Kanye West, "Ultralight Beam"

Kanye West, "Ultralight Beam"

Before The Life Of Pablo dropped -- back when it was called Swish, or maybe Waves -- Kanye said he was making a gospel album. Given Mr. West’s penchant for hyperbole, people scoffed; then, on February 11, he opened his listening party/fashion show at Madison Square Garden with a sample of a viral video of a four-year-old talking about God. Then a lone synth, then The-Dream, then Kanye, praying. The song built, but the climaxes didn’t come from West himself — instead, he receded into the background as Kelly Price, Chance The Rapper, and Kirk Franklin offered spine-tingling sermons in turn.In a year when everything appears to be coming apart at the seams, Kanye offered community, togetherness and hope — a musical statement completely in opposition to most of the year’s politics, in spite of his stated affinity for the president-elect. Hopefully in 2017 he’ll go back to pursuing change we can believe in — like most of his’s best songs, this sounds nothing like a Kanye song — and let artists everywhere keep feeling like Chance: “I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail.” — N.W.