Kanye West: "This Is a Free Man Talking"

Everyone has an opinion about Kanye West’s opinions, and if there is one thing he is free of it’s self-censorship. “This is a free man talking,” he stated emphatically in a recent interview about his latest album, “Jesus is King.” 

His bravado is cut with a near compulsion to be earnest — about everything. 

This compulsion has brought him trouble in the past, and rightfully so. But this compulsion has also made him not only an independent thinker, but someone able to look inward with startling introspection. 

In another long-form interview, he speaks candidly and critically, peppered with characteristic bombast, about his past and present. 

After mental and physical health crises, a reckoning with his lack of restraint in action and speech, and experiences with mortality and social condemnation, he is a man acutely aware of his need. 

Only a person who is aware of his need searches for a savior. Most of the time we lie to ourselves. We look outward. We dull our ache. Kanye sees his need plainly, and in “Jesus Is King,” he unapologetically tethers himself to the savior. 

With this album, he has managed to do what so many modern creatives before him have tried and failed to do: make Christian art that is not beset by schlock. The album has the fervid sincerity and vehemence of someone who has nothing to lose. 

All my idols, let ’em go All the demons, let ’em know 

This a mission, not a show This is my eternal soul 

This my kids, this the crib 

This my wife, this my life 

This my God-given right 

Thank you, Jesus, won the fight — 

“God Is”

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.