March 02, 2015

Conspiracy theories: Kanye's new album

Twitter reveals connections to The Virgin Mary

By Daniel Craig
PhillyVoice Staff

With a figure as polarizing and publicly dissected as Kanye West, you can imagine that anything the rap star does will be carefully picked apart by nearly everyone.

So when West announced the name and cover art for his next studio album, many had their takes on what double meanings are hidden within the upcoming release.

West's new album will be titled "So Help Me God," and features what appears to be four "m's" connected in the shape of a diamond:

So Help Me God pic.twitter.com/e3UUsQQEts
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 1, 2015

Mashable put together some of the more absurd responses on twitter to West's announcement. But amongst some bad jokes and negative reactions was one more interesting theory, submitted by twitter user @LukeYZY:

My #SoHelpMeGod Release Date Theory: pic.twitter.com/KT7udvBMRf
— So Help Me God (@LukeYZY) March 1, 2015

Adding to the theory was twitter user @fabioheinz:

"The artwork is the 13th Century Monastic Symbol of Virgin Mary (Jesus's mother). Only One was written from the perspective of Kanye's mom"
— Dj ℕike Shox (@fabioheinz) March 1, 2015

These supposed connections to The Virgin Mary wouldn't be the first time West has connected themes of Christianity with his music. There's the obvious and the controversial, and the best example of the latter is when West brought out a performer dressed as Jesus during shows for his "Yeezus" tour.

In a 2013 interview, West explained his reasoning for bringing Jesus out on stage for his shows, and also gave some insight in to his thoughts on Christianity in general: