Kanye West Brings a Full Choir, Performs "Jesus Walks" for an Airborne Carpool Karaoke
During the appearance, the rapper said he and Kim Kardashian West have discussed having seven children—and seemed to imply that his spiritual awakening fixed his debt problems.
By Laura Bradley
Last Friday Kanye West finally debuted his long-awaited, frequently delayed new album, Jesus Is King—so on Monday night he took a Kanye West–style victory lap on The Late Late Show, joining James Corden for a retooled Carpool Karaoke that found the two airborne in a plane. While it stands to reason that the rapper and the late-night host do not frequently fly coach, they did in this case—because, as viewers soon found out, they were seated among a full choir that provided the backup vocals for West's performances.
The gambit was clear from the beginning when Corden "missed his flight," which happened to be numbered 808. The choir performed various songs with West, but longtime fans will likely be most excited to hear the group's rendition of "Jesus Walks," from his 2004 album College Dropout. The full segment is astoundingly long, even by Carpool Karaoke standards, clocking in at nearly 20 minutes.
The real attraction for most viewers, though, might simply be to watch West talk and see what on earth might come out of his mouth. Over the years, and particularly recently, the rapper's reputation has largely been characterized by his unpredictability. For years he courted controversy by voicing support for Donald Trump and wandering around wearing a Make America Great Again hat. 2018 was a particularly rough year for West, who had a meltdown on TMZ that spring and later went on a strange pro-Trump rant on Saturday Night Live that fall. All of this followed his revelation in 2016 that he was $53 million in debt. On Carpool Karaoke, however, West credited his spiritual awakening with solving a lot of his issues—including, it seems, his financial woes.
"God is using me as a human being—you know, as humbly as I can put it, he's using me to show off," West told Corden. "Last year I made $115 million and still ended up $35 million in debt. This year I looked up and I just got $68 million returned to me on my tax returns! And people say, 'Oh, don't talk about these numbers.' No, people need to hear someone that had been put into debt by the system talk about these kinds of numbers now that they're in service to Christ."
Corden replied, "So you think your awakening, your spiritual awakening, is part of—"
"My success," West concluded. "Absolutely. He's showing off. He's just showing out."
But the most jarring moment came a few minutes later, when the two discussed having more children. Corden, who has three children, asked West if he would recommend having a fourth, as West and Kim Kardashian West did. The rapper answered in the affirmative—and then claimed that he and Kardashian West have discussed having three more children. That might strike some who observe the couple closely as strange, given that Kardashian West said just months ago that she does not want to have more.
"The richest thing that you can have is as many children as possible," West told Corden.
"So are you saying you would roll for a fifth?" Corden asked.
"For seven," West replied.
"Shut up! You want seven kids. And have you and Kim talked about this? This is something that you'd like to do?" Corden said. When West confirmed this once more, the comedian concluded, "I need to talk to my wife."
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