Kanye West‘s album “Yandhi,” which he announced last year, is now called “Jesus is King” and it’s arriving on Friday, Oct. 25. He gave the release date Sunday in a rare Twitter message, which instantly made headlines.
But what’s also getting a lot of attention is an interview from West’s Pastor Adam Tyson, who said the Chicago native was planning to quit rap completely because he felt it’s evil.
“One time he told me he wasn’t going to rap,” said Tyson during an interview with Apologia Studios. “I said, ‘Why not?’ To which Kanye replied: ‘That’s the devil’s music.’ I said, ‘Hey, man, rap is a genre, you can rap for God.’ I definitely said, ‘Hey, bro’, I think you need to use your talents that God’s given you and use that platform for God.’”
Tyson then said that West has never heard of popular Christian-based rappers like Lecrae, Flame, Tedashii or Trip Lee, so Tyson turned him on to those artists.
The pastor also explained that he was going to try and “connect” the “All of the Lights” performer to those rappers, but West “likes to do his own thing.”
Whether West’s new album will be met with indifference or not, especially from the Black community, remains to be seen. Because before he had his spiritual conversion, the 42-year-old was extremely vocal about his love for Donald Trump.
He also sported Trump’s red MAGA hat on several occasion and once during an interview said slavery for black people was a choice.
In fact, after West vowed to stay away from speaking about politics, he recently talked about his support of the Republican party during one of his “Sunday Service” events in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Abraham Lincoln was the Whig Party, that’s the Republican Party that freed the slaves,” he told the crowd on Oct. 5. “But for a year people want to call me a coon, because I chose my right. I ain’t never made a decision only based on my color. That’s a form of slavery, mental slavery.”
Plus, it was reported in late September that West would no longer be playing secular music, only gospel, which supports the pastor’s claim that he had a problem with rap.
West’s last album was 2018’s “Ye,” and before that he dropped “The Life of Pablo” in 2016.
