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The Life of Pablo

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Untitled

The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American rapper Kanye West, released on February 14, 2016 by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. The album features a wide array of guest vocalists, including Frank Ocean, The-Dream, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla $ign, Chris Brown and more. Its production also enlists a variety of contributors led by West, including Mike Dean, Rick Rubin, Metro Boomin, Southside and Hudson Mohawke, among others. Recording sessions for the album took place in various locations around the world, including various cities in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

The album was supported by the promotional singles "Real Friends", "No More Parties in LA" and "30 Hours", which were released in conjunction with West's GOOD Fridays giveaways. The album was launched exclusively through the streaming service Tidal following a lengthy series of delays in its recording and finalization, including multiple changes to its track sequencing and title in the weeks leading up to its release. Upon release, The Life of Pablo was met with both acclaim and reservation from music critics, with particular attention drawn to its kaleidoscopic musical range and scattered nature relative to West's previous albums.

Background

In November 2013, Kanye West began working on his seventh album[1][2], he then announced the title of the album, called So Help Me God, while slating for the release date in 2014.[3] This album version was never materialized, included these several tracks that were released as the stand-alone singles or was given towards the another artists such as "God Level" (released as the promo for the Adidas World Cup), "All Day", "Only One", "FourFiveSeconds", "Tell Your Friends" (performed by The Weeknd) and "3500" (performed by Travis Scott).[4][5] In February 2015, the tracks that were announced to make the final cut for The Life of Pablo are "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "Wolves", the latter of which West performed on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary episode, with fellow American recording artists Sia and Vic Mensa.[6] This version of "Wolves" would be appearing on the album, however, it was heavily reworked from the version which was performed on SNL.[7][8]

Chance the Rapper has five writing credits on the album, as well as a feature on "Ultralight Beam".[9]

In May 2015, West decides to changed the title to the album, called SWISH, but then he clarifies that this still could be a subject to change.[10] On January 26, 2016, West has posted a supposed finalized track-listing on his Twitter account,[11] along with the new tentative title to the album, called Waves, which led to a brief dispute between him and fellow rapper Wiz Khalifa.[12] On February 4, West confirmed on Big Boy's Neighborhood radio station, that he still doesn't have the name on what will be the final title to the album.[13] On February 9, West revealed the official album title's acronym was T.L.O.P., offering free tickets to its third season of Yeezy event, along with a pair of the latest Yeezys to anyone who could decode the title. On the next day, it was unveiled via Twitter, that the acronym for the title stands for The Life of Pablo.[14] West later tweeted the album cover on February 11, 2016.[15] West then debuted a portion of the album during its third season of Yeezy on the same day, which was intended to be the album's official release day.[16]

West revised the track-listing on multiple occasions, ultimately modifying it on February 12, 2016, from ten tracks to seventeen.[17] West had initially planned to release The Life of Pablo on February 12, announcing it in a tweet that read: "The album is being mastered and will be out today… added on a couple of tracks…".[17] However, the release was delayed in order to include one final track, "Waves", which had been removed from the original track-list. On February 15, 2016, Chance the Rapper, who fought and convinced West to keep "Waves" on the album, annotated his lyrics from "Ultralight Beam" on Genius,[18] explaining that this track was initially to be the album's outro, rather than the opener included on the version made available on Tidal.[19]

Recording

The album was recorded between 2013 and 2016, with recording for the track "No More Parties in LA" starting in 2010, during the sessions for West's fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[20][21] Reports stated that the album was written and recorded in several locations; including Los Angeles, Mexico, the Isle of Wight and Florence, Italy. West's recording in Los Angeles was rumored to be at Shangri-La Studios, which is the home base of Yeezus executive producer Rick Rubin. American singer Ty Dolla Sign reported his recording experience with West and Paul McCartney, saying they were

"...in Mexico, at this big house. The back of the house had no walls and no doors; it was just open [and facing] the ocean. You would think he would want the mic enclosed and all that but we just had the doors open, and it came out perfect."[22]

The production in Mexico, occurred with McCartney and frequent collaborator Rihanna.[23] American rappers Pusha T and Consequence confirmed that they had ended their feud, in order to work with West on his seventh album, with Consequence saying in an interview: "Pusha and I deaded everything and we creatively vibed with Kanye for this new LP."[24]

