There was one facet of Kanye West’s latest album Jesus Is King that had fans stumped.
The rapper included the cryptic code “AR 1331 A” in the blue vinyl record artwork for the album. While it’s puzzled fans for a while, Third Man Records co-founder Ben Blackwell has solved the mystery.
“It’s the Archer Records (AR) pressing plant code assigned to this 1970 Detroit gospel single,” the label tweeted on Friday.
The A-side of the Archer Records gospel single was recorded by Rubye Shelton ( with music from Sister Orr) and features the songs “I Want the World to Know Jesus” and “God’s Going to Destroy This Nation.” The B-side houses an additional two tracks: “The Hypocrite” and “Come Out of the Valley.”
“I knew the past decade spent in the deepest, loneliest recesses of Archer Record Pressing nerd-dom would eventually lead me to the biggest recording artist in the world. But enough about Jack White...who is this Kanye guy?” Black told Pitchfork.
Jesus Is King dropped on Oct. 25 and features appearances from Clipse, Fred Hammond, Ant Clemons, Ty Dolla Sign, Kenny G, and Sunday Service.
