Kanye West’s ongoing attempts to become his generation’s Johnny Cash—albeit with more emphasis on designing clunky-looking shoes, and way worse taste in hats—continued apace this week, as West performed two shows in prisons in Houston on Friday night. West arranged the secret shows through jail officials at the men’s and women’s correctional facilities, who presumably determined that West’s decision to only play songs off of Jesus Is King constituted a significant enough degree of punishment to allow the plan go through. (We kid, but c’mon, Kanye: You really can’t bust out a little “Power” for someone doing hard time?)
West performed songs from the album alongside a gospel choir, in keeping with his new public persona as God’s Good Rapping Man. On a similar tip, he’s planning to appear at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood megachurch on Sunday, which makes sense, because Joel Osteen is absolutely the Kanye West of modern-day televangelists. West will appear for two services, one in the morning, and one at night, with the first being built around an interview with Osteen, and the second seeing West and his choir play more music off of Jesus Is King. And while tickets for both shows/services are free, TMZ is reporting that it hasn’t stopped scalpers from trying to scoop them up and sell them back to the Kanye/Christ faithful. Which, hey: Maybe West really is doing the Lord’s work, getting people interested in religion again; we’re not sure what the Bible’s stance on the secondary ticket market actually is, but you could probably spin it as these particular tickets being economically born again.