PAKanye West isn’t exactly known for his modesty, having long made grandiose claims about his creative abilities.
And, as of Sunday, November 17, he has made what could be described as his boldest declaration yet; describing himself as the ‘greatest artist that God ever created’.
Pastor Joel Osteen invited the 42-year-old rapper to speak before the congregation at his Lakewood mega church in Houston, and his speech was as humble as you might expect.
See more of Kanye’s speech in the following clip:
In footage which has been shared by TMZ, West spoke out about how his faith had helped him after he was hospitalised with mental health issues in 2016.
West said:
Now, the greatest artist that God has ever exist- uh, created is now working for Him, I know that God has been calling me for a long time and the Devil has been distracting me for a long time.
And when I was at my lowest point, God was there with me, and sending me visions and inspiring me and I remember sitting in the hospital at UCLA after having a mental breakdown and there’s documentation of me drawing a church and [wanting to] start a church in the middle of Calabasas.
West’s conversion to Christianity has formed a prominent part of his identity in recent years, influencing his music and changing his outlook on life.
PAAddressing the congregation, Kanye also revealed he felt as if he was being pressured to ‘not talk about Jesus so loud’:
So in the studio, and this studio is gonna compare to places that you’re in in life when people tell you to quiet your voice and not talk about Jesus so loud,
But everything else is so loud around us. When I’m in California or when I’m in Vegas, they got posters up advertising sex trafficking, because if there’s and advertisement for a strip club, that is advertising sex trafficking.
So if it’s a man that’s going through things with his family or going through things at work and he feels he has to go there, we all end up participating, whether it’s the spirits that get advertised to us all the time. Alcohol is, they call it a spirit.
PA ImagesHe continued:
So we get constant advertisements for spirits.
We get constant advertisements for strip clubs and other things like that. But then we bring up the name of Jesus, we’re told to be quiet—’Quiet that down.
This latest outpouring of self-congratulatory back patting comes just weeks after West referred to himself as ‘undoubtedly, the greatest human artist of all time’, telling Zane Lowe, ‘It’s not even a question at this point. It’s just a fact’.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.