Kanye West's Sunday Services have generated a lot of speculation and theories and certainly have inspired more than a few evangelicals.

Back in December, Kanye West and Joe Rogan discussed the possibility that Kanye might come on Rogan's show to do a "serious interview speaking on mental health." However, the show was later canceled, and Rogan just recently stated that he thinks Kanye is "starting a new cult. It's clear, he's on his way," he said. "It's probably gonna be huge."

Kanye's Sunday Services have been drawing comparisons to cults since their inception. "It's got the early trappings [of a cult], I guess we could say," cult expert and sociologist Janja Lalich said to Vox. To better understand whether or not Kanye West is starting a cult, or if you're looking to start one of your own, here are five characteristics shared by the average cult.

1. Cults have charismatic, unquestioned leaders

Cults are nothing without their leaders. A great cult leader is able to persuade followers that they're the messiah, unquestionably knowledgeable and endowed with the secrets to the universe. Leaders often create stories about their own greatness, starting small and then building themselves into a messiah-like figure.

2. Cults use some form of brainwashing or indoctrination

Cults indoctrinate their members into the belief that their allegiances should always be to the cult above all else. They often do this by using a process called indoctrination, which slowly persuades people to fall completely for the cult's ethos. Cults use indoctrination to "break down a person's sense of self," according to How Stuff Works, using techniques like thought reform, isolation, induced dependency, and eventually, dread. As far as we know, Kanye hasn't yet done this.

The New Yorker

3. Cults use an "us versus them" mentality

Members of cults are taught to believe that all of their own beliefs are absolutely, unquestionably correct, while others' are fundamentally flawed. Interestingly, many cults actually aren't religious, though many cult members were raised religious but left their faiths.

4. Cults are exclusive—and lavish praise on their recruits

Most cults make their recruits feel special and seen, eventually convincing them that the cult is worth giving up their lives for. People who join cults tend to suffer from low self-esteem and a desire to belong to a group as well as naive idealism, according to Psychiatric Times, making them prime targets for cult recruitment.

5. Cults often exploit their members

More often than not, cults wind up exploiting their members, either monetarily, sexually, or both. Once recruits are totally indoctrinated into the cult, lavished with attention and completely convinced to swear loyalty to the cult, then the exploitation usually starts.

Judging by these criteria, Kanye West is probably not starting a cult.

West does have some characteristics of a cult leader in that he's always believed in his own genius; but for now, it seems like the Sunday Services are just experimental efforts to blend West's love of music promotion with his newfound born-again faith. Actually, most cults seem far more malicious than what Kanye is trying out—thus far, his organization has nothing on, say, the cult of capitalism, or the cult of Christianity.

Cults are part of the fabric of American life. Make sure you know the signs, and if you ever feel tempted to accept any form of Kool-Aid, think again.

MUSIC

A Nebuchadnezzar Opera: Kanye's Problematic Brand of Old Testament Christianity

Nebuchadnezzar was a power hungry anti-Semite, who burned down Jerusalem and enslaved the Jewish people. Kanye wants to sing about him.

"I believe God is using me to show off," Kanye West recently told Zane Lowe.

"He's like, now let me take this Nebuchadnezzar type character...he looked at his kingdom and said 'I did this,' And God said, 'Oh for real, you did this?'" West goes on to describe that Nebuchadnezzar was supposedly bipolar and that when the king attempted to take credit for God's work, God made sure "he was driven away from people and ate grass like an ox. His body drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird." In summation, West believed his mental breakdown in 2017 was an act of God, and that it was God's way of humbling him and reminding him of who was in charge. West said, "Nebuchadnezzar was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he was still king." Now, West announced he will premiere an opera based on the life of the biblical king at Hollywood Bowl this year.

Kanye West performs in Houston jail with his Sunday Service choirwww.youtube.com

After the king of Judah staged a failed rebellion against Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the latter was enraged and vowed to punish King Zedekiah for his transgressions. In 588 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar's army marched to the walls of Jerusalem and surrounded the city, cutting off the Jewish people from the fields outside of the city, which they relied on for food. For a year and a half, the Babylonian army starved out the Jewish people. It's written in the Book of Jeremiah that the corpses began to pile up in the streets of Jerusalem and disease began to engulf the city. The Babylonians finally lay siege to the city in 586 BCE, when the Jewish people were far too weak to defend themselves. At the order of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian army set Jerusalem ablaze in the 9th of Av (now known as Tisha B'Av in July), 586 BCE and burned the city to the ground, including the first Jewish temple. The army then forced the surviving Israelites to march back to Babylon, where they became enslaved to Nebuchadnezzar. In Judaism, the 9th of Av is recognized as a day of intense mourning, as it is marked as the beginning of what would become decades of enslavement.

