Kanye West – Follow God

Celebrity Christian convert, rapper, and Kim Kardashian’s husband Kanye West received much attention since he started his controversial Sunday Service, well, services.  Recently releasing Jesus Is King in October 2019, West has become the center of discussion in talk shows, news articles, churches and, of course, the internet.

He recently spoke at the Awaken 2020 conference and performed with his Sunday Service Choir.

Follow God will be my fourth review from West’s Jesus is King, joining Selah, Use This Gospel, and God Is.  The Berean Test scores have been all over the place, ranging from barely failing to a perfect 10.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Kanye-west-follow-god-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

With arms stretched high, as if offering a prayer in an act of worship, Kanye lays out his thoughts and feelings. He is experiencing the daily tug and pull of celebrity life, including dealing with critics and occasionally arguing with his earthly father. His dad believes that both West’s critics and West himself are engaging in un-Christlike behavior, with one  hypocritical instance.

West’s way of handling the critics consists of screaming on Twitter and his dad.  Neither are Biblical approaches, something West back-door admits when rapping about avoiding stupidity and seeking superior techniques.

He ends the song with one final complaint about how family can upset him. Particularly, his hypocritical dad mentioned at the beginning of this section. His dad criticized West’s fighting with him while arguing himself. West responds by screaming, unable to handle it.

Given the onslaught of repetition in my recent reviews, I am relieved to see well-written lyrics, except a few unclear lines. West forced me to think and research rather than rely on pre-scripted collections of ideas and passages of Scripture, breathing fresh air into the review process.

Score: 9/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Given its proper context, most of it does; However, there is ambiguity regarding Verse, lines 9 and line 16, making it inevaluable.  I did my best to give reasonable assumptions/opinions to unclear portions, including those who push his buttons and the identity of “dad”.

Though some of West’s behavior shown in these lyrics show a lack of humility and perhaps a poor response to critics by complaining on twitter, he somewhat makes up for it by expressing a desire to find more constructive methods and avoid foolish behavior.

[Intro]

Lines 1 and 2: Outstretched arms is an act of worship (Deuteronomy 32:40, 1 Kings 8:54, Ezra 9:5, Nehemiah 8:6, Psalm 28:2, Psalm 63:4, Psalm 119:48, Psalm 134:2, Lamentations 2:19, Lamentations 3:41, and 1 Timothy 2:8).  Through it, West is making his petition known to God (Philippians 4:6).

[Verse]

Lines 1-4: West believes that, despite his efforts to live a righteous life, his critics make it more difficult.  It is on par with a love that is akin to a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal, or a classic typewriter: a bunch of noise that is neither loving nor helpful (1 Corinthians 13:1).  He feels like he’s experiencing a movie rather than watching one, as if unreal.

Line 5: That is, Instagram.  West has posted on Twitter that he’s not a fan of like’s within social media, comparing it to flaunting wealth for all to see.  Jesus also spoke out against such behavior in our works, prayer, and giving life (Matthew 6:1-24).

Line 6: It is not immediately clear if West is expressing his own past behavior critics’ actions against him.  It is also not clear if his “dad” is his earthly or Heavenly Father.  Most likely, West refers to the behavior of others and speaks to/hears from his earthly father.  It is factual that sometimes they engage in ungodly behavior, as we all have (Romans 3:23).

Line 7: West likens his disgust with other people’s behavior towards him to Michael Jordan yelling at the referee for a bad call.  In a February 3rd, 1992 game against Jazz, Jordan fought with the refs about a foul call against him, leading to his ejection from the game.  In the same way, West believes he can yell (probably on social media) about his critics, which may not be Christ-like behavior.  We are called to treat others more highly than ourselves (Philippians 2:3), not start playing the victim.

It is difficult for me to discern from these lyrics if West’s approach is in accordance to a Biblical rebuke (Galatians 2:11–13) or unbiblical quarreling (Proverbs 15:18).  if he’s doing it “just like Mike”, then it seems the latter is more likely.

Line 8: The second portion references What Your Life Like by Beanie Sigel (warning: it contains seriously foul language), which carries with themes of remorse during his time in prison and finding out his wife committed adultery.  There is no sign of repentance, placing Sigel on par with Judas’ response after betraying Jesus sans suicide (Matthew 27:3-5).

Combining with the first portion, West expresses his desire to find his “light at the end of the tunnel” mich like Sigel did in his song.  It is a natural response, but shows a lack of humility on West’s part.  He experiences the onslaught of critics due to his well-documented actions, some of which West half-apologized without Godly repentance.

