Real Friends included a familiar nag about his epochal fame, of having a life his friends couldnвЂ™t relate to, a family he didnвЂ™t speak to, and of the cousin who stole his laptop, who he вЂњhad to pay $250,000 to get it fromвЂќ. The wry, meta self-deprecation of I Love Kanye, in which he acknowledged the frustration he provokes even now: вЂњI hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye / The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye / I miss the sweet Kanye, chop up the beats Kanye / I gotta say, at that time IвЂ™d like to meet Kanye.вЂќ But then there were the jarring mood changes. Thematically, he had promised cookout music with a gospel flow вЂ“ a Sunday best, summer BBQ vibe under which Ultralight Beam, Waves, No More Parties in LA, easily rest. вЂњRelease dates is played outвЂќ he said the year before, and for all the criticism he faced for tinkering with Pablo вЂ“ re-editing and refining it months after it was first premiered on Tidal вЂ“ consider how much West achieved in what he called a вЂњliving, breathing, changing creative expressionвЂќ. The hype was swapped for relief вЂ“ the album was good, the tunes banged вЂ“ before confusion set in about its conclusion: West said there would be no physical sales, that it would only be available to stream and that he would be adding more songs and вЂњfinishingвЂќ others already on the tracklist. The event was simultaneously streamed in sold-out cinemas across the world.

Fans paid $160 a ticket to hear the album played back from a laptop in an 18,000-seat arena. He launched it in February with impressive audacity: at Madison Square Garden while unveiling the third collection of his fashion line. So Help Me God became Swish, and then Waves, before West arrived at the definitive title of his seventh album. The Life of Pablo skipped through four name changes and three post-release edits in the three years it took to arrive.

Kanye life of pablo full album