PASSING JUDGMENT

Kanye West’s Jesus Is King is Here and Twitter is Completely Split

And people have thoughts.


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Jerritt Clark

As promised, self-proclaimed “greatest human artist of all time” Kanye West finally dropped his latest studio album Jesus Is King on Friday, and, well, it certainly qualifies as an album! But after making us wait through countless delays, the gospel-heavy, 11-track project clocks in at a brisk 28-minutes.

Kanye it seems, was not kidding when he said that he’s done making secular music. Despite contributions from a number of rap world luminaries—Ty Dolla $ign, Clipse, and Timbaland among them—and, surprisingly, soft jazz saxophonist Kenny G, Jesus Is King is perhaps West’s least hip-hop-sounding record ever.

It’s no secret that the recently-converted West has been preaching the gospel of Christianity, which is deeply reflected on this new album. Whether that’s a good or bad thing was hotly debated online after the album’s noon release on Friday.

Reactions on Twitter remain sharply divided. Some are ready to follow West into the waters of baptism, while others are still just stuck on the audacity of the lyrics “Closed on Sunday / You’re my Chick-fil-A.”

People also had thoughts on that surprise Kenny G cameo on the song “Use This Gospel.”

As for the race for the most quoted line on the album, the “you’re like Chick-fil-A” rap on “Closed on Sunday” definitely has the pole position.

But perhaps the only opinion of Jesus Is King that actually matters is Kanye’s own. And if his recent interview with Zane Lowe is to be believed, it’s safe to say that Kanye isn’t exactly undergoing a crisis of confidence. In the 2-hour long conversation, West calls himself “undoubtedly the greatest human artist of all time,” and also “the most liberal.” He also said that he probably should have gotten the job of Louis Vuitton’s creative director over his close friend Virgil Abloh, but that’s neither here nor there.

Stream Jesus Is King now where all music is sold.

Related: Kanye West’s Delay Of Jesus Is King Is… Well, Unsurprising