The Life of Pablo

The Life of Pablo
Studio album by Kanye West
Publication (s)	February 14, 2016
admission	November 2013 to February 2016
Label (s)	GOOD Music , Def Jam Recordings
Genre (s)	Hip-hop ,
Title (number)	20th
running time	66:39
production	Various Kanye West, Noah Goldstein, Rick Rubin, Andrew Dawson, Anthony Kilhoffer, Allen Ritter, Benji B, Boi-1da, Cashmere Cat , Chance the Rapper , Charlie Handsome, Charlie Heat, Caroline Shaw, DJ Dodger Stadium, Darren King, Derek Watkins , Frank Dukes, Havoc, Hudsown Mohawke, Karriem Riggins, Mike Dean, Madlib, Menace, Metro Boomin, Mitus, Plain Pat, Sinjin Hawke, Southside, Swizz Beatz, Sevn Thomas, Trevor Gureckis, Velous
Studio (s)	Various Windmark, Santa Monica No name, Punta Mita Florence Home, Calabasas Germano and Jungle City, New York City Mike Dean's List House of Hits, SoHo Larrabee and Ameraycan, North Hollywood Nobel Street Abel's Crib, Trump Tower Jungle City, California
chronology Yeezus (2013) The Life of Pablo Ye (2018)
Single releases April 1, 2016 Famous June 7, 2016 Father Stretch My Hands September 9, 2016 Fade

The Life of Pablo (abbreviated: TLOP ; dt. The life of Pablo ) is the seventh studio album by the American rapper Kanye West . It was released on February 14, 2016 on the GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings labels . The album was initially released exclusively on the US music streaming service Tidal . West continued to work on the album and on April 1st it was released on Spotify etc. The last changes to the album were made in June 2018.

West described the creation of the album as "a living, breathing, changing, creative expression". In April 2017, the album was the first streaming album ever to be awarded a platinum record in the USA. At the Grammy Awards in 2017 was The Life of Pablo in the category Best Rap Album nominated, but lost Coloring Book of Chance the Rapper .

Track list

The album contains the following pieces of music:

#	title	producer	length
1.	Ultralight Beam (feat. The-Dream , Chance the Rapper , Kelly Price , Kirk Franklin )	West, Mike Dean, Chance the Rapper, Swizz Beats, Rick Rubin, Watkins, Plain Pat, DJ Dodger Stadium (DJDS), Goldstein	5:20
2.	Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 (feat. Kid Cudi )	West, M. Dean, Rick Rubin, Metro Boomin, DJDS, Ritter, Goldstein	2:15
3.	Pt. 2 (feat. Desiigner )	West, M. Dean, Rick Rubin, Plain Pat, Shaw	2:10
4th	Famous ( feat.Rihanna , Swizz Beatz )	West, Havoc, Goldstein, Charlie Heat, Dawson, Hudson Mohawke, M. Dean, Plain Pat, Kuk Harell	3:16
5.	Feedback	West, Charlie Heat, Goldstein	2:27
6th	Low lights	West, DJDS, M. Dean	2:11
7th	Highlights (feat. Young Thug , El-Debarge and The-Dream )	West, M. Dean, Velous, Southside, Plain Pat, Goldstein	3:19
8th.	Freestyle (feat. Desiigner )	West, Hudson Mohawke, Goldstein, M. Dean, DJDS, Shaw, Gureckis	2:03
9.	I love Kanye	west	0:44
10.	Waves (feat. Chris Brown )	West, M. Dean, Charlie Heat, Metro Boomin, Hudson Mohawke, Anthony Killhoffer	3:01
11.	FML (feat. The Weeknd )	West, M. Dean, Mitus, Metro Boomin, Goldstein, Dawson, Hudson Mohawke	3:56
12.	Real Friends (feat. Ty Dolla $ ign )	West, Boi-1da, Frank Dukes, Havoc, King M. Dean, Goldstein, Sevn, Thomas	4:11
13.	Wolves	West, Cashmere Cat , Sinjin Hawke, M. Dean, Goldstein, Shaw	5:01
14th	Frank's track	West, Cashmere Cat, Sinjin Hawke	0:38
15th	Silver Surfer Intermission	west	0:56
16.	30 hours	West, Riggings, M. Dean	5:23
17th	No More Parties in LA ( feat.Kendrick Lamar )	West, Madlib	6:14
18th	Facts (Charlie Heat Version)	West, Metro Boomin, Southside, Charlie Heat	3:20
19th	Fade ( feat.Ty Dolla $ ign , Post Malone )	West, M. Dean, Kilhoffer, Benji B, Charlie Handsome, DJDS, Goldstein	3:13
20th	Saint Pablo (feat. Sampha )	West, M. Dean, Ritter, Goldstein	6:12

