One Sunday in January 2019, Kanye West congregated in Calabasas, California with a gospel choir group, The Samples. It was a private affair; with just his family looking on, the Chicago rapper performed renditions of hymns and pop songs rewritten with Christian lyrics, turning Ginuwine's So Anxious into Soul Anchored. Little did we know then, this would become the thesis of his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King. 

Months passed and Sunday Service grew with each performance. Kim Kardashian lovingly shared every gathering on her Instagram story, as we watched their eldest daughter, North, dance to songs of praise draped in the latest Yeezy designs. New locations were scouted, American light and sound artist James Turrell was tapped to embellish stages as the celebrity guest list grew. Busy Phillips, Katy Perry, Idris Elba and Brad Pitt have all worshipped at West's touring hip-hop church. But this isn't a novel concept. 

Sunday Service regular, Chance The Rapper has built his entire career based on his good Christian values, lending a prayer or two on West's The Life Of Pablo record. While JIK gets all the praise for culminating elements of gospel, rap and hip-hop, we decided to look back on the best of this hybrid genre's moments. 

MC Hammer

In 1990, following the success of his ubiquitous hit U Can’t Touch This, MC Hammer brought together hip-hop and gospel for the first time. His meditation on success, perseverance and faith, Pray which sampled Prince’s When Doves Cry would outperform his most recognisable song, charting at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The quintessentially '90s hit featured spanning shots of elated churchgoers, an animated gospel choir, as well as dancers in parachute pants. It wasn’t just a culmination of the era itself, but proof that the hip-hop’s embrace of gospel began as the genre itself found commercial prominence. 

DMX

Earl Simmons, known professionally as DMX, seems like an unlikely adopter of gospel music, however, he's consistently turned to prayer. Beginning with his debut album, It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot, the rapper ruminates on his own inner battle with darkness but also makes room for a moment of salvation. 

The addition of Prayer (Skit) - which is unequivocally not a skit and very much sincere - sees a softly spoken DMX be grateful, hopeful and most of all seek guidance. These prayers would become a long-running tradition throughout his records, peaking with the gritty Lord Give Me A Sign in 2006. 

Upon his release from jail this year, DMX became the first guest at West's Sunday Service, bringing his raw and purposeful prayer to the event. 

Kanye West 

Jesus Is King may have everyone talking about gospel (and Chik-Fil-A) but going by West's discography, this is a full-circle moment. One of his earliest hits, Jesus Walks brought the then up-and-coming rapper to prominence. Today, 15 years since its release, Jesus Walks has become a staple song in his Sunday Service performances. 

The lead-up to his ninth record, Jesus Is King was riddled with controversy, right-wing ramblings and delayed-release dates, making his gospel rebranding seem indulgent and performative rather than sincere. However, now that the album is out, it's clear it's as much a rap album as it is a religious one. While slices of Bible verses are littered throughout, the same braggadocious Kanye remains, wryly winking to us through slick pop culture references all backed by a joyous gospel choir. 

Nicki Minaj

If there's one thing you can't accuse Trinidadian rapper, Nicki Minaj, of not having, it's range. While her wheelhouse is slick raps that rely on potent lyrical venom she put that aside in 2017 to work with gospel singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard. 

I'm Getting Ready came off the back of Nicki's fledgling relationship between music fans and Remy Ma drew mixed reviews. Some fans were excited for Minaj's potential road down the gospel path, however, it seems as though it all ended here. 

Chance The Rapper

Months before Chicago prodigy, Chance The Rapper, released his record-breaking mixtape, Coloring Book, he took charge on West's gospel-leaning seventh studio album, The Life Of Pablo. The opening track, Ultralight Beam had everything; Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, a viral sample of a passionate child yelling, "We want the lord (Yes, Jesus) and that's it!" But it also had Chance. 

Grand, layered and brimming with the vigour of church that makes gospel hymns so intriguing for secular music fans, Ultralight Beam shot Chance into the global consciousness. His fervent prayer, hopefulness and sincerity stuck with listeners, spilling over to his next release. 

While Coloring Book wasn't a gospel album, it was hinged on Chance's faith. From the joyous worship of Angels to All We Got which features West and the Chicago Children's Choir his breakout mixtape brims with the Christian-centered jubilation that makes gospel intoxicating.  

BJ The Chicago Kid

BJ The Chicago Kid's debut album, In My Mind, dropped the same year West's The Life Of Pablo and Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book, during a time hip-hop was having its "come-to-Jesus-moment". 

His record was an emotional meditation on Christianity, tempered by the story of the prophet Jeremiah and going out on a Saturday night but leaving enough time to make it to church on Sunday. Featuring Anderson .Paak on the opener Feel The Vibe, BJ uses a choir of children to emphasise the booming hip-hop production. BJ's use of gospel is executed with expertise, conjuring feelings of home, with salvos on the routine of church and childhood. 

Ebenezer

Not all gospel-cum-hip-hop lights up with the characteristic jubilation of Chance and West, but UK rapper Ebenezer skillfully demonstrates a darker side of religion-centred rap. 

Released in 2018, Ebenezer's debut record 53 Sundays is a subversive take on Christianity, growing up in the church and how that's coloured his adult life for better and for worse. “Sometimes I wanna talk to God, he doesn’t ever answer me,” he sings on the opening track, Over My Dead Body. It's a crisis of faith, where he questions familial prayers (Glory) and brandishes wheezing organs (Saints and Sinners). Most of all, it's an honest push-and-pull at faith unlike anything else.