Kanye West expounds on how ‘gospel’ his new album will be in interview

Kanye West shed a little light in an interview on Thursday about why he thinks his upcoming, untitled LP formerly known as So Help Me God, SWISH and WAVES is a gospel album.

When radio host Big Boy asked him what listeners should expect from his album, West expounded on his surprising claim from the previous week on Twitter.

“Ultra-light beams. I’m trying to open up hearts, minds. When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk [Franklin] and we were just going through it … I said, ‘This is a gospel album — with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it’s still a gospel album,’” West laughed. “It was the gospel according to Ye. It’s not exactly what happened in the Bible, but it’s a story of this idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary.”

This concept alone would not classify the album as gospel. There have been hints on social media about the inclusion of a gospel song, though.

2 Chainz posted the photograph above of West and Kirk Franklin on Instagram last week. Two days later, gospel singer Crystal Lewis shared a photo of her in the studio with Franklin, Anthony Evans and several other gospel artists and wrote “#kirkandkanye” in the caption.

Sang with these SINGERS last night! Ahhhh! It was a bit like being in class... Like, as in, they took me to task. Boy you better focus and be quick working with @kirkfranklin! Been a long time! #heysopranos #kirkandkanye

Lending support to this idea is the tracklist that West tweeted last month, which included a song titled “Father Stretch My Hands.” This song samples Pastor T.L. Barrett’s 2012 gospel song “Father Stretch My Hands,” according to Genius. Rapper A$AP Bari recently shared a clip on his Snapchat of West listening to the track.

Editors Note: The news of this collaboration is a plus to the music industry as two great artist come together for an album. The presence of Kirk Franklin in this Kanye West  will make this in my opinion Kanye West's best album.  Looking forward to it.