In May 2014, in an interview with Billboard, James Fauntleroy of Cocaine 80s spoke of his recording sessions with West and said, "I went in there and did some stuff on that shit. I sang shit on there and left. We'll see how it turns out, when I went in it was early, [during] the early stages. I know there will be a lot more other people, a lot of interjections." Also in May 2014, Atlanta-based producer Mike Will Made It, has been quoted as saying "Kanye has been trying new ideas and has been reaching out to me for new ideas, Whether or not it's the "Black Skinhead Remix", we don't know, but it's definitely dope what we have so far, [We’re] just working, period. It depends on where the music is lands, but hopefully we do something on his next album."[25]

Ty Dolla Sign is featured on "Real Friends" and "Fade".

In March 2015, in an interview with MTV, Big Sean spoke about the multiple recording locations involved this album, whilst promoting his own third studio album, Dark Sky Paradise: "...We done did a couple, to like Mexico, like how we did Hawaii before and stuff like that. We work as unit for sure, that’s all I’m gonna say I’m not gonna drop nothing else."[26] In an October 2015 interview with The Fader, Post Malone, who (along with Ty Dolla Sign) is featured on the track "Fade", discussed his experiences with West:

I met Kanye at Kylie Jenner's party and Kanye was like, 'Let's make something.' So I went over to Ye's and we just started working and then we just started talking. And we just kept on going. I went in the studio with Kanye and we just recorded the scratch vocals and then I wrote over it… He was just a normal guy, like me, and super cool. He was wearing all camo, just all camo. He was very quiet and he was very, very humble.[27]

On January 27, 2016, West revealed the update of the final track-listing on his official Twitter account. This updated track-listing also revealed a number of the unannounced potential collaborators, which included Earl Sweatshirt, brandUn DeShay, The-Dream, Tyler, The Creator, The World Famous Tony Williams, Diddy, A$AP Rocky, Kid Cudi and French Montana, as well as a return of his frequent production collaborators, such as Mike Dean, Hudson Mohawke and Noah Goldstein, as well as new production collaborators with Plain Pat and Vicious.[28][29][30] In February 2015, while West was continuing to work on the album, he confirmed that the album is at about 80% completion. He went on to say:

I'm trying to get it finished. I'm trying to get it to the people… Release dates is played out. So the surprise is going to be a surprise. There go the surprise... [It's] cookout music that just feels good. My last album was protest music. I was like, 'I'm going to take my ball and go home.'[31]

On February 14, after the album was made available to stream through Tidal, West announced that he was making some few adjustments to the song "Wolves".[32] The song features guest vocals from Frank Ocean and Caroline Shaw, although the song was featured by both Vic Mensa and Sia Furler, both of them were removed from this track.

Composition

Music and style

In April 2014, in an interview with Self-Titled, GOOD Music's producer Evian Christ explained that while West wasn’t always musically clear, he seemed "...interested in pushing aesthetic boundaries as far into the Avant as possible. Kanye is the one dude who's like, 'This is not experimental enough. This is too poppy. Make something else.' The other guys are like, 'We don’t get it.'" Christ, admitted that Kanye's "a dream to work with", adding that "...no one else gives you that level of creative freedom. When he wants you to work to a blueprint, the blueprint is: 'Don't make a rap beat. Anything but a rap beat.'"[33] Prior to the album's release, West tweeted out that the album was a hip hop album, as well as a gospel album.[34] When premiering his album at his Yeezy Season 3 event, West told the Madison Square Garden audience, "You know this album is really a gospel album and the first song 'Ultra Light Beams' said 'this is a God dream' — and this is something, like all y'all 20,000 people here right now, that couldn't happen without God really holding me down."[35] Additionally, in an interview on Big Boy Radio, West stated "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," adding "The gospel according to Ye. It's not exactly what happened in the Bible, but it's this story idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary."[35] "Ultralight Beam", particularly, is noted to feature several gospel elements, from "the sound of a 4-year-old preaching gospel, some organ," as well as a church choir singing the refrain of "This is a God dream."[36] Chance the Rapper and his instrumental collaborator, Donnie Trumpet bring elements of soul revivalism into the track during Chance's guest verse.[7]

