Looks like it has been confirmed that Kanye West’s 2013 album was not originally named Yeezus. According to Complex, Genius has pointed out that Donda’s former art director recently shared visuals for the rapper’s 2013 album. Of the posts, one included an early design that was similar to the final Yeezus artwork, but contained another title — Thank God for Drugs.
Joe Perez, who has also done artwork for the likes of Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and Pusha-T confirmed the then-potential cover, which featured art by George Condo, who previously collaborated with Kanye. Condo is also responsible for Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy covers, with creative direction by Virgil Abloh, according to Complex.
Perez shared the image on his Instagram page for his design work, which had a caption that said, “3.2.2013 – Pre-Yeezus gif concepts – Round 2. Before naming the album Yeezus, the title was “Thank God For Drugs” and featured artwork by @artistgeorgecondo Creative Direction for Donda: @virgilabloh.”
Genius also cited a post from the KanyeToThe forum from seven years ago, where a user claimed that Kanye’s sixth album would either be called Thank God for Drugs or Black American Psycho.
Things have shifted for Kanye over the years, as he recently released his Jesus Is King and Jesus Is Born albums. Kanye’s long-awaited Jesus Is King album was released on Oct. 25, 2019. The follow-up, Jesus Is Born – which was his Sunday Service album, was released on Christmas Day.
A press release for the West-executive produced album said, “The Service features gospel-inspired remixes of classic songs of different genres, and also straight forward choir-led gospel tunes. The mix of hip hop and spirituality has drawn great crowds and continues to inspire globally.”
Kanye took to Twitter on Dec. 25, 2019 to release the link for the album.
Check out the artwork for the Thank God for Drugs album below.