is now being empowered by a higher entity , God. Kanye then states that his new found spiritual awakening has given him hope that he ‘ aint gotta peak over ‘ at heavens gate , which contradicts his earlier belief that he was damed to hell , which is often the common theme of his earlier work. This verse goes on to further imply that Kanye is born again and has been set free. With Kanye’s new self , he is now ready to forgive his worst of enemies , even Judas. This track can only be seen as Kanye giving us his own interpretation of a testimony. 

3. Follow God 

The song kicks off with Whole Truth’s 1974 track ‘ Can You Lose By Following God ‘ being used as sample throughout the entirety of the song. The sample fits accordingly as Kanye is trying to convey his everyday struggles in a world full of temptation , but once he stretches his hand to God , the battle no longer becomes difficult. 

 Kanye opens his verse admitting the struggles of being a public figure, as everything that occurs in his life is publicised,  therefore causing Kanye to compare these dramatics in his life to a movie. Kanye then touches on his distaste of popular social media app instagram as recent research has shown the ‘ likes ‘ has a direct link to social anxiety. Kanye then again refers to the bible ‘ screamin at my dad , he told me it aint  “christ-like” ‘ , this a direct interpretation of one the the ten commandments  ‘ Honour thy father and thy mother ‘ 

Kanye wants the listener to realise that no matter what goes on in our life we should give our life to Christ and ‘ follow God ’

4.Closed on Sunday 

The fourth track refers to the Holy day that many Christians give thanks to God , however Kanye compares this to popular American fast food franchise ‘ Chick-fil-a’ which is also Christian owned. Kanye continues on this theme of putting God first and urges listeners to put their phones away and pray with their families , teach their sons and daughters the christian faith as he believes it will stray them away from the ‘ culture ‘. Kanye believes this to be the equivalent to modern-day slavery. The first and only verse of the song finds Kanye reiterate that he is prepared to walk this path alone and this will cause those with bad intentions to stay far from him. 

5. On God

The Pierre Bourne produced track finds Kanye giving us an upbeat synth led song , which Pierre is known to deliver as during long relationship with Playboi Carti. On God is a phrases predominantly used in hip-hop culture which can mean ‘ believe me ‘ or ‘ on my life ‘. 

The fifth tracks with Kanye responding to a question on why he has so much blessings. Kanye replies “ accept him as your lord and saviour “ then goes on to tell this person he must love his neighbour and these values reiterated with the phrase ‘ On God ‘ throughout the song. 

Kanye touches on a number of things such as the rise of single parent black mothers , the increased rate of blacks being imprisoned in jail , which Kanye believes is on him to change as he is heavily invested in prison reform.  

Kanye halfway through his verse tells us that he is ‘ The greatest artist restin’ or alive ‘ which surprisingly lets us know that Kanye’s ego will always be intact but this time it is backed by his faith in God. 

6. Everything We Need

The Ty Dolla and Ant Clenmons assisted track starts with powerful church like vocals from the two , then the beats drops to find Kanye lay a more swag-rap like verse. This is then met by Ant Clemons who repeatedly sings ‘ everything we need ‘ , which reiterates the notion that everything we need in life can be found in God similarly like in 2 Peter 1:3-4 

7. Water

The seventh track starts with some synthesised bass guitar riffs which mainly stays the same until Kanye’s first verse. Ant Clemons vocals on the chorus serve as a main theme for the song. Moreover, Kanye and Ant describe water as the physical manifestation of the concepts of ‘purity’ and perfection. Which is hinted within the chorus as Ant asks us to take the chlorine out of our conversation , therefore asking for our conversations with one another to be pure. Ant then again compares his significant others love to water meaning that her love is pure. Kanye in the second verse asks of Jesus to heal and help him which can only be seen as an indication that Kanye is talking to Jesus through prayer. 

8. God Is

The 8th track samples Rev. James Cleveland’s 1979 song “God Is.” Which is sampled throughout the song.

‘ God is ‘ starts off with the lyrics “ Everything that I felt, praise the Lord “ which refers to the passage in Psalm 150:6 , ‘ Let every thing that hath breath praise the lord , showing Kanye thanks God for all the success in his turbulent life. Kanye continues to give this heartfelt emotional ballad even though he is not known to be a vocalist , which adds even more empathy and soul to the song. Kanye wants the listener to feel his words in the purest of forms hence the use of no auto tune and only a piano accompaniment. 

9. Hands On

Fred Hammond starts off with Bon Iver -like vocals repeating ‘ hands up high ,  hands on ‘ which in the bible is usually done when we come together and pray. Hands on is an ode to God being “hands-on” in Kanye’s life. The first starts with the lines ‘ Cut out all the lights, he the light ‘ which refers to Kanye rejecting his celebrity status and claiming God is the only celebrity in his life. 

Kanye touches on the hypocrisy from the christian faith as those who once said he had made music for the devil now still reject him when he makes music for God. Which makes him feel like no one loves him , these feelings lead Kanye to believe that they will never listen to his gospel. 

It’s ironic that a faith that is built on love is the first to judge Kanye. Now that Ye has decided to fully come into the Christian light he feels only his mistakes are being put into question , hence why he asks somebody to pray for him so he can finally be accepted by the christian faith.

10. Use This Gospel

Kanye calls upon former rap duo ‘Clipse’ who haven’t been a duo since 2013. ‘ Use this gospel’ is a spiritual track from Kanye West and rap group Clipse , the main theme of the track is centred around asking God for forgiveness and showing gratitude to the most high.  During the chorus Kanye says ‘ use this gospel for protection , it’s a hard road to heaven ‘ these words allude that the path to reaching heaven is full of temptation and the only protection can be the Gospel of God. Kanye then sings that once he calls on God , he is able to defeat all his demons due to the power of his Gospel. Pusha T then raps about his past life as a drug dealer to now being a world famous rapper , who would’ve thought that these blessings would follow after all the sufferings Pusha had faced in his life. 

These same sentiments are hinted his No malice verse as he starts his verse by admitting that he has ruined a lot of lives due to his past actions , but ‘ from the concrete grew a rose ‘ meaning even in his shortcomings and harsh upbringing even Malice can still see the light at the end of the tunnel. Malice then rejects the materialistic ideologies of todays society and promises to spread his faith now that his life has took a turn for the best.

11. Jesus is Lord

Kanye West concludes his ninth studio album with “Jesus Is Lord,” an ode to the Christian Messiah.