On the album belonging within the gospel genre, Corbin Reiff of The A.V. Club opined in his review of the album, "While it is indeed is one of the more positive and uplifting records in his canon, the idea of "gospel" in music implies the process of exploring an external higher power. That is something that West isn't keen on doing here. The Pablo on The Life Of Pablo remains none other than Kanye West, and it really only works as a gospel record if, as a listener, you worship at his altar."[7] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote in his review of The Life of Pablo, "West's version of gospel touches on some of those sonic cues — heavy organ, soaring choirs — but seems more preoccupied with gospel text and the notion of redemption."[8]

The album's sound varied, as Carl Wilson of Slate, described "the point is that in the context of all this sonic landscaping, in West’s kamikaze, mood-swinging way, Pablo now seems undeniably (not half-assedly, as I’d been about to conclude) like an album of struggle," adding that the album included the use of auto-tune, a cappella, as well as bass and percussion lines "that are only the tail-end decay of some lost starting place, some vanished rhythmic Eden."[37]

The album has been noted to have a "raw, occasionally even intentionally messy, composition."[38] The song "Famous" features a segue from "braggadocious, bell-ringing hip-hop" into samples of Sister Nancy's dancehall song "Bam Bam" chopped up over the chord progression featured in Nina Simone's "Do What You Gotta Do."[39]

Lyrical content

As a whole, GQ wrote that "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2" is "a gospel song about fucking models, transitions halfway into a soul-baring confessional dance track, then drops in two entire verses of an entirely different song about drug-dealing and cars by an 18-year-old Brooklyn rapper before resolving into a meditative piece for vocoder by a contemporary classical composer and ending with a snippet of the sampled gospel song that the whole thing started from, just to remind you how far we've traveled from there in the span of four minutes."[39] The first part of the song includes the lyric, "Now if I fuck this model/ And she just bleached her asshole/ And I get bleach on my T-shirt/ I'mma feel like an asshole," which was often considered as a concerning or gross lyric by media outlets.[40][41] The second part of the song includes confessional lyrics that delve into familial and introspective themes, such as his mother's death and his father's struggles with money, as well as his own near-fatal car crash.[42]

The song "Famous" included the controversial lyric "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous/Goddamn, I made that bitch famous."[43] The lyric refers to country/pop singer Taylor Swift, when West interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, with West claiming "he made her famous" from the incident. The lyric was heavily publicized and criticized by media outlets and listeners.[8][36][39][43] Kot called the song "an example of just how brilliant and infuriating West can be at the same time," going on to praise the production and Rihanna's guest vocals, but proclaiming "it's all undone by one of the most ridiculous and distasteful lines in the West songbook."[8] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork wrote in his review of the album that the lyric "feels like a piece of bathroom graffiti made to purposefully reignite the most racially-charged rivalry in 21st-century pop."[44]

Continuing with gospel themes, the song "Wolves" features the lyrics, "Cover Nori in lamb's wool/ We surrounded by/ The fuckin wolves," among other Biblical allusions, offering a comparison between him and his wife to Mary and Joseph.[36]

The interlude "I Love Kanye" features tongue-in-cheek[8] and self-aware lyrics, "What if Kanye made a song about Kanye / Called "I miss the old Kanye" / Man that would be so Kanye, that’s all it was Kanye / We still love Kanye and I love you like / Kanye loves Kanye."[7]

Release and promotion

On December 31, 2014, West released a single, titled "Only One"; a collaboration with English musician Paul McCartney, who produced this track alongside Mike Dean. The track's music video, which features West and his daughter (North West), with direction by Spike Jonze, was released on January 21, 2015.[45] In January 2015, West released the another Paul McCartney-collaborated track, titled "FourFiveSeconds"; alongside a Barbadian singer Rihanna.[46][47] In March 2015, West officially released a single, titled "All Day", after it was leaked online in un-mastered form, in August 2014.[48] The song was later remixed, which features a new guest verse from fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar.[49]

On February 12, 2015, during the first season of Adidas Yeezy's fashion show event held in New York City, West premiered a new track, titled "Wolves". This track features guest vocals from American rapper Vic Mensa and Australian singer-songwriter Sia, while its produced by Cashmere Cat and Sinjin Hawke.[50] On February 15, 2015, West performed a medley of "Jesus Walks", "Only One" and "Wolves", on the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special.[51] On February 25, West performed a live rendition of the previously leaked song "All Day", during his appearance at the 2015's Brit Awards.[52] On September 16, during the second season of Adidas Yeezy's fashion show event, West premiered another song to be included on the album, titled "Fade". The song features guest vocals from American recording artists Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign.[53]