Line 9: While the latter part references the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game Excitebike (I was never good at it), it is not immediately clear how mounting a pale-colored bicycle or this NES classic fits with West’s “woe is me” theme.  Some have speculated that it connects with the white horse in Revelation 6:2; However, the rider here is conquering.  West is complaining, not vanquishing.

The last part repeats Intro, line 2, indicating that despite West receiving criticism, playing the victim, and engaging in un-Christlike behavior, he still praises God.

Line 10: Repeats ideas in line 8.

Line 11:Repeats line 6.

Line 12: West expresses that he receives more critique than encouragement. This is probably true and (unfortunately) the experience of many humans who live on earth. It is a failure on our part to follow the new commandment Jesus gives in John 13:34-35, that we show the world we are disciples of Jesus in how we show love towards one another.

Lines 13-15: In much the same way as a consumer wishes to view a Tyler Perry BET production for free, without paying for it, West feels like people only come to him when others need something “free” from him.  It is akin to searching for God only when we’re in trouble and forgetting about him after He rescues us.

The only Scripture I found that aligns with West’s expression is James 4:1-6, which addresses the issue motive in coming to God.  It goes on to say that we must come to Him with humility (James 4:10).

Line 16: I have no idea what this means.  Comments would be appreciated!

Line 17: Essentially repeats line 8.

Line 18: Essentially repeats line 6 and repeats Intro, line 2.

Lines 19-23: Remember when I criticized West for his unbiblical quarreling in line 7 and lack of humility in line 18? I give him credit for attempting to find a new way to deal with his struggles, to avoid Proverbs 12:15 and Proverbs 18:2. Blocking people might be a good start, but only if such individuals are trolls offering destructive criticism. West shows some humility by back-door acknowledging that, perhaps, he hasn’t responded correctly.

The last part of line 23 repeats Intro, line 1.

Line 24: In Genesis 32:24-32, Jacob wrestled with God, earning him the name Israel, which means “one that struggles with God”. I agree with West, that we ought to avoid fighting with God. It is an acknowledgment of internal warfare, described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-25 as “wretchedness” and explains his deliverance from it in Romans 8. West yearns for that deliverance.

Lines 25: Essentially repeats ideas in line 1 and Intro, line 2.

Line 26: The repeated line 6 shifts in focus from West’s critics to himself. Arguing with one’s father (as well as critics) does not exhibit Christ-like behavior. To argue as West describes is to stir up strife (Proverbs 15:18).

[Outro]

Lines 1-3: This portion ends with an incomplete sentence; However, I think West is saying “off your game”, a sports reference to underperformance.

Lines 4-9: An example of West’s complaint in lines 1-3, with part of line 6 repeating Intro, line 2.   West is praying, doing fine, when he gets into a heated argument with his dad due to advice he tried to give his dad.  The two fight, with his dad hypocritically spouting “That ain’t Christ-like” towards West’s behavior and violating the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:1-5.  West responds with screaming, unable to deal with it.  This shows further evidence that “dad” is not God.

Score: 8/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those who do not yet follow Jesus will be able to identify with West’s message of critics, wrongful approach, the desire for better approaches, and dealing with hypocrisy in family members.  He cleverly weaves in pop culture references (as most rappers do) that his intended audience will comprehend.  Others such as myself who aren’t “hip” must heavily rely upon Google to make sense out of it.

Since it contains a few ambiguous lyrics, that makes it difficult to assess them from an unbeliever’s perspective.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Though this is not a worship song, it glorifies God when West can somewhat admit he needs to find a different path and stretch his arms to God as part of it, honestly explaining his scenario and less than stellar response to it.

Score: 9/10

Closing Comments

Kanye West’s Follow God is surprisingly decent. He honestly expresses his frustration with critics and poor attempts to address them, seeking an alternative way to approach them than foolish, emotional reactions. This glorifies God. His unbelieving audience should find his message quickly accessible and easily relatable. It contains a few lines I could not uncover its meaning, offering a small penalty in each section.

Given that its purpose is not intended for praise, worship leaders can skip over this one.  I am uncertain of its usefulness, aside from “Kanye gets me!”

I suppose it’s a better alternative to Sigel’s What Your Life Like or just about anything West wrote pre-Jesus is King.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Follow God (listen to the song)

Artist: Kanye West

Album: Jesus is King

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap

Release Year: 2019

Duration: 1:44

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.