Hot off the heels of his “Follow God” video and Nebuchadnezzar opera announcement, Kanye West has revealed what’s next for him—a collaborated sequel to Jesus Is King with none other than Dr. Dre.
“Ye and Dre Jesus is King Part II coming soon,” Kanye wrote on Twitter on Monday afternoon (Nov. 18).
The album will mark the first official collaboration of two of hip hop’s most successful producers / rappers, although they have crossed paths over the years, working in similar circles with Eminem, The Game, JAY-Z and others.
“When I was learning to produce, working in a home studio in my mother’s crib, I tried to make beats that sounded exactly like Timbaland’s, DJ Premier’s, Pete Rock’s and, especially, Dr. Dre’s,” ‘Ye wrote of his affinity for Dre in a Rolling Stone essay. “Dre productions like Tupac’s ‘California Love’ were just so far beyond what I was doing that I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. I had no idea how to get to that point, how to layer all those instruments. The Chronic is still the hip-hop equivalent of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. It’s the benchmark you measure your album against if you’re serious.”
He even admitted to copying Dre’s style on 2001’s “Xxplosive” when he produced “This Can’t Be Life” on JAY-Z’s Dynasty album.
Besides the cryptic message, which Kanye tweeted and Dre shared to Instagram, little else is currently known about the sequel album. Kanye also promised his fans a Sunday Service project called Jesus Is Born, due out this Christmas.
”I will continue to be used by God. I don’t love suffering. No one loves pain but I’m still, through the good times and the suffering, I praise God because I experience the blessings and I also experience the lessons,” he told Zane Lowe when he announced the album during their interview. “I’m just so blessed for everything that I’ve been through… Music is my job that’s why I’m putting out the album. Serving God is my job, that’s why I’m here.”