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"Wash Us In The Blood" is a song by Kanye West that was released as a single on June 30, 2020.[1] The song features vocals from Travis Scott. It was meant to be the lead single for his then-upcoming album, God's Country, which was eventually scrapped.[2]

In the song, Kanye references the sacrifice of Jesus and mentions dark subjects such as slavery and genocide in the wake of several reports of police brutality against black people.[3]

An updated version of the song was released on the Stem Player on December 10, 2021. Compared to the initial version, this version has rougher mixing.[4]

Production[]

The song begins with a recitation of 1 Peter 5:8 from the Bible and samples "New Era" by AG.[5]

Background[]

Ourbeautifulamazingreality

A track list for God's Country, listing the song as "WASH US IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS".

The song was originally made in November 2019 during the God's Country era. A track list of God's Country from November 2019 was leaked, showing "Wash Us In The Blood" as the tenth track on the album.[6] On May 2, 2023, Pierre-Louis Auvray posted a track list for God's Country, named OUR BEAUTIFUL AMAZING REALITY, which was likely made around July 2020. This track list shows "Wash Us In The Blood" (named "WASH US IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS") as the second track on the album.

On July 18, 2020, Kanye tweeted a track list for his upcoming album, renamed to DONDA. Of the 20 tracks, "Wash Us In The Blood" was the fourteenth track.[7] After 2020, the song was not seen in any track lists for Donda and it did not release on the album.

Music video[]

The music video for the song was first teased by Jafa on May 25, 2020, who stated that he was "really busy" shooting the music video for "Wash Us In The Blood".[8] The music video premiered on YouTube on June 30, 2020 at 10:00 AM EST.[9] In the video, several clips of police brutality against black people are used, including showing footage of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. A few weeks prior to the song's release, Kanye donated to the families of Breonna and Ahmaud.[10] The video also shows footage of the Saint Pablo Tour, cars doing donuts, scenes from Grand Theft Auto V, and many more. It ends with footage of North West, Kanye's daughter, dancing. At the same time, Kanye says the hook of the song.

Lyrics[]

[Intro]
A roaring lion, walketh about, seekin' whom he may devour
(Ronny J, please turn me up)

[Verse 1]
Take some, rain, nonstop, rain don't want war
Rain come, rain come
Come shine, come rain, come up
Southside, let it bang
Outside, let it rain
Rain down on the pain
Rain down on the slain
Rain down for my mom (Ooh)
Rain down on the farm (Ah)
Shower us with your love (Huh)
Wash us in the blood (Ooh)
Drop this for the thugs (Ah)
Know I grew up in the mud (Huh)
The top is not enough
Wash us in the blood (Ah)

[Bridge]
Is there anybody here? Huh
Is there anybody here? Ooh
That can save no matter how much he player-hate? Hahaha
It was the blood that, ooh
It was the blood that, God
It was the blood that cleansed me, ha
It was the, ooh

[Pre-Chorus]
Shower down on us (Ah)
Wash us in the blood (Huh)
Wash us in the blood (Ooh)
Whole life bein' thugs (Hah)
No choice, sellin' drugs (Huh)
Southside, what it does? (God)
Rain down on us (Ah)
Genocide what it does (Huh)
Slavery what it does (Ooh)
Rain down on us (Ah)
Whole life sellin' drugs (Huh)

[Chorus]
Wash us in the blood (Ooh)
Wash us in Your blood (Ah)
Wash us in the blood (And as we live in this evil and crooked and jezebelic world)
Wash us in the blood
Wash us in the blood

[Bridge]
Holy Spirit, come down (Come take)
Holy Spirit, come down (Come down)
Holy Spirit, help now (Way down)
Holy Spirit, help now (Uh, uh)
Holy Spirit, come down (Spirit)
Holy Spirit, come down (Ayy)
Holy Spirit, help now (Come down)
Holy Spirit, help now (Yeah)

[Verse 2]
Wash us in the blood (Blood)
Whole life bein' thugs (Hah)
No choice, sellin' drugs (Ooh)
Genocide what it does (Ah)
Mass incarc' what it does (Huh)
Cost a cause what it does (Ooh)
'Nother life bein' lost (Woah)
Let it off, set it off
Execution, thirty states (That's right)
Thirty states still execute (Ah)
Thou shall not kill, I shall not spill, Nextels at the rendezvous (Ooh)
We dodgin' time in the federal (Get 'em)
Squad box you in like a sectional
We walk through the glass and the residue (Ooh)
Now look what we headed to (Ah)

[Chorus]
Rain down on us (Huh)
Rain down on us (Ooh)
Wash us in the blood (Hah)
Wash us in the blood (Huh)
Holy Spirit, come down (Ooh)
Holy Spirit, come down (Hah)
And they tryna control Ye (Huh)
They want me to calm down (Ooh)

[Verse 3]
They don't want me to Kanye
They don't want Kanye to be Kanye
They wanna sign a fake Kanye
They tryna sign a calm Ye
That's right, I call 'em Calm-Ye
But don't take me the wrong way (God)
But don't take me the wrong way (Hah)
'Cause God took me a long way (Huh)
They wanna edit the interviews (We)
They wanna take it to interludes (Me)
Cut a whole sentence to interlude (Together)
You know that it's fake if it's in the news (Ooh)
So I let it fly when I'm in the booth (Ah)
The devil a liar and I been the truth
Livin' 'cause nobody livin'
And nobody gettin' it, doin' it different (Ah)

[Chorus]
Rain down on us (Huh)
Holy Spirit, come down (Ooh)
Holy Spirit, come down (Ah)
We need You now
Wash us in the blood (Ooh)
Whole life bein' thugs (Ah)
No choice, sellin' drugs (God)
Genocide what it does
Slavery what it does

References[]

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