Closed On Sunday

Album: Jesus Is King (2019)
Charted: 20 18
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Songfacts®:

  • Sunday is considered to be a day of rest for Christians (assuming their job allows it). It is also the day most Christians attend church and formally practice their faith. This contemporary Christian rap track kicks off with Kanye West giving props to Chick-Fil-A. The fast-food chain has a business policy of only operating six days a week, closing on Sundays.
  • The rest of the song finds Yeezy rapping about raising his family in the Lord and helping them to live a fulfilling life.

    Raise our sons, train them in the faith
    Through temptations, make sure they're wide awake


    He also talks about protecting his children:

    Get your family, y'all hold hands and pray
    When you got daughters, always keep 'em safe
    Watch out for vipers, don't let them indoctrinate


    West previously touched on the subject on his 2018 track "Violent Crimes," where he admitted how becoming the father of two daughters had changed his views on women.
  • The outro is spoken by A$AP Bari, who is also known as Young Lord. He is a member of the A$AP Mob.
  • Ten different people helped Kanye West pen this gospel tune. They include:

    Yeezy's' own GOOD Music artist, Pusha T.

    Pusha T's brother and Clipse band mate No Malice. Pusha T and No Malice are featured on another Jesus Is King track "Use This Gospel."

    Legendary producer Timbaland. This is one of five Jesus Is King tracks where he contributed production.
  • Kanye West considers "Closed on Sunday" the hardest record he's ever made. He explained during an interview at televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church: "It's as hard as an N.W.A record because it's talking about protecting your kids from the indoctrination of the media."
  • The video was shot by Paper Towns director Jake Schreier. The clip follows the song's family theme as we see Kanye, Kim Kardashian, and their children walking through a desolate rocky wasteland. They are joined by the rapper's mother-in-law Kris Jenner, along with Kourtney Kardashian and Ye's Sunday Service Choir, who all arrive in dune buggies.

    That's six-year-old North West screaming "Chick-fil-A" at the very end, a line recorded by her father on the single version of the tune.
  • Kanye West told GQ he used an iPhone to record part of his Jesus Is King album. "I just rap into my iPhone. Best microphone on the planet," he explained. "Thirty, forty percent of The College Dropout was recorded on a [Roland] VS-1680. Twenty percent of Jesus Is King was recorded on an iPhone."

    West took some of his vocals for the album directly from his iPhone's Voice Memos app. "Yes. I first started doing that on Yeezus," he said. "Like 'Closed on Sunday, you're my Chick-fil-A' - that part is off the phone."
  • Kanye West actually owned the luxury Ripsaw EV2 tank we see in the video. He later sold the military vehicle to David "Heavy D" Sparks and David "Diesel Dave" Kiley of the Discovery reality TV show Diesel Brothers.

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