The wait is finally over! After several tentative release dates, Kanye West has released his long awaited project, Jesus Is King.
We previously reported that Kanye gave his Detroit fans an exclusive first listen at his “Jesus Is King: A Kanye West Experience” event at the Fox Theatre on Friday, Sept. 27 night. Billboard weighed in on the event and wrote, “Not scripture-based like the Sunday Service, the album is a decidedly hip hop exposition, using mostly spare keyboard and percussion arrangements with plenty of space for West’s vocals.”
Jesus Is King first release date was on that night, but Kim Kardashian later announced via her Instagram Stories that the album would hit streaming platforms on Sunday, Sept. 29. She explained that the delay was due to her husband making some last minute changes. “Kanye’s doing a listening session in Chicago tomorrow, then NYC Sunday. He’s dropping the album Sunday. Just a few final tweaks to the mixes,” she wrote.
However, fans were once again disappointed when the album failed to drop on that day, too. Now, almost a month — and a number of Jesus Is King supporting performances across the country and movie screenings — later, the album has finally arrived today (Oct. 25).
On another note, Kanye is reportedly done with making secular music. During his listening event in Chicago on Saturday, Sept. 28, he told the crowd that he is only making gospel music from now on. Andrew Barber of Fakeshore Drive, who attended the event, tweeted, “Kanye also announced that he is no longer making secular music. Only Gospel from here on out.”
Barber dished on the album, as well. “The beats on Jesus Is King sounded fire. He definitely pulled from elements of previous sounds that people loved from WTT (Watch The Throne), 808s, Yeezus, Cruel Summer & MBDTF (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy), and put a gospel spin on them,” he added. The attendee even revealed a few album features. “Just heard Kanye’s new album Jesus Is King and saw the accompanying film. My favorite track is the last song and it features the Clipse. Both Push & No Malice. Kenny G is also on it. ‘New Body’ has been cut from the album,” he said.
Check out Andrew Barber’s tweets below.