The brand’s intermingling of pop culture topics with more intellectual themes is mirrored in the 2006 cover entitled “The Passion of Kanye West.” Allusions to Esquire magazine’s cover of Muhammad Ali portrayed as the martyred Saint Sebastian are clear, especially with that piece’s name being “The Passion of Muhammad Ali.” Kanye himself may be analyzed through the circuit of culture, wherein he himself indicated that in his person was a brand to be marketed. Whereas Muhammad Ali’s cover on Esquire was in reference to his crucifixion in the public eye for his protest against being drafted into the Vietnam War, the reasons for West’s appropriation of the concept are more complicated. Themes such as religious commodification, racial issues, the power of symbolism, and the delivering of both to the wider public through mass media will be covered further in our analysis.

Karl Marx posited that “economic realities determine all human behaviour” (Klassen 13). Kanye West’s appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone is a provocative image that embodies a complicated commodifying of religion and an intersection of religion and popular culture.

Appearing on the cover of a famous magazine in the guise of Christ, provides West with an opportunity to continue the mingling of religion and rap music he has become known for, but it also presents him in a provocative and potentially inflammatory manner. According to Forbes: “Popular culture and traditional religion function in similar ways, providing meaning and helping people cope with life’s problems” (Forbes 15). The use of religious iconography serves to gain the attention of a larger audience because it is provocative and somewhat disconcerting. Whether the public loves or hates his depiction, West gains attention and notoriety. He utilizes whatever means are available to him to remain in the public eye and to gain further popularity and ultimately to make more money. These means have included the use of religious imagery and symbolism in his music and appearance as well as indicating that he may run for President of the United States in 2020. This behaviour only increases his strong presence. West’s choice to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, further illustrates Rolling Stone’s ability to reach a wide audience and while developing a complex and sometimes controversial reputation as a magazine that mingles entertainment with policy and popular culture.

Clarence X taught that all Black men were God (Klassen, 127). Kanye’s presentation of himself as a Christ figure is a bastardization of Clarence X’s teachings because Kanye knows he is not a god, and he has acknowledged that his end goal is to win Grammy awards and become more famous. Kanye’s end goal is not so much to self-deify as to increase his own personal brand, he has utilized religious iconography to further increase his popularity.

By presenting himself as Jesus, Kanye is depicted as a “triumphant martyr who…ushers in a new religion and new age” (Tinajero, 319). In fact, Kanye West has inspired a new religion called Yeezianity where he is described as a “divine being” (Yeezianity 2015). Yeezianity has a dogma, 5 pillars, a declaration of faith and even a golden rule: “create for others what you would have created for yourself”, all of which can be found on yezzianity.com. Klassen says in his book that, “the way fans revere superstars such as Elvis or Lady Gaga looks very similar in some cases, to how Catholics revere saints” (Klassen 25); West heightens his already superstar celebrity status by appearing as Jesus on this cover. Weinstein says in her article: “celebrity worship is a substitute for traditional faith that satisfies spiritual needs that persist after the latter has declined” (Weinstein 295), this is likely why some people have adopted “Yeezianity” as their religion, because traditional faith has declined in our society. People find solace in popular culture due to its constant presence. Putting faith in something or someone you can see, in this case Kanye West, is easier for some people than believing in an omniscient but invisible God. Weinstein says something similar in her article, “the primary motives for celebrity worship are based on needs and deficits of the individual self-related to coping with an all-embracing world that seems to provide no breakthrough to transcendence” (Weinstein 300). For many people, believing in something they cannot see is not possible for them, so treating popular culture as religion and viewing pop stars as religious icons is simply easier.

In her chapter on Consuming Faith in Religion and Popular Culture, Santana states that “desire for a product is not entirely unlike desire for God’s love” (Santana, 54 in RPC). By posing as Christ, Kanye West is tapping into people’s desire for God’s love and for something to believe in. This is a change from his song Jesus Walks wherein Kanye states “if I talk about God my record won’t get played”. Kanye West has successfully commodified religion to his own purpose within a space where he is able to represent himself as a God and a black man who has suffered racism as well as abuse, in a form that develops fame and attention.

West’s self-promotion as a spiritual figure is therefore a very strategic marketing decision, he has built his career through the commodification of African American suffering and racism. In the accompanying article in Rolling Stone, West states “my misery is your pleasure”. Through the image of West as Christ, he is co-opting religion in order to increase his notoriety and tap into the desire of people in society to have something/someone to believe in. Robert Tinajero, in his article Hip Hop and Religion: Gangsta Rap’s Christian Rhetoric discusses how rappers use the medium of their music to express the “experience of economic and social marginalization and suffering, which often highlights the suffering Jesus Christ” (Tinajero, 318). Kanye reminds the public that despite his social status, he still experiences “broke nigga racism” and “rich nigga racism” (Miller) indicating that even though he is rich and famous, he has still experienced bigotry. He posits that he is using his star status and his musical expression to challenge this bigotry and is aligning himself with a suffering Christ figure to further illustrate Yeezanity. Kanye presents himself in this form in order to identify himself with a suffering figure. This enables him to draw a parallel between himself and many African American fans that have lived lives full of discrimination and challenge, therefore gaining an understanding of a life of suffering and intolerance.

As Forbes states in Religion and Popular Culture in America, “The popularity of a given cultural element (object, person or event) is directly proportional to the degree to which that element is reflective of audience beliefs and values” (Forbes, 5). By choosing to present himself as a Christ figure, Kanye West is provoking a reaction from his audience. His intentions are likely complicated but the result is the same — notoriety, attention and fame. Kanye has commodified religion to serve his own career.