Kanye West may be a lot of things, but one thing he isn’t is boring.
The billionaire rapper and businessman appeared Sunday at televangelist Joel Osteen’s mega church in Texas. On stage, he held court on his recent “journey” to faith.
“I know God’s been calling me for a long time and the devil has been distracting me for a long time,” said West, dressed in a black suit and black T shirt.
“When I was in my lowest points, God was there with me and sending me visions and inspiring me,” he told the crowd of 17,000 at the Lakewood Church in Houston. “I remember sitting in the hospital at UCLA after having a breakdown and there’s documentations of me drawing a church and writing about starting a church in the middle of Calabasas.”
“Now, the greatest artist God ever created is now working for him,” West said.
West was hospitalized at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles for stress and hospitalization after several chaotic days on tour. At one concert, West said he didn’t vote in the 2016 election, but if he had, he would’ve voted for President Trump. “I told y’all I didn’t vote, right?” West told his fans. “But if I would have voted, I would have voted on Trump.”
A few days later at another concert, West said, “I am putting my career, my life, my public well-standing at risk when I talk to y’all like this,” as reported by the New York Times. “I’ve been sitting here to give y’all my truth even at the risk of my own life. Even at the risk of my own success, my own career. I’ve been sitting here to give y’all the truth.”
At the mega church, West regretted his former “arrogance.”
“All of that arrogance, and confidence and cockiness that y’all seen me use before God is now using for Him,” West said to cheers.
“Even after that I made the ‘Life of Pablo’ album and said this is a gospel album. I didn’t know how to totally make a gospel album and the Christians that were around were too beaten into submission by society to not speak up and profess the gospel to me because I was a superstar. But the only superstar is Jesus,” he said.
Osteen asked West about faith and fame.
“It’s like the devil stole all the good producers, all the good musicians, all the good artists, all the good designers, all the good business people and said, ‘you gotta come over and work for me.’ And now the trend, the shift, is going to change. Jesus has won the victory,” West said.
West also discussed his latest album, “Jesus is King.”
“‘Closed On Sunday’ is the hardest record ever made because it’s talking about protecting your kids from the indoctrination of the media,” West said about his song lauding Chick-fil-A’s famous policy of being closed on the weekend day, the Sabbath, the day of the Lord.
“Closed on Sunday, you’re my Chick-fil-A,” West sings in the song. “Hold the selfies, put the ’Gram away, Get your family, y’all hold hands and pray.”
When you got daughters, always keep ’em safe
Watch out for vipers, don’t let them indoctrinate
Closed on Sunday, you my Chick-fil-A
You’re my number one, with the lemonade
Raise our sons, train them in the faith
Through temptations, make sure they’re wide awake
Follow Jesus, listen and obey
No more livin’ for the culture, we nobody’s slave
West, 42, also said he has matured.
“You know, it’s nothing I can say to the younger Kanye through words. I could speak to the younger Kanye through music,” he said. “This music coming every month. God is strengthening our hands. We have writers, producers, we’re taking all the most fire producers and bringing them back to God,” West said.