The Life Of Pablo 2

[Lupita Calvi]

TheLife of Pablo is the seventh studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016, in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. West and a variety of producers, including co-executive producers Rick Rubin and Noah Goldstein handled production. West enlisted guest vocals for the album from The-Dream, Kelly Price, Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin, Kid Cudi, Desiigner, Rihanna, Young Thug, Chris Brown, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla Sign, Vic Mensa, Sia, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, and Sampha.

Several promotional singles preceded the release of The Life of Pablo, including the tracks "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA". During the months before its release, the album's title and tracklist went through several publicized changes. West premiered an early version at Madison Square Garden on February 11, 2016, as part of his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show. After several additional sessions and alterations, the exclusive launch occurred for streaming on Tidal three days later.

Following its official streaming debut, West continued to make changes to The Life of Pablo. A largely updated version of it, including alternate mixes and other changes, was made available on other streaming services and for digital purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. The singles "Famous", the two-part "Father Stretch My Hands", and "Fade" were released to support it in 2016. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, with particular attention being paid to the fragmented, unfinished nature of the composition and release. Multiple publications named it one of 2016's best albums.

The Life of Pablo received five nominations at the 2017 Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album, though the Album of the Year rejection was deemed a snub by numerous publications. Following Tidal's initial disclosure of its streaming data and its release to competing streaming services, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, becoming the first to reach the summit primarily through streaming, and was ultimately certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also debuted at number one in Norway, and in the top ten in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

In November 2013, Kanye West began working on his seventh studio album,[1][2] with the working title of So Help Me God intended for a 2014 release date.[3] Q-Tip announced he and Rick Rubin, one of the executive producers of West's sixth studio album Yeezus (2013), would produce the album.[4] Early recording sessions resulted in several tracks released as standalone singles or given to other artists, including West's Paul McCartney collaborations "All Day", "Only One", and the McCartney and Rihanna collaboration "FourFiveSeconds".[5][6] In 2015, West announced the album's new title as SWISH, though he noted the title could change.[7] West announced in January 2016 that SWISH would be released on February 11. He released a new song "Real Friends" that month simultaneously with a snippet of "No More Parties in LA".[8] This signified a revival of the GOOD Fridays initiative where West had released new singles every Friday.[8] On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album Waves.[9]

The track "Famous", featuring vocals by frequent West collaborator Rihanna and American hip hop recording artist Swizz Beatz, was scrutinized on social media for its controversial lyrical reference to American singer Taylor Swift, because West had interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.[10][11]

On February 9, 2016, several days ahead of its release, West changed the title to The Life of Pablo.[12] On February 11, West premiered an early version of the album at Madison Square Garden during the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line.[13] Following the preview, West announced he would modify the track list again before its public release.[14] He delayed the release further to finalize the recording of the track "Waves" at the behest of co-writer Chance the Rapper.[15]

The Life of Pablo was recorded between 2013 and 2016, though recording for the track "No More Parties in LA" started in 2010, during the sessions for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[16][17] Ty Dolla Sign reported that writing and recording for the album took place in Mexico in September 2014; he recalled McCartney and Rihanna were present.[18] American rappers Pusha T and Consequence confirmed that they had ended their feud to work with West on music to be released by him.[19]

In April 2014, during an interview with Self-Titled, English electronic music producer Evian Christ explained that despite West not always being musically clear, he just seemed "interested in pushing aesthetic boundaries as far into the Avant as possible". He will say "This is not experimental enough. This is too poppy. Make something else." This can confuse other musicians.[20] Christ said that West is "a dream to work with", adding that when it comes to creative freedom, West is on his own level in terms of the freedom.[20] He explained "he wants you to work to a blueprint, the blueprint is: 'Don't make a rap beat. Anything but a rap beat'".[20] In February 2015, while West was continuing work on The Life of Pablo, he confirmed the album was around 80% complete.[21]