On January 8, 2016, West's wife Kim Kardashian announced via Twitter the release of "Real Friends", which initiated the return of West's GOOD Fridays.[54] West had previously done a weekly free music giveaway leading up to the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Real Friends" was released the day and it was announced via SoundCloud, simultaneously along with the album's release date and a snippet of the forthcoming GOOD Friday release, titled "No More Parties in LA", which features guest vocals from Kendrick Lamar.[55][56] "No More Parties in L.A." had its proper release on the following week, also via West's Soundcloud account. The song also was produced by Madlib and West, which contains a sample of "Suzie Thundertussy", performed by Walter Morrison.[57]

On February 12, 2016, after premiering The Life of Pablo during its third season of Adidas Yeezy's fashion show event, West released a new track, titled "30 Hours", as part of his GOOD Fridays series.[58] On February 14, West performed "Highlights" and "Ultralight Beam" on Saturday Night Live.[59] The Life of Pablo was later released exclusively through the streaming service Tidal on the same day.[60] West announced that the album would be available outside of Tidal a week later,[61] however, on the following day, West claimed that he would never released the album outside of Tidal, encouraging his fans to sign up for the service.[62] On the same day, Pigeons & Planes detailed that the version of the album, which was made available for streaming on Tidal was not its final version.[63] After an active weekend, during which he was finishing his album, he stated that he was $53,000,000 in debt and called for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in West's ideas. He also called on other tech billionaires to help him.[64]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic79/100[65]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[66]
The A.V. ClubA[7]
The Daily Telegraph[67]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[68]
The Guardian[69]
NME4/5[70]
Pitchfork Media9.0/10[36]
Rolling Stone[71]
Slant Magazine[72]
Spin8/10[73]

The Life of Pablo received generally favorable reviews.[65] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield dubbed it both a mess and masterpiece: "This is a messy album that feels like it was made that way on purpose [...] West just drops broken pieces of his psyche all over the album and challenges you to fit them together."[71] The A.V. Club's Corbin Reiff opined that "it feels far different from any of the tightly constructed, singular works of West’s past," asserting instead that "as a beautiful, messy, mixed-up collection of 18 songs, it's a brilliant document."[7] Writing for The New York Times, Jon Caramanica stated, "West [...] has perfected the art of aesthetic and intellectual bricolage, shape-shifting in real time and counting on listeners to keep up," concluding that "this is Tumblr-as-album, the piecing together of divergent fragments to make a cohesive whole."[74] In a positive review, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork Media wrote that "a madcap sense of humor animates all [West's] best work, and The Life of Pablo has a freewheeling energy that is infectious and unique to his discography," finding that "somehow, it comes off as both his most labored-over and unfinished album, full of asterisks and corrections and footnotes."[36]

Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly deemed it "an ambitious album that finds the rapper struggling to compact his many identities into one weird, uncomfortable, glorious whole [...] Like the man himself, the album is emotional, explosive, unpredictable, and undeniably thrilling."[68] In a mixed review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis described the album as "at turns, rambling, chaotic, deeply underwhelming, impressively audacious, and completely infuriating," suggesting that "[i]t appears to have had ideas thrown at it until it feels messy and incoherent" despite concluding that "when The Life of Pablo is good, it's very good indeed."[69] The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick wrote, "The Life of Pablo is certainly rich in musical scope, chock a block with inspired ideas," but also felt the work to be "so self-involved it crosses over into self-delusion, marked by such a tangible absence of perspective and objectivity it is as if [West] has actually lost sight of the elemental basics of his art."[67] Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot felt that "The Life of Pablo sounds like a work in progress rather than a finished album."[8]

Commercial performance

After its Tidal release, West urged the public to download the application to hear the album, which resulted in it reaching the number one spot on the App Store.[75] A few days following its release, the album had already been pirated over 500,000 times.[76]

Track listing

Credits adapted from West's official website[77] and Tidal.[78]

