History Music / TheLifeOfPablo

[[caption-width-right:350:''I can't let these people play me / name one genius that ain't crazy.'']]

West began work on the album in late 2013 when it was still known as ''So Help Me God'', and it was intended for a release in 2014 with Music/RickRubin and [[Music/ATribeCalledQuest Q-Tip]] helping with production. In 2015, he renamed it to ''SWISH'', and at the start of 2016 he revived the GOOD Fridays initiative that he started with ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' to promote the album, in which a new single is released every Friday. West premiered the album on February 11 (its announced release date) at Madison Square Garden as part of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line presentation, but ended up delaying it slightly further to refine the track list one last time and to include the track "Waves" at the request of Chance the Rapper.

''The Life of Pablo'' was initially released as an exclusive for the streaming service Tidal, which resulted in a huge ColbertBump as it caused a large increase in subscribers to the service and 250 million streams in the first 10 days. Following the album's release on Tidal, West continued to make changes to the album, declaring it "a living breathing changing creative expression." A largely updated version of the album, which included alternate mixes and other changes, was made available on other streaming services and for digital purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. Following Tidal's disclosure of its streaming data and the album's release to competing streaming services, ''The Life of Pablo'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming West's seventh consecutive number one album on the chart and the first album to reach the summit primarily through streaming. However, it was illegally downloaded over 500,000 times within three days of being released.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Many have misheard Rihanna's "Famous" lyric "I loved you better than your own ''kin did''" as "I loved you better than your own ''candy''".

** "Ultralight Beam" has two examples: the sample of the praying little girl that starts the album, and Kirk Cameron's prayer at the end of the song.

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Frank's Track" only features vocals from [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Frank Ocean]] and no else
* EnsembleCast: On par with ''MBDTF''. The features on this album include Music/ChrisBrown, Music/{{Rihanna}}, Music/TheWeeknd, Young Thug, Ty Dolla $ign, [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Frank Ocean]], Desiigner, [[Music/OutKast Andre 3000]], Chance the Rapper, and Music/KendrickLamar.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Freestyle 4" ends with the beat suddenly collapsing and devolving into an unsettling electronic noise repeated for the last 15 seconds.

* FunWithAcronyms: "FML" is normally used online as shorthand for "fuck my life", but Kanye uses it as shorthand for "for my lady".

* OneSceneWonder: Chance's verse on "Ultralight Beam" ended up being one of the most praised and discussed veres on the album, arguably crosses over with StarMakingRole

* ColbertBump: Desiigner's "Panda" went to #1 on the Hot 100 shorty after being sampled on "PT. 2"

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Frank's Track" is [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Frank Ocean]]

* FollowTheLeader: From "I Love Kanye":
-->See, I invented Kanye, there wasn't any Kanyes\\
And now I look and look and there's so many Kanyes

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood on the Leaves" from ''Yeezus''), Pastor T.L Barrett, Music/Goldfrapp, and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood on the Leaves" from ''Yeezus''), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp, and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

'''''The Life of Pablo''''' (formerly known as ''So Help Me God'', ''SWISH'', and ''Waves'') is the seventh album by American rapper Music/KanyeWest, released on February 14, 2016 after a [[ScheduleSlip number of setbacks and delays]].

* BrokenRecord: In "Wolves", Kanye repeats the following phrase three times.

** The version of "Facts" on the album (the "Charlie Heat Version"), has different production than the original Kanye uploaded to his Soundcloud at the start of 2016.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The two parts of "Father Stretch My Hands", "Highlights" and "Freestyle 4", and "Real Friends" and "Wolves".

* RearrangeTheSong: "Highlights" reuses the melodies from "Low Lights", which is essentially all they have in common aside from their titles.
* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood On The Leaves" from Yeezus), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

** The intermission.

If we ain't love the same bitch\\

Only problem is I'm rich

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood On The Leaves" from Music/Yeezus), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood On The Leaves" from Music/Yeezus.), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources like Music/RareEarth, Music/NinaSimone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood On The Leaves" from Yeezus.), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources from Rare Earth, Nina Simone (which Kanye had already sampled on "Blood On The Leaves" from Yeezus.), Pastor T.L Barrett, Goldfrapp and even Music/JayZ. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

* {{Sampling}}: Present throughout from a number of different sources. It is a Kanye West album, after all.

We the new [[Music/TheJacksonFive Jacksons]], I'm all about that action

* AllStarCast: The album features a crazy number of rappers and producers including [[Music/OutKast André 3000]], Chance the Rapper, Desiigner, Music/ChrisBrown, [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Frank Ocean]], Ty Dolla $ign, Music/TheWeeknd, and Swizz Beatz. The majority of tracks have features.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The two parts of "Father Stretch My Hands", as well as "Highlights" and "Freestyle 4".

''The Life of Pablo'' was initially released as an exclusive for the streaming service Tidal, which resulted in a huge ColbertBump as it caused a large increase in subscribers to the service and 250 million streams in the first 10 days. Following the album's release on Tidal, West continued to make changes to the album, declaring it "a living breathing changing creative expression." A largely updated version of the album, which included alternate mixes and other changes, was made available on other streaming services and for digital purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. Following Tidal's disclosure of its streaming data and the album's release to competing streaming services, ''The Life of Pablo'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming West's seventh consecutive number one album on the chart and the first album to reach the summit primarily through streaming.