The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Kanye West. It was released by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings on February 14, 2016. The album was initially available exclusively through the streaming service Tidal, following a lengthy series of delays in its recording and finalization. Recording of the album dated back to recording sessions for West's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and took place in various locations. West began working on his seventh solo album in November 2013. The album was originally titled So Help Me God and slated for a 2014 release. This version of the album, which never materialized, included several tracks which were released such as "God Level" (released as part of an Adidas World Cup promo), "Tell Your Friends" (later given to The Weeknd), "3500" (given to Travis Scott), "All Day" and "Only One". In February 2015, the only tracks from this version appearing to make the final cut for The Life of Pablo were "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "Wolves", which West performed on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary episode, with American recording artists Sia and Vic Mensa. In May 2015, West renamed the album SWISH but clarified that it still could be subject to change. On January 26, 2016, West posted a supposed finalized track-listing on his Twitter account, along with another tentative title for the album, Waves. On February 4, West confirmed on Big Boy's Neighborhood radio show, that he still did not have a final album title. On February 9, West tweeted that the acronym of the album title was T.L.O.P. It was revealed the next day via Twitter that the album was titledThe Life of Pablo. West tweeted the album cover on February 11, 2016. West also debuted a portion of the album during his Yeezy Season 3 event on the same day, which West intended to be the album's official release day. West revised the track-list on multiple occasions, ultimately modifying it on February 12, from ten tracks to seventeen. However, the release was delayed in order to include one final track, "Waves", which was initially removed from the original track-list. On February 15, 2016, Chance the Rapper annotated one of his lyrics from "Ultralight Beam" on Genius, explaining that the track was originally supposed to be the album's outro, rather than the opener on the version made available on Tidal. The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Kanye West. It was released by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings on February 14, 2016. The album was initially available exclusively through the streaming service Tidal, following a lengthy series of delays in its recording and finalization. Recording of the album dated back to recording sessions for West's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and took place in various locations. West began working on his seventh solo album in November 2013. The album was originally titled So Help Me God and slated for a 2014 release. This version of the album, which never materialized, included several tracks which were released such as "God Level" (released as part of an Adidas World Cup promo), "Tell Your Friends" (later given to The Weeknd), "3500" (given to Travis Scott), "All Day" and "Only One". In February 2015, the only tracks from this version appearing to make the final cut for The Life of Pablo were "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "Wolves", which West performed on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary episode, with American recording artists Sia and Vic Mensa. In May 2015, West renamed the album SWISH but clarified that it still could be subject to change. On January 26, 2016, West posted a supposed finalized track-listing on his Twitter account, along with another tentative title for the album, Waves. On February 4, West confirmed on Big Boy's Neighborhood radio show, that he still did not have a final album title. On February 9, West tweeted that the acronym of the album title was T.L.O.P. It was revealed the next day via Twitter that the album was titledThe Life of Pablo. West tweeted the album cover on February 11, 2016. West also debuted a portion of the album during his Yeezy Season 3 event on the same day, which West intended to be the album's official release day. West revised the track-list on multiple occasions, ultimately modifying it on February 12, from ten tracks to seventeen. However, the release was delayed in order to include one final track, "Waves", which was initially removed from the original track-list. On February 15, 2016, Chance the Rapper annotated one of his lyrics from "Ultralight Beam" on Genius, explaining that the track was originally supposed to be the album's outro, rather than the opener on the version made available on Tidal. false 2025-02-01 07:36:42 2016 2016-02-14 2016-02-14 58 Hip Hop 111822 2260051 99e14f9e-5831-4b2c-b595-531be0f225ea 164f0d73-1234-4e2c-8743-d77bf2191051 8c18657a-6338-490d-a952-897663596b96 /media/data/media4/Music/Kanye West/The Life of Pablo/folder.jpg Kanye West Kanye West feat. Chance the Rapper & Kirk Franklin Kanye West feat. Chris Brown Kanye West feat. Desiigner Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean & Caroline Shaw Kanye West feat. Kendrick Lamar Kanye West feat. Kid Cudi Kanye West feat. Post Malone & Ty Dolla $ign Kanye West feat. Rihanna Kanye West feat. The Weeknd Kanye West feat. Ty Dolla $ign Kanye West feat. Young Thug Kanye West 1 1 05:20 1 2 02:15 1 3 02:09 1 4 03:14 1 5 02:35 1 6 02:11 1 7 03:19 1 8 02:02 1 9 00:44 1 10 03:01 1 11 03:56 1 12 04:11 1 13 03:58 1 14 00:56 1 15 05:25 1 16 06:14 1 17 03:19 1 18 03:13 Ye ( YAY; born Kanye Omari West; June 8, 1977), commonly known as Kanye West ( KAHN-yay), is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip hop musicians of all time, as well as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing singles for several artists and developing the "chipmunk soul" sampling style. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, he released his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), to critical and commercial success. West subsequently founded his record label GOOD Music later that same year. West explored diverse musical elements such as orchestral arrangements, synthesizers, and autotune on the albums Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Drawing inspiration from maximalism and minimalism respectively, his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) and sixth album Yeezus (2013) were also released to critical and commercial success. West further diversified his musical styles on The Life of Pablo (2016) and Ye (2018), and explored Christian and gospel music on Jesus Is King (2019). After a series of delays, his highly anticipated tenth album Donda (2021) was released to continued commercial success, but to mixed critical reception. He released its sequel, Donda 2 (2022), a few months later, exclusively through his tie-in audio speaker service. West's discography also includes the full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) with Jay-Z and Kids See Ghosts (2018) with Kid Cudi. West's outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant media coverage. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct on social media, award shows, and public settings; as well as his comments on the music and fashion industries, U.S. politics, race, and slavery. His Christian faith, estranged marriage to Kim Kardashian, and mental health have also been sources of further media attention. As a fashion designer, he has collaborated with Nike, Louis Vuitton, The Gap, and A.P.C. on clothing and footwear, and leads the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas. He is also the founder and head of the creative content company Donda. In 2020, West launched an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign that primarily advocated for a consistent life ethic.One of the world's best-selling music artists, with over 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, the joint tenth-most of all time, and the joint-most Grammy awards of any rapper along with Jay-Z. He is frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest artists, with his music among the most acclaimed. Among his other awards are the Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Six of West's albums were included on Rolling Stone's 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list with the same publication naming him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. He holds the joint record (with Bob Dylan) for most albums (4) topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll, and has the 5th most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 (133 entries). Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2 billion as of 2022, making him the wealthiest musician in the world.