Kanye tried to tell you that he was a god.
Now it’s written in scripture.
For those of you who worship at the altar of Kanye West, a Bible is now available through Etsy that replaces every mention of God’s name in the book of Genesis with West’s.
It is called the "Book of Yeezus," and is described as: "A novelty coffee-table book, celebrating the grandeur of mega-icon Kanye West. This is the Bible for the New Age."
You know:
“In the beginning Kanye created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Kanye moved upon the face of the waters. And Kanye said, Let there be light: and there was light. And Kanye saw the light, that it was good: and Kanye divided the light from the darkness.
The hardback, with Kanye’s face imprinted in gold, is available for $20. The creators of the book — not the Creator — noted that each generation has deified a superstar such as Sinatra, Monroe or Lennon.
West is just the next in line.
Atlanta visual artist Fahamu Pecou, who is writing his doctoral dissertation on West, said that, at least since 2004's "The College Dropout," West has subverted the accepted politics of respectability and ignored what is deemed appropriate.
One of his biggest hits is the hip-hop classic "Jesus Walks."
His last album was titled "Yeezus."
The third track on the album is "I Am a God."
The title is supposedly inspired by Psalm 82: “I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.”
The song’s lyrics are a bit less poetic.
“I just talked to Jesus/He said, “What up, Yeezus?”
I said, “[Man] I’m chillin’/Tryna stack these millions”
I know he the most high/But I am a close high.”
But Pecou said literal riffs such as the Book of Yeezus miss the point. “When he declares himself ‘a god’ he doesn’t imply that he is your God or The God for that matter,” the scholar said. “But rather a controller and creator of his own destiny. This sentiment is echoed throughout his body of work as a declaration of agency and individuality that frankly contradicts the way society determines existence, especially for black males.”
By his own will, West has become a cultural force, driven equally by his talents, ego and most recently by his yoking with Kim Kardashian. In 2009, he famously interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMAs with the classic, "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"
He has compared himself to Andy Warhol and Michael Jackson. He said that George W. Bush doesn't care about black people.
President Obama called him a "jackass." But since Prince was at his height in the 1980s, no pop star has evoked such religious iconography, from images of him on the cross, to pictures of him wearing a halo, to the Rolling Stone cover of him wearing a crown of thorns.
At least one group has started a religion in his name, Yeezianity.
It’s tagline: “The best church of all time!”
Pecou dismisses the Book of Yeezus as “at best a bad joke, aimed at further imaging West as narcissistic and by extension unworthy of our attention. At its worst, it’s a distraction meant to obscure the sentiment embedded in Yeezy’s music. At its core, West’s art is revolutionary, it defies the limits imposed upon us as well as those we accept about ourselves without question.
“Perhaps he is the way and the light.”
About the Author
