From his 2004 hit ‘Jesus Walks’ to barking “I am a God” on both last year’s Yeezus (on the track of the same name) and to any media that’d listen, Kanye West has always had a fascination with religion.
Now some particularly ravenous acolytes have a fascination with Kanye West, taking the hip hop star’s message rather literally in the founding of their own religion: Yeezianity.
Founded in mid-December, the official website for the unofficial Church of Kanye West preaches “we are an anonymous group who believes that the one who calls himself Yeezus is a divine being who has been sent by God to usher in a New Age of humanity.”
To become a member of Yeezianity (a Yeezuite?) you simply have to follow the beliefs and principles of the Kanye faith by hollering a few ‘Faith be in Yeezus’es and by following what the group calls the ‘5 Pillars’, which aren’t hip hop lyrics, but in fact five simple ways of living that are as follows:
1. All things created must be for the good of all
2. No human being’s right to express themselves must ever be repressed
3. Money is unnecessary except as a means of exchange
4. Man possesses the power to create everything he wants and needs
5. All human suffering exists to stimulate the creative powers of Man
It might seem like an a humorous ruse to disguise an elaborate scam, an established religion attempting to ride the coat-tails of popular culture, or even West himself creating the craziest kind of viral marketing ever, but according to its anonymous founder, Yeezianity is a very real, and dead serious, movement.
In an interview with VICE, that’s almost as quote-worthy and batty as Kanye West’s own highly publicised BBC interviews, the Yeezianity founder explains “I believe in what it is, and that’s real. But is there a real organized religion behind it? There is not.”
It seem like a ridiculous notion, but before you write off the guy as a nut looking for five minutes of social media fame, the Yeezianity progenitor says he admits that the whole thing is utterly absurd but that’s what only makes it more interesting. “Steve Jobs is dead. Walt Disney is dead. Most of the great creative geniuses of the 20th century are dead… So right now, I feel like Kanye is the man.”
A former philosophy major and artist, who wishes to remain anonymous (“I don’t want to compromise that by putting my artist name on it.”), the Yeezianity creator actually comes off looking less like a religious zealot and more like a cultural theologist, with Tone Deaf reader’s official 2013 Wanker of the Year as the catalyst.
“Jesus has all this baggage and all these connotations, and Yeezus is this new thing – and that’s why I say in the ‘Our Saviour’ part of the site,” he tells VICE. “Because Yeezus is when Kanye elevates to that God-level, which I feel like we all have the potential to do,” he explains.
“That’s why if it takes off, in the future, people would forget Kanye and his antics, and instead focus on what the message is.” The message being: “He’s a god. You’re a god. Why Yeezus is the figure is because Kanye is the one who believes that the hardest, so that’s why he’s the model for behavior.” “Yeezus is when Kanye elevates to that God-level, which I feel like we all have the potential to do.”
Not exclusively the rapper’s controversial award show-stealing, tantrum-throwing persona but Yeezianity looks upon Kanye’s efforts as a kind of modern day self-empowerment.
“He is the most honest person in our culture. He has the highest moral standards and highest integrity… He changed the whole fashion consciousness of black America, and he’s still working on that. And he’s still trying to open up the doors of what a creative person and entertainer can do,” says the Yeezianity founder.
“Steve Jobs is dead. Walt Disney is dead. Most of the great creative geniuses of the 20th century are dead, or in a senile state. So right now, I feel like he is the man, and he’s done it in a way that I’ve been directly exposed to it.”
The best part of all this? That Kanye West has yet to actually learn about the Yeezianity faith. But you can bet when he does, it’s going to be more entertaining than the second coming.
If you’d like to begin preaching the Gospel of Kanye, you can head to http://yeezianity.com/ and read the full VICE interview with its founder here.
