The famous artist and entrepreneur Kanye West, known for his controversial rap career, and his clothing line, recently started what he calls Sunday Service. It has caused some amount of discussion in both the secular and the Christian world. The Sunday Service takes place in a different location every week and is usually an invite-only event.
Celebrities like Katy Perry, Brad Pitt, A$AP Rocky, Lil Nas X and Chance The Rapper have been invited to the Sunday Services, and some of them have performed.
Chance The Rapper performing ‘Ultralight Beam’ at Kanye West’s Sunday Service In Chicago. pic.twitter.com/gPoIfO82yz
— DAILY R????PS 4EVER (@netrapsforever) September 8, 2019
At the event, Kanye, accompanied by his band and choir, plays classic gospel tunes as well as gospel-inspired remixes of popular songs. Some services feature sermons, whilst others only feature music.
#SundayService x @richwilkersonjr
???? @kourtneykardash pic.twitter.com/I9i8f7gxLQ
— TeamKanyeDaily (@TeamKanyeDaily) July 22, 2019
The choir, called “The Samples”, is led by Jason White, with Philip Cornish as musical director, Nikki Grier working on lyrical rewrites, and Steve Epting on vocal arrangements. On Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Kanye, describing the inspiration behind the event, said: “It’s just an idea we had to open up our hearts to make music that we felt was as pure and as positive as possible and just do it for an hour every Sunday, and have something where people can just come together and feel good with their families.”
With Kanye’s newest album “Jesus is King” coming out soon, it seems that there is a theme going on in the world of Kanye West. Some claim it is just a media stunt, not unlike the many he has done before, while others believe that the rapper may just have changed his ways.
Kanye is no stranger to religious symbolism. His songs ‘Jesus Walks’ and ‘Father Stretch my Hands’ feature plenty of references to his faith. He claimed in a tweet, that Chance The Rapper reignited his faith in Christ whilst working with him in Chicago, the home town of both Kanye And Chance.
I need to speak about how Chance demanding that we record in Chicago reconnected me with my roots and also my faith in Jesus Christ
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018
