Kanye West once considered quitting rap and even confided in his pastor about it.
In a new interview, Kanye West’s pastor, Adam Tyson, told Christian media outlet Apologia Studios that Kanye was done with rap because the rapper considered the genre to be “the devil’s music.”
Tyson said: “One time, he told me that he wasn’t going to rap. I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘That’s the devil’s music.’ I said, ‘Hey, man. Rap is a genre. You can rap for God.’ I think he was already thinking about it a little bit, but I definitely said, ‘Hey, bro. I think you need to use your talents that God’s given you and use that platform for God.'”
Kanye started attending Tyson’s church, Placerita Bible Church in California, back in May. Tyson says Kanye reached out to speak with him.
“[Kanye] said, ‘About five weeks ago, I got radically saved,'” Tyson explained. “He just started telling me a little about his testimony.”
He said Kanye told him that he’d been feeling the guilt of sin that comes with being a superstar and the temptations of the music industry.
“The guilt of sin brought him down low,” the pastor said. “He would say the devil basically brought him to a place where he just felt like he was in bondage to his sin. So he said, ‘I got delivered.'”
Kanye confirmed that he recently converted to Christianity.
He said during a listening session in Washington, D.C. last week: ” I am a recent convert. It means I recently got saved within this year.”
Kanye’s next album, Jesus is King, will be released on October 25.
Watch Kanye West’s pastor, Adam Tyson make the claim.
