Yeezus just rose again…kind of

The day has finally come. Yeezus has been resurrected and we’re saved.

Not quite. Not in the way we were expecting.

For fans of Kanye West, Oct. 25 was a long time coming.

This past Friday, West finally (finally) released an album, but it wasn’t the album we were promised. Not really, anyway.

On Sept. 17, 2018, West tweeted to the world that he would be releasing “Yandhi” on Sept. 28, but that never happened. And it continued not to happen for over a year.

As fans eagerly waited to hear anything from West about “Yandhi”, there were no updates until Aug. 29 of this year when Kim Kardashian West tweeted a tracklist for a new album, “Jesus Is King”.

Of course, in typical Kanye fashion, the date was pushed back from its original release day of Sept. 27 to Oct. 25.

We have an album…now what?

A few hours after the album was dropped on Spotify, I saw mixed reviews from the masses on Twitter. Many denounced West a long time ago for wearing the divisive “Make America Great Again” hat. Others still supported West because they would listen to any album of his, even if he released a gospel album such as “Jesus Is King”.

“Jesus Is King” is an 11-song album that includes an intro and an outro. I was surprised to see that the album was only 27 minutes in its entirety, with its longest songs being 3 minutes and 23 seconds.

The record opens up with an intro from West’s Sunday Service Choir titled, “Every Hour.” This song represents classic gospel, in which the choir sings, “Sing ’til the power of the Lord comes down,” and sets the tone for the rest of the album.

The second track, “Selah,” is West’s message to everyone who doesn’t understand this album. This song features the Sunday Service Choir again, in which they sing “Hallelujah” repeatedly. It gave me chills.

The lyrics feature the line, “Everybody wanted Yandhi / Then Jesus Christ did the laundry.”

According to Genius, this references Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion and following Resurrection. These events are considered the “perfect sacrifice” in which all sins were “washed away.”

Also, in a 2019 interview with “Big Boy’s Neighborhood,” West professed that God had brought him out of a difficult time, and that may be the ultimate explanation for why he decided to trash “Yandhi” and work on a gospel project instead.

Despite this analysis of the lyrics… uh yeah, we wanted “Yandhi” and we didn’t get it. And after listening to “Jesus Is King,” I still want “Yandhi”.

“Follow God” is the third song on the album and it’s a nod to “Father Stretch My Hands” from “The Life of Saint Pablo,” with the opening lyrics of “Father, I stretch / Stretch my hands to you.”

In my opinion, the album is worth it for this song alone.

The following songs were just filler songs that didn’t add any meaningful substance to the album. Especially, “Closed On Sunday” which actually references Chick-fil-A throughout.

If you can make it through the atrocity of a five-song synapse of nothingness, you’ll be blessed with “Hands On” and “Use This Gospel”.

“Use This Gospel” sounds most like the Kanye we have come to know, love and appreciate. Not only does it meet expectations, but it also exceeds them with a saxophone solo from Kenny G.

“Hands On” features a possible reference to one of Kanye’s biggest hits, “All of the Lights” with the lyrics “Cut out all the lights, He the light.”

According to Genius, this may be West trying to say that he wants to forget about the songs that made him famous and put all his attention and glory to Jesus.

“Jesus Is King” felt like a transitory album and that it’s the beginning of something. The album as a whole doesn’t tell a full story start to finish, but rather an introduction to a new chapter in Kanye’s life.

What people need to understand is that “Jesus Is King” is an album for Kanye, by Kanye. I don’t think he made it with his fans in mind, other than knowing that no one would listen if he made a gospel album.

This was his documentation of his journey finding God. If he made the album with his fans in mind, we would have gotten “Yandhi”.