Music

Detroit Music Historian Decodes Kanye West’s ‘Jesus is King’ Artwork

Ben Blackwell, a co-founder of Third Man Records, connected the dots between Kanye West and Rubye Shelton.

Artists with cult followings have regularly left easter eggs in the details of their anticipated releases.

On Friday Ben Blackwell, co-founder of Jack White’s record label Third Man Records, uncovered one of Kanye West‘s latest. Blackwell discovered that the “AR 1331 A” sequence on Jesus is King’s artwork matches the pressing plant code assigned by Archer Records to a 1970 gospel single.

READ: Kanye West’s Sunday Service — a Religious Experience or a Celebrity Cult?

The A-side of the single features two tracks from Rubye Shelton: “I Want the World to Know Jesus” and “God’s Going to Destroy This Nation.” Blackwell gave a statement to Pitchfork, saying “I knew the past decade spent in the deepest, loneliest recesses of Archer Record Pressing nerd-dom would eventually lead me to the biggest recording artist in the world. But enough about Jack White…who is this Kanye guy?”

H/T: Pitchfork

Torry Threadcraft

Torry Threadcraft is a writer who covers music, sports, and culture. You can find his daily ramblings and culinary takes at @dreadcraft.

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