“God is using me to show off,”
Kanye West has said he believes that the massive tax refund he received this year is a gift from God.
The rapper, who released gospel album ‘Jesus Is King‘ last Friday, told James Corden why he believes that $68 million refund stems directly from him becoming a born-again Christian.
“God is using me to show off,” West told Corden. “Last year I made $115 million and still ended up $35 million in debt. This year I looked up and I just got $68 million returned to me on my tax returns.
“People need to hear [from] someone that has been put into debt by the system, talk about these type of numbers now that they’re in service to Christ.”
In reality, it seems that divine intervention isn’t to thank for the huge sum – it’s instead the result of a tax-break introduced by West’s close friend Donald Trump.
The same appearance with Corden also saw Kanye discussing how his mental breakdown in 2016 prompted his decision to become increasingly spiritual.
“When I went to the hospital a few years ago, I wrote ‘start a church in Calabasas’,” he explained.
“It was something I had a feeling I needed to do that God put on my heart. Now, he keeps on taking me to new levels and taking us to new levels that we didn’t imagine before.
“God’s always had a plan for me and he wanted to use me, but I think he wanted me to suffer more and people to see my suffering and see my pain and put stigmas on me and have me go through all the human experiences.
“So now, when I talk about how Jesus saved me, more people can relate to that experience. If it was just, ‘we grew up with this guy and he’s a superstar’, it’s less compelling than this guy who had a mental breakdown and this guy who was in debt.”
Meanwhile, NME described ‘Jesus Is King’ as a “jubilant gospel collection”.
In a four-star review, Jordan Bassett wrote: “Like many great rock stars before him, Kanye West has cranked up God’s jukebox. ‘Jesus Is King’ lacks his trademark goofball sense of humour, but that’s partly compensated for with warmth and hope for the future.”
Kanye West has also confirmed he plans to take the record on the road “straight away”.
