Rapper Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, said in a recent interview that he has “issues with Jesus” and would instead take things into his “own hands” instead of giving Jesus complete control. West and fellow rapper Ty Dolla $ign, a collaborating artist on his new album Vultures 1, appeared in an interview with radio personality Big Boy posted to his Big Boy TV YouTube channel.
West began during the interview, which lasted for over an hour, “I have my issues with Jesus. There’s a lot of stuff I went through, and I prayed, and I ain’t see Jesus show up. I had to put my experience in this world, my experience with my children, my experience with other people, my experience with my account, my experience with my brand and my experience with the level of music that I was dealing with, in my own hands.” West criticized American Christians in society today as not being proactive enough when given opportunities to help others.
He said, “I just feel like in our society and America, people, Christians will depend on Jesus so much that we don’t put the word in ourselves. And the main thing that I don’t rock with is like, ‘I’m going to pray for you.’ It’s just like, you can actually physically do something yourself, too, more than just praying. And we’re so in this mentality that that’s all that needs to happen. But we aren’t praying our way out of prison. We aren’t praying our way out of the abortion clinics. We aren’t praying our way to get our land back that was always ours after gentrification after the Harlem Renaissance and Black Wall Street was burned to the ground. Them prayers are not working.”
The rapper argued that physical action taken by humans is critical to making things happen. The 46-year-old said, “We are going to have to apply actual physical building partnerships, and it don’t start unless we could really be real with each other. You know how many threats we’ve been dealt with. And I haven’t prayed my way through them threats either. I had to get up and do it myself. I had so much to do, I haven’t have time to pray.”
Later in the interview, West claimed that he is God of himself. He said, when asked about his success in the music industry and how he hasn’t “disappeared,” “Cause I’m God, and anyone who wants to disagree, I’m the God of me. You can’t tell me who I am. I can’t tell y’all. I could tell y’all. It’s your job to listen. I’m the God of me. I don’t know if I’m in heaven already.” In previous years, West garnered attention and headlines for his seemingly open acceptance of Christianity and his public conversion to the Christian faith.
He released his Jesus is King album in 2019. He also spent over $50 million performing “Sunday Service” events across the country, which he once said was an effort to spread the Gospel. His comments in the interview drew reactions from Christians online. West received backlash last month after he called himself “the new Jesus” in his Vultures 1 album, released on Feb. 10. The album includes a song called “Carnival,” which is filled with obscene language and sexual violence. The new album was a collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign.