WATCH: Kanye brings 'Yeaster' #SundayService to #Coachella

Rapper Kanye West Picture: AP/African News Agency (ANA)

Rapper Kanye West Picture: AP/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 22, 2019

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Indio, California  - After a Saturday at Coachella capped

by an after-midnight cameo at Gucci Mane's Sahara tent set, rapper

Kanye West awakened early - or, just as likely, never went to bed -

to celebrate Easter with a Sunday service.

In recent months the chart-topping artist had been leading family

friends and celebrities in a closely guarded, weekly

gospel-music-focused spiritual service at the Calabasas home he

shares with his wife, Kim Kardashian, and their children.

Sunday's public Coachella version, which was also live-streamed, was

the first morning performance in the festival's 20-year history, and

West made the most of it. With a 100-singer-strong gospel choir, a

band with a dozen percussionists, a harpist, bassist, the occasional

Roland beatbox, and, most important, a church organ, the

controversial artist celebrated Jesus' resurrection with a full-on

gospel celebration.

Thousands of Coachella attendees, including celebrities Childish

Gambino, Jaden and Willow Smith, Idris Elba, Lizzo and the entire

Kardashian clan, set their alarms for West's "Yeaster" service, a

testament to his continued creative vibrancy and tabloid star power.

. @DMX preaching at Kanye West’s #SundayService🙏🏽 #Coachella pic.twitter.com/cENZrks8ok

— Big Boy (@BigBoy) April 21, 2019

"If it wasn't for Kanye, I don't think anyone would be here this

early," said Kyle Garcia of Chino Hills. He saw West at the Sahara

tent eight hours earlier, and rather than go to sleep he just stayed

up.

The artist, who last year in a meeting with President Donald Trump

wore a Make American Great Again hat while telling him that it "made

me feel like Superman," didn't utter the president's name on Sunday.

Rather, he, a preacher, singers and dancers renewed their allegiance

to Jesus with a fervent display of worship.

"I didn't see it coming," Taylor Scott, 25, said. "I was prepared to

put Easter on the back burner for Coachella, but Kanye kind of

brought it here."

Even skeptics know that West's turn toward God isn't manufactured.

He's long wrestled with religion and sought solace in spirituality,

most famously in 2004's "Jesus Walks," which he exuberantly performed

near the end of the service.

Dope moment when @KanyeWest performed his classic hit 'All Falls Down' on top of the mountain live at #Coachella #SundayService pic.twitter.com/JUQ9msSwfe

— GDE (@GlobalDanceElec) April 21, 2019

As he told Vibe magazine in 2009, "I just think God has put me in a

really good space. And I think he has a mission for me. There's gonna

be ups and downs. But it's something that he wants me to deliver to

the world."

On Sunday, he did it while perched atop a two-tiered, sod-covered

mound and surrounded by a drum circle. Across more than two hours,

the band worked atop the hill as dozens of singers danced and moved

in circles around them, overtaken by the musical spirit.

Reborn live at Coachella - Kanye West and Kid Cudi pic.twitter.com/E3LphteVXj

— (Charlie Heat Version) (@YESEEGHOSTS) April 21, 2019

Near the conclusion, fellow Chicago rapper-entrepreneur Chance the

Rapper ascended the mound to perform "Ultralight Beam," a glorious

celebration of life that seemed to lift the emotions of the

well-traveled visitors.

Scott said she was feeling a little guilty for missing her Easter

program back home in LA. Waiting in a long line to buy exclusive

"Sunday Service" West merchandise, she found it "crazy how he could

bring so many people together, especially on an Easter service."

Calling herself "very religious," Scott said, "I felt bad that I was

going to miss out on a service, but Kanye actually brought it to

Coachella. It's strange to think that that's possible - gospel to

Coachella. But if anybody can do it, it's Kanye."

tca/dpa