The True Meaning Behind 'God Breathed' By Kanye West

Like professional wrestlers changing personas, Kanye West has gone full-force with his religious era after a decade-and-a-half of progressive rap. Fanatical and uncompromising in his ways, the rapper made the shift toward spiritual themes in 2019 with his "Jesus Is King" record and the introduction of his Sunday Service Choir. Now, with the August release of "Donda" (named after his late mother), Kanye seems to have found the middle ground between spirituality and the avant-garde nature that made his art so unique in the first place.

Amidst a sea of nearly 30 tracks (and a runtime of almost two hours!), there is plenty to unpack within the gospel-infused rap affair. We've taken a look at "Lord I Need You," "Keep My Spirit Alive, and "Ok Ok," and while there are more tracks that certainly need disseminating, one that we really need to talk about — in this very moment — is the third track on the project, "God Breathed."

A colossal mishmash of sounds that takes so many twists and turns (one that even fans of tech death wizards Gorguts and Car Bomb can appreciate), "God Breathed" is a glitchy-yet-minimalist rap chaosphere that sits snugly within the hefty "Donda" tracklist. It's not a party song, it's not a turn-up song — it's a sonic challenge that invites listeners to peer into the window of Ye's mind and see what's really going on in there. So, really, what is going on on "God Breathed?" Read on to find out!

Out of all of Kanye West's religious-themed tracks on "Donda," "God Breathed" truly stands above the rest. With a minimal instrumental running in the back, Kanye delivers his words like a pastor giving a sermon (most likely his intention). The track begins with a four-bar repetition of "I know God breathed on this," which Genius notes is possibly a reference to 2 Timothy 3:16. In the epistle, it is noted that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

It is in this that we see how Kanye could've possibly used the scripture to influence his songwriting on "God Breathed." With bars like "Before the sons and the daughters / Before the sun and the water / More than I can say for you / But the truth still for you / Once I saw what the Lord do / God, the Son, all the glory," Ye goes all out in his praise for the man upstairs, implying that life's truths emanate from God himself while also advocating for those to follow in his spiritual footsteps.

Kanye also tells listeners, "God will solve it all for me / Trust man, he a failure / Trust, and God'll heal ya,'" — demonstrating that God is the answer to all of life's shortcomings and that putting your trust in mankind is often fruitless and futile (in his opinion).

Kanye West's "God Breathed" also includes a feature from rising star Vory. The young rapper — who co-wrote Bryson Tiller's "Don't" and even nabbed a Grammy for his work on Jay-Z and Beyoncé's "Everything is Love" (per All Music) — laments about the devil's attempts to infiltrate his life, all to no avail thanks to his belief in God. "Devil on my shoulders, I can't let 'em breathe / Brush 'em off my sleeve, I'm filled with memories," Vory says in the beginning of his verse (via Genius), proving that he is able to use the power of memory and spirituality to fend off evil forces. This is further solidified when the rapper states, "I know there's an angel watchin' over me."

Vory later pits good versus evil when he paints the picture of, "Okay, okay, Devil's talkin' to me, angel's talkin' to me / But Angels start to tell me, 'It's okay to not feel okay.'" There essentially lies an element of Kanye speaking through Vory here, as Ye has undergone well-documented mental health struggles (he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, per CNN, especially after the death of his mother Donda. This theory is further cemented when Vory follows up with, "I know that you'd be proud if you was here today / But it's okay 'cause I'm okay" — per Genius, a heartfelt gesture to Ye's late mother through his spiritual messenger, Vory.