The Life of Pablo — Streaming (Tidal)[78]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Ultralight Beam"
5:20
2."Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1"
2:15
3."Pt. 2"
  • West
  • Menace
  • Rubin
  • Plain Pat[b]
  • Shaw[a]
2:09
4."Famous"
3:14
5."Feedback"
  • West
  • Charlie Heat[b]
  • Goldstein[b]
2:35
6."Low Lights"
  • West
  • DJDS
  • M. Dean[a]
2:11
7."Highlights"
3:19
8."Freestyle 4"
2:02
9."I Love Kanye"
  • West
  • West
0:44
10."Waves"
  • West
  • Charlie Heat
  • Hudson Mohawke[b]
  • Metro Boomin[b]
  • M. Dean[b]
  • Anthony Kilhoffer[a]
3:01
11."FML"
3:56
12."Real Friends"
4:11
13."Wolves"
3:59
14."Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission"
  • West
0:56
15."30 Hours"
  • West
  • Riggins
  • M. Dean
  • Goldstein[a]
5:25
16."No More Parties in LA"
6:14
17."Facts (Charlie Heat Version)"
  • West
  • Metro Boomin
  • Southside
  • Charlie Heat
3:19
18."Fade"
3:14
Total length:58:02

Notes

Sample credits

Credits adapted from West's official website.[77]

Release history

List of release dates, formats, label, and reference
Date Format Label Ref.
February 14, 2016 Streaming (Tidal exclusive)
[60]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Kim 2016.
  2. ^ Billboard Staff 2015.
  3. ^ Grow 2014.
  4. ^ Minsker 2014a.
  5. ^ Hernandez 2015.
  6. ^ Young 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Reiff 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Kot 2016.
  9. ^ Terry 2016.
  10. ^ West 2015.
  11. ^ West 2016a.
  12. ^ West 2016b.
  13. ^ nightsinoctober 2016.
  14. ^ Statt 2016.
  15. ^ Camp 2016.
  16. ^ Phillips 2016.
  17. ^ a b West 2016d.
  18. ^ Chance the Rapper 2016.
  19. ^ Rossignol 2016.
  20. ^ Eric 2016.
  21. ^ Ortiz 2016.
  22. ^ McKenna 2015.
  23. ^ Beauchemin 2015.
  24. ^ Kennedy 2015.
  25. ^ Ramirez 2014.
  26. ^ Markman 2015.
  27. ^ Gase 2015.
  28. ^ Gibsone 2016.
  29. ^ Platon 2016.
  30. ^ DeVille 2016.
  31. ^ McCown 2015.
  32. ^ West 2016e.
  33. ^ Young 2014.
  34. ^ West 2016c.
  35. ^ a b Thomasos 2016.
  36. ^ a b c d e Greene 2016.
  37. ^ Wilson 2016.
  38. ^ Vain 2016.
  39. ^ a b c Raymer 2016.
  40. ^ Lockett 2016.
  41. ^ Grebey 2016.
  42. ^ Wickman 2016.
  43. ^ a b Harris 2016.
  44. ^ Green 2016.
  45. ^ Camp 2015.
  46. ^ White 2015.
  47. ^ "FourFiveSeconds — Single by Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney". iTunes Store (US). Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  48. ^ Minsker 2014b.
  49. ^ Smith 2015.
  50. ^ Gordon & Phillips 2015a.
  51. ^ Newman 2015.
  52. ^ Phillips 2015.
  53. ^ Gordon & Phillips 2015b.
  54. ^ Monroe 2016a.
  55. ^ Feeney 2016.
  56. ^ Minsker & Strauss 2016.
  57. ^ Robertson 2016.
  58. ^ Lilah 2016.
  59. ^ Truong 2016.
  60. ^ a b Monroe 2016b.
  61. ^ West 2016f.
  62. ^ Stutz 2016.
  63. ^ Price 2016.
  64. ^ "Kanye West claims to be" 2016.
  65. ^ a b Metacritic 2016.
  66. ^ Jeffries 2016.
  67. ^ a b McCormick 2016.
  68. ^ a b Rahman 2016.
  69. ^ a b Petridis 2016.
  70. ^ Haynes 2016.
  71. ^ a b Sheffield 2016.
  72. ^ Rainis 2016.
  73. ^ Tate 2016.
  74. ^ Caramanica, Jon (February 14, 2016). "Review: Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo,' Songs of Praise and Self". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  75. ^ Newcomb 2016.
  76. ^ Blumenfeld 2016.
  77. ^ a b "The Life of Pablo – Credits". www.kanyewest.com. Kanye West. February 17, 2016. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  78. ^ a b "TIDAL". Listen.tidal.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016.

Sources

  1. ^ Rainis, James (February 19, 2016). "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 19, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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