Kanye’s Former Art Director Says ‘Yeezus’ Was Originally Titled ‘Thank God for Drugs’
Written by SOURCE on January 4, 2020
Joe Perez has seemingly confirmed a longstanding rumor about Yeezus.
As pointed out by Genius, the former Donda art director recently shared visual concepts for Kanye West‘s 2013 project. One of the posts included an early cover design that featured a clear CD case—like the final Yeezus art—but with the title Thank God for Drugs sprawled across the front. Perez, who has also designed for artists like Nick Minaj, Lil Wayne, and Pusha-T, confirmed this specific cover featured art by Ye’s previous collaborator George Condo, the man behind the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy covers, with creative direction by Virgil Abloh.
Genius also pointed to a seven-year-old KTT post, in which a user claimed Kanye’s sixth studio album would be called Thank God for Drugs or Black American Psycho.
Kanye explained the inspiration behind the Yeezus title during its listening party in NYC.
“Simply put, West was my slave name and Yeezus is my god name,” he told the crowd.
G.O.O.D. Music signee Cyhi the Prynce also addressed the title in a 2013 interview with MTV.
“A lot of people don’t know Yeezus if you break it down is: ‘Ye-Is-us,” he said. “I’ll break it down to you because I don’t care. Ye will let you sit there and beat yourself up about it. He ain’t gonna do no interviews. He gonna be like, ‘Yeah it’s Yeezus and that’s what it’s called and y’all gotta deal with it.'”
In addition to the purported Thank God for Drugs cover art, Perez unveiled a poster for the project’s supporting tour, dubbed the “Till Death Do Us Part Tour.”