In March 2015, during an interview with MTV, promoting his third studio album Dark Sky Paradise (2015), Big Sean spoke about the multiple recording locations involved in The Life of Pablo including Mexico and Hawaii.[22] In an October 2015 interview with The Fader, Post Malone, who is featured on the track "Fade" with Ty Dolla Sign, discussed his experiences with West describing him as "just a normal guy, like me, and super cool".[23]

On January 27, 2016, West revealed the update of the final track listing for The Life of Pablo on his official Twitter account. The updated track listing included a number of unannounced potential collaborators: Earl Sweatshirt, The-Dream, Tyler, the Creator, The World Famous Tony Williams, Diddy, Danny!,[24] ASAP Rocky, Kid Cudi, Lil Uzi Vert, Drake, Teyana Taylor, Zo Kravitz, Bibi Bourelly, Doug E. Fresh, How to Dress Well, and French Montana, as well as a return of his frequent production collaborators, such as Mike Dean, Hudson Mohawke, Plain Pat, Vicious, Anthony Kilhoffer, A-Trak, and Noah Goldstein.[25][26][27] Following the album's premiere at Madison Square Garden, it was revealed that Brooklyn-based rapper Desiigner contributed vocals to "Pt. 2" and "Freestyle 4".[28]

West released The Life of Pablo for streaming on February 14, 2016, following a performance on Saturday Night Live.[29][30] Although a statement by West around the time of The Life of Pablo's release indicated it would be a permanent exclusive to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services beginning in April 2016.[31] Before the release of The Life of Pablo, West had tweeted that it was a hip hop and a gospel album.[32] In an interview on Big Boy Radio, West said: "When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk, Kirk Franklin, and we're just going through it, I said this is a gospel album, with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it's still a gospel album."[33] Following The Life of Pablo's initial Tidal release, West said he intended to continue altering the songs, declaring the album a "living breathing changing creative expression".[34] On March 13, 2016, over a month after the release, West uploaded an updated version of "Famous", swapping out the lyric "She be Puerto Rican day parade wavin'" for "She in school to be a real estate agent", as well as making slight tweaks to the overall mix.[35] Three days later, West updated the album's Tidal track list with a reworked version of "Wolves", which included previously removed guest vocals by Vic Mensa and Sia, and separated the ending portion sung by Frank Ocean into a separate interlude under the title of "Frank's Track".[36] This reworking was done around a month after West proposed a fix to the song.[37] On March 30, The Life of Pablo received a major update, with at least 12 tracks appearing in altered forms.[38] The updates included prominent vocal additions, new lyrics, and altered mixes.[38] Def Jam confirmed this incarnation to be "a newly updated, remixed and remastered version", and clarified that the album would continue to appear with "new updates, new versions and new iterations" in the following months, calling it "a continuous process".[39] A minor update was published on April 2, fixing the outro vocals for "30 Hours" which had been rendered off-time during the March 31 update.[40] Finally, on June 14, The Life of Pablo was updated to include an additional track titled "Saint Pablo" featuring vocals by British musician Sampha, with other miscellaneous alterations throughout the album.[41]

Discussing The Life of Pablo's continued alterations, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork mused "at what point is a record 'over', and who gets to make the call"?[42] He claimed West was "seeing how far he can stretch the point right now, in a way no pop star has ever quite tried", describing him as "testing the shifting state of the 'album cycle' to see if he can break it entirely, making his album like another piece of software on your phone that sends you push updates".[42] Winston Cook-Wilson of Inverse described the album as "a fluid construct", writing that "as a way of holding the public's attention span, Kanye's choice to continue to tweak The Life is Pablo indefinitely is genius".[43] He elaborated, "It encourages people spend time processing an album that deserves it: a bewildering, sprawling, and controversy-courting piece of art."[43] The unconventional updates post-release inspired other artists to do the same, with Future and Young Thug making similar alterations after the release of their albums.[44][45] However, in The Guardian, Nosheen Iqbal noted the criticism that West faced for updating the album.[46] Brian Welk and Ross A. Lincoln from TheWrap claimed West should have ended the updates after his initial changes to The Life of Pablo three days after its release.[47] In a January 2020 interview with GQ, West explained his continuous updates to the album, saying, "Nothing is ever done."[48]

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