Kid Rock has seen the light and is ready to proclaim “Jesus Is King.” The rapper-turned-rocker-turned-country-now-Christian singer begs for forgiveness for all his blasphemy on the collection’s Bob Seger-coded gospel rock first single “James 1:17 (Jesus Is King),” the first salvo from the singer’s upcoming Christian music album, Halfway to Jesus.
Rock announced the 17-track album on Thursday (Oct. 1), revealing that it features a collaboration with fellow Detroit MC Eminem on “7 Sins,” as well as help from Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox and Jimmie Allen on the title track. The collection, due out on Oct. 17, appears to find Rock fully embracing his religious side on songs titled “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus,” “Water Into Wine,” “Me and Jesus,” “God Is Good,” “High Road” and what appears to be a cover of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” to close the set.
The cover leaves little to interpret, as it depicts Rock (born Robert James Ritchie) literally halfway up a mountain on his journey to reach a glowing crucifix, with the devil hot on his heels. In an X video promoting the album, Rock solemnly recited the gospel rock single’s lyrics about redemption and salvation, intoning, “I have wandered through the ages/ And flipped through all your pages/ Every stage of life I’ve gone through/ I’ve refused to compromise.”
At one point in the official music video, Rock appears to be bathed in a holy light and raptured up to heaven, only to be deposited back on stage in his Tupac T-shirt fronting a rock band featuring a gospel choir.
According to Complex — which said it obtained a sneak peek at the album’s forward, in which Rock explains the idea behind his latest collab with Eminem — the team-up is about finding common ground in a desperately divided nation. “I’m proud of the guests who joined me, especially my old friend Eminem,” Rock reportedly writes. “His verse speaks to something we’ve talked about and that really needs to be heard: we differ politically and on other things, but we’ve stayed friends through it all. We hope that sets an example for people who’ve lost friends or stopped talking to family because they think differently.”
Rock and Eminem have teamed up before, including on the not-so-holy “F–k Off” from Rock’s fourth studio album, 1998’s Devil Without a Cause, as well as on the remix to Trick-Trick’s 2013 “From tha D”; Rock also made a cameo in Eminem’s 2013′ “Berzerk” video.
Back in August, Rock told Fox & Friends why he was making a pivot to from raising hell to raising the roof, explaining, “It’s kind of this spiritual journey I’ve been on and I’ve had a calling through James 1:17,” he said. “My middle name being James and 1/17 my birthday. I looked up that passage a while back and it’s all good things basically come from God.”
Though he’s not talked about his faith much in the past, Rock added, “Growing up Catholic and going to Catholic church, I was always like, ‘I have to confess this is boring. This music’s terrible.’ So I’d go to Baptist churches and non-denominals just looking for the music that I wanted to hear and there’s some good stuff, but it was always a little bit of this dark place. So I decided to write the songs that I kind of wanted to celebrate Jesus and my faith with, which are rock and roll, country, hip-hop.”
Check out the “James 1:17 (Jesus Is King)” video below.
