After being delayed nearly four times, Kanye West’s album “Jesus is King” provides a spiritually clean gospel experience that is healthily different from the rest of West’s discography.

West also released a thirty minute art-film titled “Jesus is King: A Kanye West Film,” which gives an inside look into the making of West’s album. The film features remixed songs from his older albums and beautiful cinematography to truly engulf the viewer into West’s world.

The Album

“Jesus Is King” sets the tone of the album immediately with the opening track “Every Hour.” The song consists of a loud fast paced choir singing and praising God for being in their lives every single moment of the day.

“Jesus is King” holds similarity to two songs across West’s previous eight albums, those being “Ultralight Beam,” from “The Life of Pablo,” and “Jesus Walks,” from “The College Dropout.”

Besides these two similar tracks, this album consists of music that is very contradistict from anything he has ever made before.

The best tracks on this album are easily “Everything We Need,” “God Is,” “Selah,” and “Use This Gospel.” Each of these tracks encase the listener in the Christian teachings of West’s church, while simultaneously producing beautiful, aesthetically-pleasing music.

The weaker songs on this album are “Closed on Sunday,” and “Hands On.” These songs have really repetitive lines and weak bars that a listener can’t help but cringe when listening.

Overall, this album is a marvelous step towards West’s new life goal of spreading the word of God. While being completely clean and secular, “Jesus is King” performs on a level higher than any Christian hip-hop album ever made.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

The Film

“Jesus is King: A Kanye West Film,” is a short film highlighting the gospel that West’s church is spreading to the world. The runtime is roughly thirty minutes and is mostly shot in a circle.

The best way to describe this film is to call it a “visual album.”

Most of the songs sung and used in the composition weren’t on the official album release, but each song stuck with the theme of clean gospel that was showcased on the album.

This film was quite beautiful, particularly the part where West remixed the song “Street Lights,” from the album “808’s & Heartbreak.”

I couldn’t help but tear up watching West perform a soulful christian rendition of this already sad song. It was almost like watching West wave goodbye to his old discography in a perfect, nostalgic and bittersweet manner.

The cinematography in this film was absolutely stellar. Across the entire film, the audience watched rolling mountain ranges of Wyoming and withering dandelions, while West’s gospel covered our ears with love and grandeur.

If you are a fan of abstract art, beautiful music and impressionistic cinematography, this film is definitely worth the watch.

⭐⭐⭐⭐