The Rise and Fall of Yeezus: Kanye West As a Babylonian
What’s a king to a god?
Let’s face it. It’s easy to dislike Kanye West. From his bold tweets to his abrasive interviews, West has developed an infamous reputation for flaunting his hubris. With the fame, wealth, and newfound prestige Kanye has earned throughout his career, it is easy to understand how he could have gained an exaggerated ego. Kanye himself has even admitted this throughout his discography, as he recognizes how he acknowledges how his star power may become more of a detriment than he previously anticipated.
Kayne West: Gospel Artist?
In order to properly untangle how Kanye’s hubris grew, it is important to analyze the most prominent theme in his music: Christianity. Kanye has shown religious imagery and titles in his music for over a decade, ranging from the hit single “Jesus Walks” on his otherwise non-religious 2004 album The College Dropout, to releasing his most recent album, Jesus is King, in 2019. While his personal beliefs and attitude have shifted throughout that span, he still maintains a firm hold on Christian ideals. While many are quick to point at his nickname “Yeezus”, which is derived from the name of Jesus and the two letters in Kanye’s name, as his most overt use of religious evocation, many miss his references to other themes such as the story of Babylon in the Book of Genesis.
False Prophets
Given in Genesis 11:1-9, the story of Babylon depicts a united race which, following the Great Flood, constructs a mighty city in the land of Shinar. Among the cityscape, the Babylonians constructed a tower tall enough to reach the heavens. This was an intentional effort by the Babylonians, as their belief was that God lived just above the surface of the earth and by constructing this tower, they could inhabit the same space as God. Seeing this as an act of defiance, God confounded the Babylonians’ shared language so that they can no longer understand each other and scatters them around the world. Kanye’s an allusion to this ancient story comes during his 2013 song “I am a God” off of his sixth studio album, Yeezus.
I just talked to Jesus He said, "What up, Yeezus?" I said, "Sh*t—I'm chillin' Tryna stack these millions" I know he the most high But I am a close high I am a God
With his fame and fortune, Kanye now thinks of Jesus as his near equal or “close high”. This is a direct parallel to the Babylonians, as their efforts to share the same domain as God demonstrate their aspirations to become his equivalent and separate themselves from the weakness and obscurity of their ancestors. Unlike the Babylonians however, Kanye recognizes that there is not an entity higher than God and sees his role as more of a friend than a potential usurper. To Kanye, this would be reciprocated by Jesus, who casually chats with Kanye about his wealth. The lyric that follows, “Tryin’ to stack these millions” is a biblical reference to The Tower of Babel itself, as money, to Kanye, is a unified language that is easily scattered and confounded by God. In this instance, however, God is allowing Kanye to construct his metaphorical Tower of Babel uninterrupted while the Babylonians faced God’s wrath for doing so.
How do Other Artists/Genres Engage with Genesis?
While Kanye West may have the most publicized and infamous connection with the divine, he far from the only musician that explores faith and religion. In Anna Fellman’s forum post: “From the Bible to New Jersey: How Bruce Springsteen uses a story from Genesis to share his stories”, she explores how Springsteen intertwines the story of Cain and his father Adam with his own relationship with his father in his 1978 Rock song “Adam Raised a Cain”. According to Fellman, Springsteen’s retells the story of Abel and Cain where, instead of focusing on the murder of Abel by the hands of Cain, he instead casts Adam as the antagonist, or “a character that Cain does not want to become”. This is a parallel to Bruce’s relationship with his father, Doug Springsteen, as he resents Doug for his verbal abuse and alcoholism and is now forced to live with his childhood trauma much like how Cain was cursed to be a wanderer by God after he killed Abel.
Jeffrey Leyton is a Sophomore at Colgate University from New York City. He is planning on majoring in Economics with a minor in History.