West's respect and admiration for one of history's most recognized anti-Semites is problematic in its own right, but West does share an uncanny resemblance to Nebuchadnezzar in his approach to Christianity. His Sunday Service performances have dissolved into revival like affairs, with audience members kneeling and accepting Jesus as their one true savior. Similarly, Nebuchadnezzar, after a series of dreams, decreed that nobody in Babylon should speak against God and forced his subjects to accept the supremacy of a one true lord.

This kind of militant view of Christianity is something Kanye has in common with Nebuchadnezzar, who was famously dismissive of those who stood against him and retaliated against his perceived enemies with violence. "There will be a time where I am president of the United States, and I will remember, I will forgive, but I will remember, any founder that didn't have the capacity to understand what we were doing," West told Zane Lowe. "Interesting tone though," Lowe responded with a laugh, "it's sort of like a threatening hybrid." West's smile quickly turned into a grimace. "What? I'm supposed to forget?"

The opera is set to premiere at the Hollywood Bowl on November 24.

Kanye West

By Ovidiu Hrubaru

Kanye West has finally deigned to release his long awaited new album, Jesus is King.

After multiple missed release dates and increasingly bizarre tweets and statements from the MAGA hat-wearing husband of Kim Kardashian, fans got an album that, while entertaining, is nothing new. Sure, it's radically different from anything Kanye has released in the past, and while it has its moments (if you can overlook the often off-putting preachy content of the album) it's a pretty classically-styled gospel album. But Kanye wouldn't be Kanye if he gave any credit to the icons of the genre whose work undoubtedly influenced "Jesus is King." Instead, Kanye is acting like he invented gospel music.

Instead of streaming "Jesus is King" and giving money and attention to a mentally ill zealot with problematic and damaging opinions, stream these 5 classic gospel albums.

Cold World by Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens

Naomi Shelton has been singing gospel music since the 1950s, and this album makes it clear she's an authority on the genre. "Bound for the Promised Land" is a stirring, ultimately hopeful look at the state of the world.

MUSIC

Supa Bwe, Chance the Rapper and Kanye’s New Song “Rememory” Might be a Tribute to Toni Morrison

The term "rememory" was actually coined by Morrison in her 1988 novel Beloved.

Photo by Nate Isaac on Unsplash

Supa Bwe and Chance the Rapper's new track, "Rememory (Just Say Thank You)" has arrived just in time for summer.

Infused with Chance's characteristically infectious joy, it layers repetitive lyrics over a chilled-out beat in a buoyant tribute to nostalgia and good times.

"Rememory" is one of the tracks on Supa Bwe's Just Say Thank You EP, released today on EMPIRE. The two artists have worked together before—Chance added his voice to Supa's "Fool It With Freestyle" in 2016, and Supa Bwe appeared on Chance's "Wala Cam" last year.

According to its press release, "Rememory" was produced by members of Chance's backing band, and it was arranged by Kanye West himself. Back in 2018, Chance said he and Kanye were working on a full-length album together, and the project was even discussed in Chance's feature on Life of Pablo's "Ultralight Beam." Still, as of now, there's no evidence that Chance's upcoming release—dropping this July—is a Yeezy collaboration.

Ultralight Beamwww.youtube.com

The two hip hop titans did come together to create this song, though, a promising sign for anyone still holding out hope for a long-form collab. "Rememory" is classic Chance, enhanced by Kanye's talent for crafting euphoric anthems.

It's also not the first song Chance has released called "Rememory." In 2016, his band Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment released a track with the same name. That one is significantly darker, telling the story of a man whose wife took her kids away in a car, leaving him alone with his sins and a court date.

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Rememory (Lyrics) (High Quality)www.youtube.com

The phrase "rememory" itself comes from an even deeper place—it was actually coined by none other than Toni Morrison, in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved. In that book, the term describes a process of re-constructing the past in order to live with the ghosts of old traumas. Morrison's work has been incorporated by other rappers before; she's even been cited as a major inspiration by frequent Chance collaborator Noname, suggesting a possible connection.

Regardless of its origins, 2019's "Rememory" seems poised to become the song of the summer, designed for anyone who's looking to move forward into the future without forgetting the past.


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.


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