If you blinked, you would have missed it; but if you didnโt, oh what a revelation!
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On Sunday, Kanye West brought his young, soaring choir back home, where his heart is, and it was chuuuuch, children. Black church, to be specific, complete with organs, synthesizer, horns, and, uh, Chance the Rapper, who blessed the crowd with his verse on โUltralight Beamโ and jacked his body when West dropped a house beat.
West brought Sunday Service to Chicagoโs Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, and began, like church, at 9 a.m. CST. A call for tickets had gone out, and through Ticketmaster they were made available to the public free of charge.
It was a bit overcast and drizzly, but the power of the music kept the rain at bay. It was streamed at SundayService.comโbut only for a limited amount of time.
I tuned in about 2 p.m. EST and kept the music on my laptop while I did some housework. From gospel standards like โHow Excellent Is Thy Nameโ to Westโs โJesus Walks,โ what I saw was incredibly edifying. Alas, by the time I got back from getting the clothes out of the dryer, it was no more. The replayed livestream was gone. I only got about halfway through and Iโm still devastated.
Notably, West has been steadily opening that proverbial (or in this case literal) peephole to his weekly revival. The very first Sunday Service happened at Coachella, where one could only view the service on a mountain through a small round window; on occasions after that, there were short clips on wife Kim Kardashian Westโs social media platforms.
As the rollout for his upcoming gospel/trap album comes nearer, Westโs clips for Sunday Service are becoming longer and closer together, kinda like contractions: there was a video last week from Watts that I cannot stop playing, and before that in Dayton, Ohio, where there was a mass shooting. Celebrities and musicians continue to come throughโfrom Dave Chappelle and A$AP Rocky to Brad Pitt and DMX.
Yesterday, the baby was crowning! Chicagoโs concert was the first time where the entire service was broadcast, all leading up to the birth of Westโs new album, Jesus Is King, which he will bless us with on Sept. 27.
Despite his fuckery, Iโve always found Westโs music transcendent, joyful, even spiritualโespecially when experienced liveโpart of it is its deep basis in soul. He is hip-hop, to be sure, that is the foundation, but West has always mixed in gospel, house, blues, choral ensembles, classical music. And although church attendance has dropped significantly, especially for those under 40, this music is so familiarโso full of us, our pain, our yearning, our suffering, our rejuvenating praise sitting on our hearts.
Jesus himself couldnโt keep me away from this album. I cannot wait for this music to get me through the rest of this year.
How excellent.
Straight From
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