Jan 29th, 2020, 12:07 PM

Sunday Service: How to Profit Off of the Black Experience

By Shi-ann James
Black Chorus, Image Credit: Unsplash/Edwin Andrade
Kanye West is Back At It Again

Less than a month into the new year, rapper and producer, Kanye West, is back making headlines. On January 18, 2020, West headlined at a religious festival called Awaken 2020. The festival was held in Tempe, Arizona but the event faced criticism for its featuring of Anti-LGBTQ religious leaders. This news comes just a year after West debuted his small, initially private, concert dubbed "Sunday Service". Living up to its name, the event has been held almost every Sunday for a little over a year now and has gained much attention, praise, and criticism from fans and celebrities alike. While West is not one to hide his religious upbringing, within his lyrics or otherwise, the announcement and beginning of the weekly service were met with apprehension considering his tumultuous year of 2018

West’s wife, Kim Kardashian-West, was the first to showcase the event by using her large social media platforms to upload short clips of the rehearsals and live-stream each service on her Twitter and Instagram accounts. The event itself started out on West’s private property with a few celebrity friends as guests, but transformed into a much larger event: it is still invite-only for the most part. The growingly popular service has crisscrossed the continental United States from Los Angeles to Portland.

By April of 2019, “Sunday Service” had become such a prominent event that dozens, if not hundreds, of people flocked to the, typically remote, location where the service would be held. For many fans these were efforts to catch a glimpse of Yeezy or someone from his star-studded crew.

After West’s surprising endorsement and friendship with Donald Trump that consumed social media in 2018, West suddenly returning to his deeply religious roots came as a shock to many. Growing up in a Black-American church is a very specific experience that has arguably what served as West's claim to fame and to his connection with black audiences. However, his recent political sentiments have left many in the black community disgruntled and frustrated. They feel that his increasingly confusing political ties and audiences are allowing Kanye West to profit off of black culture by exploiting it by packaging it as if it's a spectacle for sale.

This rubs some fans the wrong way, which has been very obviously voiced in the social media sphere. AUP Student, Marissa Stanley, believes that West is “doing it all for self-gain and self-promotion rather than it coming from a place of goodwill.” While others see only West as simply “spreading the word.”

Kim Kardashian-West’s reputation with the POC community doesn’t help matters much either. And it should not be forgotten that for those die-hard fans who manage to keep up with West’s traveling spectacle, they can take home a souvenir from the stands that sell “Church Clothes”. The merchandise includes socks for $50 and sweatshirts for $225. Ignoring its backlash, West now aims to take his service globally with possible stops in Europe and Africa. This announcement came during his first Sunday Service of 2020 at Awaken 2020: The Jesus People event Tempe, Arizona.