Before he began to really follow God, Kanye West originally wanted his album Yeezus to have a different name… Thank God for Drugs.
The sixth album from Mr. West was already a masterpiece in self-obsessed hubris, and now we have more details showing the true depths of its debauchery.
Kanye West’s head of art development at his creative company DONDA, Joe Perez, confirmed in an Instagram post the original working title of Yeezus.
The head of art development at West’s creative company DONDA (named after his mother), Joe Perez, posted a loose concept photo for the 2013 album. Just like the cover now, the test design features the same barebones jewel CD case. However, it now has Thank God For Drugs scrawled across the top.
The caption reads, “Pre-Yeezus gif concepts – Round 2. Before naming the album Yeezus, the title was ‘Thank God For Drugs.'” 7 years ago, a user on kanyetothe.com teased that the title of West’s upcoming album would be either Black American Psycho or Thank God For Drugs. Now we have definitive proof.
Yeezus still remains one of Kanye’s most confounding works. With many either hailing it as his biggest failure or his greatest achievement. Personally, it was the album that introduced me to the world of K. West and holds up to this day as a monolithic achievement.
However, with Kanye now on a path of making non-secular material, we miss the days of the confrontational, disarming and abrasive genius. If only we could go back to 2013 when the world was a little simpler. Thank god for Kanye West, but why did God have to take him away from his creative winning streak? We may never know.
