Jesus Is King 2, the follow-up to Kanye West’s 2019 gospel album, has leaked, according to a report from Variety. The record, created in collaboration with Dr. Dre, surfaced online, featuring remixes of songs that originally appeared on Jesus Is King and new verses from 2 Chainz, Snoop Dogg, A$AP Ferg, Pusha T, Marsha Ambrosius, and more.
The 15-song record wasn’t completely locked away prior to this leak. The Eminem-assisted “Use This Gospel,” for example, appeared on DJ Khaled’s 2022 album God Did. New versions of “Closed on Sunday” and “Hands On” from the original tracklist recruit Anderson .Paak and Travis Scott for appearances, respectively.
West initially hinted at following up Jesus Is King in November 2019 when he tweeted: “Ye and Dre Jesus is King Part II coming soon.”
He added: “Jesus Is King is my first clean album,” he said. “I used to spend all my time trying to make my beats be mixed as good as Dr. Dre. Who knew all I had to do was do an album for God and then Dr. Dre would start mixing my beats? Spend your time on God, and he’ll handle the rest.”
Needless to say, the sequel to the 11-track project never arrived. The rapper’s most recent album, Donda, was released in 2021. In February 2022, he previewed music from Donda 2 at a listening event, but those songs were only ever released on his Stem Player.
Shortly after, West began essentially dismantling his entire legacy with anti-semitic rhetoric and hostile work environments across various sectors of his career. In addition to the termination of multiple business deals, the rapper was left without a record label or publishing deal following the conclusion of his contracts with Universal Music Group and Sony.
The closest we’ve come to a musical release from the rapper since is someone else’s album entirely. Earlier this year, Travis Scott released the long-awaited Astroworld follow-up Utopia. Online, listeners pointed out similarities that tracks on the record shared with leaks and releases dating as far back as the Yeezus sessions.
Earlier this month, West filed a lawsuit against the person or people behind an account that is allegedly responsible for leaking several of his songs this year. In a complaint filed on his behalf, the rapper accused a group of people who acquired and posted his music without the permission of breaching a contract agreement and committing trade secret misappropriation.
The leaks included songs titled “Shy Can’t Look,” “NASDAQ,” “We Did It Kid,” “Mr. Miyagi,” as well as a collaboration with DJ Khaled. The lawsuit claimed that West “has suffered significant financial losses and damages as a direct result of the defendants’ actions,” but adds that the true names and capacities of the accused leakers are unknown. The source of the Jesus Is King 2 leak is similarly mysterious.
A rep for Dre did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.