presentation

At the presentation of the album, which West celebrated at the same time as the presentation of his third fashion collection in New York's Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2016, the album was not quite finished and West was playing an incompletely mastered version from his laptop. The album, which was originally only to be heard on the Tidal streaming service , appeared shortly after its release on the pornographic website pornhub.com , although it was initially unclear whether West himself had made the album available there. In the first 24 hours of its release, the album is estimated to have been illegally downloaded at least 500,000 times. West continued to work on the album, and on April 1, 2016, it was released on Spotify and Apple Music.

Reviews

• Aria Nejati rated the album positively for the hiphop magazine Hiphop.de : It was "a kaleidoscope of musical fascination". He compares The Life Of Pablo with a “roller coaster ride with theatrical lows and highs”, it seems “like a manic depression in fast motion”. The album was "produced with more precision and detail than almost any other piece of music on the market". In return, however, it is “clearly lagging behind in terms of the text”.
• In a review published on t-online.de , Daniel Reviol wrote that the album was "too much of everything". Among the 18 songs are also some weak numbers. According to Reviol, West should have limited himself to the ten best.
• Ivo Ligeti describes the album more positively on musikexpress.de : “All that is wonderful” is judged here and it is said that West leaves “the greatest moments to its guests”.
• Rob Sheffield rates the album 4.5 out of 5 stars in Rolling Stone and describes it as a “complex conflicted masterpiece”.

Commercial win

The Life of Pablo failed to make it onto the Billboard charts in the first few months after it was released because West Tidal forbade the streaming numbers to be passed on to NielsenSoundscan. According to an estimate by Torrent Freak, the album was illegally downloaded more than 500,000 times in just a few days. In March, Tidal revealed that the album was streamed more than 250 million times in the first ten days of its release. After the album was released on other streaming providers, it entered the Billboard 200 at number one on the US album charts in the week of April 23 . In the week from 1–7. April, 94,000 units were sold, with 28,000 digital sales on Tidal and West's websites. With 99 million streams in chart week, The Life of Pablo became the first album in Billboard history to hit the top with a majority of streams. With the chart week of October 5, 2019, the album is still on the Billboard 200.

Chart successes

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
2016	The Life of Pablo	UK30 (48 weeks) UK	US1 (... week) US	First published: February 14, 2016

Awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × platinum	40,000
France (SNEP)	gold	50,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	120,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,000,000
All in all	2 × gold 3 × platinum	1,210,000

Main article: Kanye West / Music Sales Awards

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jazz Monroe: Kanye West's The Life of Pablo Is Out Now . In: Pitchfork . February 14, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
2. ↑ Jonathan Jones: Is Kanye West hip-hop's greatest cubist? ( English ) In: The Guardian . February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
3. ↑ The Life of Pablo - Credits. In: Kanyewest.com. Kanye West , February 17, 2016; archived from the original on February 20, 2016 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 . 
4. ↑ TIDAL. In: Listen.tidal.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Daniel Gerhardt: God's great egg dance. Zeit Online, February 15, 2016, accessed March 10, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Kanye West is now running on pornhub. Spiegel Online, March 2, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Kanye West's The Life of Pablo is now on Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play . In: The Verge . April 1, 2016. Accessed June 9, 2018.
8. ↑ Aria Nejati: Kanye West's "Pablo" is a kaleidoscope of musical fascination. In: Hiphop.de. February 15, 2016, accessed May 6, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Daniel Reviol: Kanye West fails because of her own megalomania. t-online.de, February 16, 2016, accessed on March 10, 2017 . 
10. ^ Ivo Ligeti: Kanye West - The Life of Pablo. musikexpress.de, February 17, 2016, accessed on March 10, 2017 . 
11. ^ Rob Sheffield: Kanye West: The Life of Pablo. rollingstone.com, February 16, 2016, accessed March 10, 2017 . 
12. ^ ^{A b c} Will Robinson: Kanye West: The Life of Pablo Tidal streaming numbers revealed . In: Entertainment Weekly . March 29, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
13. ↑ Keith Caulfield: Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart . In: Billboard . April 10, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
14. ↑ Chart sources: UK US