MUSIC

A Nebuchadnezzar Opera: Kanye's Problematic Brand of Old Testament Christianity

Nebuchadnezzar was a power hungry anti-Semite, who burned down Jerusalem and enslaved the Jewish people. Kanye wants to sing about him.

"I believe God is using me to show off," Kanye West recently told Zane Lowe.

"He's like, now let me take this Nebuchadnezzar type character...he looked at his kingdom and said 'I did this,' And God said, 'Oh for real, you did this?'" West goes on to describe that Nebuchadnezzar was supposedly bipolar and that when the king attempted to take credit for God's work, God made sure "he was driven away from people and ate grass like an ox. His body drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird." In summation, West believed his mental breakdown in 2017 was an act of God, and that it was God's way of humbling him and reminding him of who was in charge. West said, "Nebuchadnezzar was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he was still king." Now, West announced he will premiere an opera based on the life of the biblical king at Hollywood Bowl this year.

Kanye West performs in Houston jail with his Sunday Service choirwww.youtube.com

After the king of Judah staged a failed rebellion against Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the latter was enraged and vowed to punish King Zedekiah for his transgressions. In 588 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar's army marched to the walls of Jerusalem and surrounded the city, cutting off the Jewish people from the fields outside of the city, which they relied on for food. For a year and a half, the Babylonian army starved out the Jewish people. It's written in the Book of Jeremiah that the corpses began to pile up in the streets of Jerusalem and disease began to engulf the city. The Babylonians finally lay siege to the city in 586 BCE, when the Jewish people were far too weak to defend themselves. At the order of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian army set Jerusalem ablaze in the 9th of Av (now known as Tisha B'Av in July), 586 BCE and burned the city to the ground, including the first Jewish temple. The army then forced the surviving Israelites to march back to Babylon, where they became enslaved to Nebuchadnezzar. In Judaism, the 9th of Av is recognized as a day of intense mourning, as it is marked as the beginning of what would become decades of enslavement.

West's respect and admiration for one of history's most recognized anti-Semites is problematic in its own right, but West does share an uncanny resemblance to Nebuchadnezzar in his approach to Christianity. His Sunday Service performances have dissolved into revival like affairs, with audience members kneeling and accepting Jesus as their one true savior. Similarly, Nebuchadnezzar, after a series of dreams, decreed that nobody in Babylon should speak against God and forced his subjects to accept the supremacy of a one true lord.

This kind of militant view of Christianity is something Kanye has in common with Nebuchadnezzar, who was famously dismissive of those who stood against him and retaliated against his perceived enemies with violence. "There will be a time where I am president of the United States, and I will remember, I will forgive, but I will remember, any founder that didn't have the capacity to understand what we were doing," West told Zane Lowe. "Interesting tone though," Lowe responded with a laugh, "it's sort of like a threatening hybrid." West's smile quickly turned into a grimace. "What? I'm supposed to forget?"

The opera is set to premiere at the Hollywood Bowl on November 24.

Kanye West

By Ovidiu Hrubaru

Kanye West has finally deigned to release his long awaited new album, Jesus is King.

After multiple missed release dates and increasingly bizarre tweets and statements from the MAGA hat-wearing husband of Kim Kardashian, fans got an album that, while entertaining, is nothing new. Sure, it's radically different from anything Kanye has released in the past, and while it has its moments (if you can overlook the often off-putting preachy content of the album) it's a pretty classically-styled gospel album. But Kanye wouldn't be Kanye if he gave any credit to the icons of the genre whose work undoubtedly influenced "Jesus is King." Instead, Kanye is acting like he invented gospel music.

Instead of streaming "Jesus is King" and giving money and attention to a mentally ill zealot with problematic and damaging opinions, stream these 5 classic gospel albums.

Cold World by Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens

Naomi Shelton has been singing gospel music since the 1950s, and this album makes it clear she's an authority on the genre. "Bound for the Promised Land" is a stirring, ultimately hopeful look at the state of the world.

MUSIC

Fragmented Reviews for Every Song on "Yandhi"

An incomplete review for an incomplete album

Image By Ovidiu Hrubaru via Shutterstock ID

Kanye West's gospel album Jesus Is King may have been delayed indefinitely, but he's certainly not keeping quiet.

September 3rd saw the release of Francis and the Lights' atmospheric "Take Me to the Light," which Kanye appeared on alongside Bon Iver. On Sunday, Kanye performed with a gospel choir in a church in Jamaica, Queens. And today, nine of his unreleased songs surfaced on the Internet—as iTunes ringtones.

