Kanye West is gearing up to release Jesus is King, his gospel-inspired new album. Though the release kept getting delayed, Kanye assured that he and his team are still working on it. (West stated numerous times in his interviews that the process of finishing the album is very fluid, and they’re working on it until the last possible minute.) As the album missed its scheduled release date on the midnight of October 25, West was still making the final tweaks to the tracks.

The rapper has been hosting public listening sessions of the unfinished record around the USA and promoting his soon-to-release project. Besides releasing an IMAX film about the album’s creation, he also invited Beats 1’s Zane Lowe over to his ranch in Cody, Wyoming to talk about the upcoming album and much more.

Over the course of a very comprehensive two-hour conversation, West talked about everything from his recent Christian conversion to his pornography addiction, the death of his mother to his mental illness issues and reconnecting with his faith; an honest, unfiltered look into where the artist stands at the moment. Here we have our key takeaways from the discussion:

KANYE SAYS HE IS “THE GREATEST HUMAN ARTIST OF ALL TIME” AND “IT’S JUST A FACT”

At one point in the conversation, West referred to himself as “undoubtedly the greatest human artist of all time”. He followed this up by saying that his greatness is the reason that people were disappointed with the MAGA hat incident and his continued support for Donald Trump. “It’s not even a question at this point, it’s just a fact,” he said. “For the greatest artist in human existence to put a red hat on was God’s practical joke to all liberals. Like, ‘Nooo, not Kanye!’” 

Kanye also continues to claim that one day, he may very well become president of the United States. When asked about his plans to run in 2024, the artist responds: “We’re working on it.” His hope is to become the leader of the free world and finally be able to look in the eyes of all of the non-believer founders and company executives that ever doubted him.

HIS PURPOSE NOW IS “TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL”

Having been addicted to sex, culture and all things material in the past, Kanye West is now fully recommitted to Christianity and claims he has been “born again”. “Now that I’m in service to Christ, my job is to spread the gospel, to let people know what Jesus has done for me,” he said. Still, much like his support for Donald Trump, which was primarily focused on things like the president’s “dragon energy” rather than his specific policies, West’s commitment to religion seems to be more about ‘Jesus’ in the abstract.

“There was a time I was letting you know what high fashion had done for me, I was letting you know what the Hennessey had done for me, but now I’m letting you know what Jesus has done for me, and in that I’m no longer a slave, I’m a son now, a son of God. I’m free,” he said. “The most space that I had to think is when I went to the hospital. One of the things that happened when I went to the hospital is I started reading the Bible and I started writing and copying out Bible verses.”

“JESUS IS KING”
Midnight pic.twitter.com/EMYldzBXCU

— ye (@kanyewest) October 24, 2019

HE HAD A “FULL-ON PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION”

After discovering a copy of Playboy laying around when he was five years old, Kanye started developing a full-on addiction to pornography and sex culture. “It’s affected almost every choice I made for the rest of my life from age five to now, having to kick the habit,” he said. West said that this later turned into a sex addiction, which fed into his ego. After his mom passed away, the addiction fully took over. “Some people drown themselves in drugs, and I drown myself in my addiction: sex.”

PREMARITAL SEX WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION FOR THOSE WORKING ON JESUS IS KING

West’s religious discovery was at odds with his past views on sex and porn — just last year, he was acting as the creative director for the Pornhub Awards. Nevertheless, while working on Jesus is King he had to set up lifestyle guidelines for people involved in the project. He asked his team to fast during portions of the album’s creation and not to engage in premarital sex. “When people pray together and fast together, the power is increased,” he said. “There were times where I went to people that were working on other projects and said ‘can you just work and focus on this?’ I thought if we could all focus and fast – families who pray together stay together.”

ANOTHER ALBUM RELEASE IS TO FOLLOW ON CHRISTMAS

Albeit Jesus is King not being out just yet, Kanye West says he’s already got another album planned: Jesus is Born. The Sunday Service-inspired record is scheduled for a Christmas Day release and will be referring to the communal live music events he’s been hosting across the States this year. As for the actual content of the album, that’s still uncertain and up for debate.