The 2,000 people inside of Fox Theatre on Friday night were feverishly excited. Eager stans followed Kanye West wherever he appeared; to the stage, underneath his balcony, to the soundboard. Security struggled to keep fans out of the aisles, in their sections, or even on the ground. Get off those seats! You are not at home, one guard yelled from the row, flashing a light inside the dark theatre. West would never perform, but no one seemed to care.
Were going to show yall three things tonight, West told the Detroit crowd which hed gathered with just a few hours notice from the balcony, next to his wife, Kim Kardashian West, and their daughter, North.
The first was a documentary, shot by videographer Nico Ballesteros. It follows Wests time with light and space artist James Turrell the inspiration behind Wests affordable housing project and his construction of a new building designed for choir performances. It essentially made Jesus Is King: A Kanye West Experience, as the event was billed, a particularly rowdy premiere for a non-fiction short.
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The second thing West had to show was harder to pin down. He screened a few scenes from a film directed by filmmaker and a longtime collaborator, Nick Knight, that was primarily focused on the Sunday Service performances that have become a recent trademark for West. The closing scene of the film included a stripped-back, piano-led rendition of Street Lights, Wests 2008 ballad from 808s and Heartbreaks. He said the film is coming to IMAX theaters in October; according to Kim Kardashians Instagram Stories from Friday night, the film will eventually be titled Jesus Is Lord.
West walked from his seat in the balcony through the middle aisle to the soundboard, where he congratulated Ballesteros and members of his team. Next, he announced, would be a premiere of his new album.
Fans erupted into excitement; the event would indeed be the first public unveiling of Jesus Is King. Even though the event was billed with the name of the album, until West confirmed it live and in-person, no one truly knew what to expect.
Though many hoped that the listening would then coincide with the official release of Jesus Is King, it was clear that the project had recently been assembled; West readily said that hed recorded one verse just before entering the venue. The event, then, was similar in format to his premieres of 2016s Life of Pablo at Madison Square Garden, or last years event in Wyoming to debut ye. West nodded and rapped along to a work in progress, occasionally stopping a song to provide additional context. The energy brought by the crowd made it feel like a live performance and difficult to decipher lyrics and features.
Merchandise was discreetly handed out throughout the crowd, quickly drawing attention (West is, at this point, about as coveted a designer as a musician). Employees walking through the crowd would hand out clothing to unsuspecting attendees, until word began to spread, and the presumably West-designed clothing became the unofficial focal point of the crowd at times.
Also adding to the mystique was the insistence on attendees giving up their phones; West partnered with Yondr for the event, a company that locks away smartphones at live shows to prevent leaked recordings. The result was nearly complete darkness in the theater. Fans instinctively reached for their phones before the show began, some managing to take them out of the magnetically locked case, leading to a select amount of clips making their way to Twitter.
For all the speculation on the direction of Wests ninth studio album, especially following a year of strictly Christian-themed Sunday Service performances, Jesus Is King is not a gospel album. While West is clearly deeply influenced by gospel arrangements and, as some have noted, this may become the rappers first clean album its still, first and foremost, a Kanye West album. There are elements of gospel, just as there are trap drums, ambient flourishes, prominent samples, and verses from the Clipse. Both of em West told the crowd to thunderous applause, announcing the unexpected reunion of G.O.O.D. Musics Pusha T with his brother, No Malice.
We all try our best, and we all fall short, West said, before debuting Hands On, which features Detroit gospel singer Fred Hammond. Other guests included a solo from saxophonist Kenny G (who West had play for his wife on Valentines Day), Ty Dolla $ign, and a placeholder space for Nicki Minaj, who was at least according to West recording her verse on Friday night.
Occasionally, Kanye would take the microphone to issue instructions. This is like a soccer melody, like a soccer stadium melody, West said at one point, encouraging fans to sing along.
Two upbeat songs stood out from the template of Jesus Is King, and captured the excitement of the crowd. Follow God, which featured a roaring sample and structure reminiscent of the West-produced Come Back Baby, on Pusha-Ts Daytona. Fans hopped on top of their seats to get a better view of the animated West, wearing a blue denim jacket with a white tee and gold chains. Audience members disobeyed security, unable to hold back their excitement once the male vocal sample sang stretch my hands to you before the beat dropped. On God, a Pierre Bourne-produced track, was an easy crowd favorite though a handful of songs had leaked in some version or another prior to Friday, this was a new one, and much better for the surprise.
Though West has frequently been outspoken to the point of deliberate public inflammation, he largely stays away from his self-made controversies in the lyrics of Jesus Is King from a single listen, its about as politically-minded as ye. Anyone expecting West to further acknowledge his relationship with the embattled President will be disappointed, though that did not seem like something his fans in the theater or outside of it were clamoring for.
Instead, West tread on more familiar ground, often returning to themes of disaffection, and his continued discomfort with his role as a celebrity and artist today. Millions of people, trying to get on the scene / and everyones sellin their soul, everyones sellin their soul / Everyone swear they woke, but every everyone walkin dead eyes closed, L.A. monster, West sings at one point.
When fans got their phones back after the event which concluded around 10 p.m., they quickly realized again, via Kim Kardashian that they still had a few more days until the release of Jesus Is King. Its Wests second pushback in less than a year; though Jesus Is King has a far more promising route to release than Yandhi ever did. Some at the venue were, predictably, frustrated to hear of a new delay. Its cool that hes hanging onto a few songs that leaked, a lot of the stuff weve already heard, so its a little disappointing, said Zach Porter, a fan of Wests from Detroit. But at this point, I think fans will take anything. Just drop the album, Kanye.
After exiting, it became clear that the merch that many had swarmed for just hours before was now available online albeit with a hefty price tag. The music is likely not far behind it.