Kanye West shed a little light in an interview on Thursday about why he thinks his upcoming, untitled LP formerly known as So Help Me God, SWISH and WAVES is a gospel album.
This album is actually a Gospel album
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) January 27, 2016
When radio host Big Boy asked him what listeners should expect from his album, West expounded on his surprising claim from the previous week on Twitter.
“Ultra-light beams. I’m trying to open up hearts, minds. When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk [Franklin] and we were just going through it … I said, ‘This is a gospel album — with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it’s still a gospel album,’” West laughed. “It was the gospel according to Ye. It’s not exactly what happened in the Bible, but it’s a story of this idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary.”
This concept alone would not classify the album as gospel. There have been hints on social media about the inclusion of a gospel song, though.
2 Chainz posted the photograph above of West and Kirk Franklin on Instagram last week. Two days later, gospel singer Crystal Lewis shared a photo of her in the studio with Franklin, Anthony Evans and several other gospel artists and wrote “#kirkandkanye” in the caption.
Lending support to this idea is the tracklist that West tweeted last month, which included a song titled “Father Stretch My Hands.” This song samples Pastor T.L. Barrett’s 2012 gospel song “Father Stretch My Hands,” according to Genius. Rapper A$AP Bari recently shared a clip on his Snapchat of West listening to the track.
Editor’s note: We know this won’t be a gospel album but look forward to hearing the contribution of legendary Christian artists.