Take Me to the Light (feat. Bon Iver and Kanye West)www.youtube.com

In September 2018, Kim Kardashian announced that her husband's next album would be called Yandhi. That album never appeared and was eventually scrapped, or so we thought. But as of today, people can listen to 26-second excerpts of nine songs from the album via the ringtones section of the iTunes store. To own the tracks, you'll need to fork over $1.29 for each.

In the age of streaming and texting, does anyone call each other or use ringtones anymore? It's hard to say what Kanye's up to, but then again, he's been a reliable wild card for years.

There is heavy speculation that the songs were all leaked by someone other than Kanye, meaning that it's possible that these songs reached us illegally. Regardless, this could be the last collection of secular material we ever hear from West, judging by his recent declaration that he'll "only do gospel music" from now on.

So, to match the nature of the brief samples we were given, here's a short, incomplete review of each song:

The first track, "New Body," places a punchy, vintage hip-hop beat and record-scratch sound over a recording of a flute. The song, which features Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj, leaked in July. Its release comes after Nicki announced her possible retirement from music, so these might be the last bars we hear from either of them for a while.

Kanye West Ft. Nicki Minaj, Ty Dolla $ign - New Bodywww.youtube.com

"Slave Name" places a triumphant electric guitar solo over chill-inducing choral melodies and flickers of electric piano. In its emotional intensity, it resembles the iconic climax of "Runaway" (though it never quite reaches that level of spiritual grandeur, but then again, it never gets the chance to). The far-too-short fragment now available on iTunes appeared in several versions as a leak and samples the song "Wally Wider" by Delicate Stevens.

kanye - slave name (extended)www.youtube.com

"80 Degrees" puts a trap beat over synthy flourishes and slurred falsetto vocals. You can make out the statement, "I can walk on the water," which goes well with Kanye's new born-again religious convictions. Kanye previously teased the song in a promo video, but this is the first we've heard of its release since then.

KANYE WEST- 80 DEGREES (HURRICANE) FULL LEAKwww.youtube.com

"Alien" is all lush, stratospheric synths and spaced-out woodwinds, which seem to be the defining characteristic of this album. Opening with the line, "I won't let them get the best of me," this song is reminiscent of the wide-eyed aggression of the Graduate. It leaked in full in July, but it's tough to find online, so you might be stuck with the ringtone for now.

On "Law of Attraction," Wyoming's newest resident begins with a chorus made up of muddled harmonies. It then veers into a rap verse over what sounds like a car door alarm (which has annoyed some fans so much that one made a version without the beeps, though some firmly stand by the beeps). This song was also leaked in full in July and is sometimes called "Chakras/Law of Attraction." It's a seductive collage of futuristic sounds and autotune, the kind of thing that, ultimately, only Kanye could make.

YANDHI - LAW OF ATTRACTION (WITHOUT BEEP)www.youtube.com

"The Storm" is smooth and glossy, with R&B elements that are almost reminiscent of Drake. "Don't troll yourself," the lyrics say. "Girl you owe it to yourself." Well, that's good advice, but the song itself unfortunately features the late, disgraced rapper XXXTentancion (alongside Ty Dolla $ign), making it somewhat hard to listen to. It does contain the poetic couplet, "We began after the storm inside / leaving then it's just the morning light," but as to whether its lyrical merits outweigh the presence of XXXTentacion (and Kanye's fraught persona, for that matter), that's for listeners to decide.

"We Got Love" features Teyana Taylor. Kanye debuted it on SNL in September 2018, then released the full track on SoundCloud in November, and it can be listened to in full online. It's an ode to success as a protest to struggle. "Love is the new money," goes the chorus—a rallying cry for today's world if there ever was one. A voiceover recording at the end goes, "You can have all the money in the world...but if you can't be a person of integrity while having all these things, then what does it mean? Your value is internal." One would wonder if Kim Kardashian believes this. Regardless, the song seems to indicate the presence of a newly inspired, enlightened Kanye.

Kanye West - We Got Love (Feat. Teyana Taylor)www.youtube.com

"Bye Bye" leaked in July (under the name "Bye Bye Baby") alongside "Law of Attraction." It was the third song on an early album tracklist. It's about overdosing, excess, UFOs, and refusing to take one's meds; and in its chaotic energy, it's most similar of ye and the singles that came out last summer.

As songs like "Bye Bye" highlight, Kanye has clearly struggled a lot. If religion is a way for him to make peace with the world and his own mind, and especially if it gets him to renounce his troublesome political viewpoints, we should all be here for it—even if it means that the best we'll get of Kanye West's secular repertoire are 26-second glimpses.

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