Photo courtesy of Worth Ink Public Relations
Marvin Sapp is one of the biggest gospel artists of this generation, and he has the discography to back up that claim. That means he’s able to voice his opinions on artists he thinks are really gospel, and others who are not.
During a recent interview with Vlad TV, Sapp spoke about Ye West, and how he’s felt about his attempt to get into the spiritual realm. In 2021, West won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album, and Sapp wasn’t happy about it.
“Do I think it’s fair? Now that I think about it, it’s not,” Sapp said. “What happens is, it ends up eclipsing those of us who really do this for the genre and as a lifestyle.”
West has released a number of gospel-themed songs over the years, including an album. He also used to hold Sunday Service, where a choir and musicians performed music that included nontraditional hymns.
“It’s kind of wrong for me to say it like this, but I’ve been nominated for everything,” Sapp said. “I’ve won more awards than most people will ever win. So I’m cool with that. Maybe I’m cool with it because I’m looking at it differently, but I can absolutely sympathize with up-and-coming artists when you look at Billboard and Kanye’s whole record is like 1-40 of our genre.”
Sapp said the reason West was accepted into the gospel culture was because if not, the genre would look like it’s not practicing Christian values.
“Just because you do a gospel song doesn’t make you a gospel artist,” Sapp said.
