Kanye West is reportedly moving in a new direction with his music, according to Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive. Barber used Twitter on Sept. 28 after hearing West’s ninth studio album, Jesus Is King, to update fans on the project, revealing that West is claiming to be steering away from rap entirely in the future after getting his start in the genre in the ’90s.
“Kanye also announced that he is no longer making secular music,” Barber wrote. “Only Gospel from here on out.”
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Barber added that the beats on West’s new project “sound fire” and that the rapper took inspiration from his previous albums to create his gospel work.
Kanye also announced that he is no longer making secular music. Only Gospel from here on out.
— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) September 29, 2019
The beats on Jesus Is King sounded fire. He definitely pulled from elements of previous sounds that people loved from WTT, 808s, Yeezus, Cruel Summer & MBDTF and put a gospel spin on them.
Of course I need to hear them again, but they were knocking on the sound system he had
— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) September 29, 2019
West has been promoting Jesus Is King, which was supposed to release on Sunday, with free, no-phone events during which attendees can listen to the album and watch footage from its accompanying IMAX film. According to Rolling Stone, the version of the album that West played during Sunday’s event in New York City was incomplete, and the project “is a gospel album in the same way a square is a rectangle: It fits only the most basic criteria.”
West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, previously shared the album’s track list when she posted a handwritten list of song titles on Twitter, though reports state that those songs are now in a different order.
The listening sessions took place in Detroit on Friday, Chicago on Saturday, and New York City on Sunday, with fans and celebrities including Chris Rock and Alexander Wang filling the venues to listen to the project. Fans were also able to purchase West’s merchandise, which included $50 shirts and $140 sweatshirts.
West has slowly been moving into gospel territory since the inception of his Sunday Service, a hybrid of a concert and religious service.
“It was a really personal thing, and it was just friends and family,” Kardashian shared on The View. “He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ … For the most part, it’s just a musical ministry. [Kanye] doesn’t have his 501(c)(3) yet to make it an official church, but it is for God and it is a Christian church. It started off healing for him and now it’s become something that he really wants to share for everybody else.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Bruce Glikas
