Kanye West Debuts New Album 'Jesus Is King' at Detroit Event

Kanye West
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According to West's wife, Kim Kardashian, the album will officially be dropping on Sunday.

Kanye West's long-awaited album is almost here.

After teasing fans for months, the rapper debuted Jesus Is King, his first gospel LP, on Friday night during his Jesus Is King: A Kanye West Experience at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

The 12-track album reportedly includes the previously released track "Water," which Kanye debuted during his Coachella Sunday Service in April, as well as "Follow God," "New Body," "Up From the Ashes," "Sunday" and more.

The Chicago native's wife, Kim Kardashian West, had previously shared the track list in August, and shared an updated version to her Instagram story on Friday. She also confirmed to ET earlier this month that the album would be filled with gospel songs.

Following the event, Kim took to her Instagram story again to announce that Jesus Is King will officially be dropping on Sunday. "Kanye's doing a listening session in Chicago tomorrow, then NYC Sunday," she wrote, alongside a "prayer hands" emoji. "He's dropping the album Sunday. Just a few final tweaks to the mixes."

Instagram

However, fans in Detroit -- who had to surrender their phones during the secretive event -- got to listen to the album, as well as screen a clip from Kanye's upcoming IMAX documentary, Jesus Is Lord. Kim shared video of the fans getting excited when her husband came out.

The rapper and producer also dropped Jesus Is King merchandise on his website, which included shirts, sweaters and more.

It was an eventful day for the West-Kardashian family. The rapper held a special Sunday Service in Detroit on Friday afternoon at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre overlooking the Detroit River.  An eyewitness tells ET that the service was supposed to start around 12 p.m. ET, but didn't end up starting until around 1:45 p.m. ET, and lasted until 3 p.m.

The eyewitness notes that Kanye was in great spirits the entire afternoon. A second eyewitness tells ET that Kanye seemed very "present" and rapped an alternate verse to "Father, Stretch My Hands," and at the end, he did some live beat-making. Other than that, Kanye walked around the stage with his hoodie up, almost unrecognizable within the choir, or was with his family near the side of the stage. There was no mention of his upcoming album.

"It was so nice to see Kanye take a step back and just let the beauty of the performance play out,” the first eyewitness tells ET. "I assumed he would take over and make it all about him, but it truly wasn’t."

Kim and two of the couple's kids, North and Saint, were in attendance. Kim and Kanye were very engaged with their daughter and son, following them around and playing with them almost the entire time, according to one eyewitness. When Kanye wasn't on stage, he would walk to the side to take a break and play with them. The mother of four shared video on her Instagram Story of her eldest daughter singing along to the service.

Meanwhile, the source tells ET, that after the service, Kanye and his family quickly exited the venue and were escorted out with a police motorcade. Kanye did not stop for autographs.

For more on Kanye, watch below.

Reporting by Cassie DiLaura.

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