Songfacts®:

• On New Year's Day 2019, Kanye West re-affirmed his Christian faith on Twitter. "God is on my side. I am a Christian," he wrote. A few days later, the Chicago rapper debuted the first of his weekly Sunday Services, where he introduces gospel arrangements of some of his hits as well as some other songs. People questioned West's motives; from the beginning his gatherings were attended by numerous celebrities and it was suspected he was just using religion to modify his controversial image.
  
  When several months later West declared he was now a born-again Christian, many believed it was a hoax or a huge publicity stunt at best. It was only when he released his Jesus Is King album that critics began to recognize he had a genuine conversion experience. There were no more egotistical songs filled with profane and misogynist content. Instead, on Jesus Is King, Yeezy's rhymes are filled with declarations of his new life in Christ.
• This song finds Kanye airing his grievances over those Christians who have doubts about his newfound faith:
  
  To sing of change, you think I'm joking
  To praise His name, you ask what I'm smoking
  Yes, I understand your reluctancy, yeah
  But I have a request, you see
  Don't throw me up, lay your hands on me
  
  Rather than judging Kanye because of his controversial past, the rapper asks his fellow believers to lay their "hands on" him and pray for him.
• "Hands On" also finds Kanye asking for another chance after he controversially suggested slavery was a "choice" in a May 2018 TMZ interview.
  
  Thirteenth Amendment, three strikes
  Made a left, when I should've made a right
  
  The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery in 1865 while "three strikes" refers to the Three Strikes Sentencing Laws, which mandate a life sentence after three convictions including one violent felony. Kanye also mentions the Thirteenth Amendment within the context of incarceration during his track "On God."
• Contemporary gospel singer Fred Hammond joins Kanye on "Hands On." Hammond has won multiple Dove awards in the Best Contemporary Gospel Song category.
• Timbaland takes the wheel on the production side. His instrumentation is completely different from his usual bouncy, bombastic style. For "Hands On," Timbaland creates a similar soundscape to the one he did with gospel singer Tamlea Mann on her 2016 project, One Way.