By Thomas Cottingham
Kanye West, Grammy-award-winning rapper and producer, has some huge plans this week for the music and fashion industry that have been kept secret for years.
West will be presenting his new clothing line, Season 3, on a global scale in select theatres all over the world on Feb.11. That’s not all: right after the fashion show he will have a live listening party for his highly-anticipated album. The album, “The Life of Pablo,” will be released on the same day as the fashion show.
What can we expect from his album? West’s seventh studio album has been on the radar since November 2013, but it has gone through four album title changes. He first named the installment “So Help Me God,” and then he changed it to “SWISH,” to “WAVES” and now to “The Life of Pablo”. What could it mean? Only West’s inside circle would know, but to the general public it’s still a mystery.
A few of the songs off the album have already been released on SoundCloud. His latest track with Compton-raised rapper Kendrick Lamar, “No More Parties in LA,” shows how much West grew lyrically from his previous album, “Yeezus.” “No More Parties” is a very electrifying song with West and Kendrick sharing fast-paced bars and flow changes.
Another track, titled “Real Friends,” is a slower song with dreary, simple but effective,instrumentals. This track also shows a different side of Kanye West—a more vulnerable side. West shares real-life moments of betrayal in the song, including a moment when his cousin stole his laptop, and he had to pay $250,000 to get it back.
Two other songs that are on the album have also been released in the past year. West performed “Wolves” on Saturday Night Live in February featuring rapper Vic Mensa and songwriter/singer Sia. West originally said that this track would be the first song on the album but later pushed it down to last.
“Fade” premiered on West’s Season 2 fashion show in September and includes rappers Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone. Both of these songs were impressive but unfinished. Fans can expect both songs to be slightly altered for the final version on the record.
Twitter has been a useful tool for West during the making of his new album. If there’s one word to describe what West thinks about his album’s effort, it would be hype. Coming back from a Twitter hiatus, West began tweeting more about his album.
He has recently tweeted, “This is not the album of the year; it’s the album of the life,” and “This album is actually a Gospel album.” He also has tweeted photos of a notepad that many artists who worked on the project with him have signed. Signatures on the notepad include Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky, Andre 3000, Puff Daddy, 2 Chainz, Earl Sweatshirt, Chance the Rapper, Tyler the Creator, The Dream, Swizz Beats and AG, who is rumored to be Aubrey Graham (Drake). His wife Kim Kardashian-West and sister-in-laws Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also signed the notepad.
A track list is also included on Twitter. The track list, like the title, has gone through several changes as well. West released the final track list on the night before the release.
“The Life of Pablo” contains 10 tracks. Besides the music that has already been released, track names include “Ultra Light Beam,” “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1 & Pt. 2,” “Freestyle 4,” “Famous,” “High Lights,” “Feed Back” and “FML.” Yeezy did a similar act with a notepad when creating his debut album, “The College Dropout.” The notepad had several names of songs on it, but more were added to the final album.
When tickets went on sale for West’s fashion show/listening party, Madison Square Garden sold out in 10 minutes. This has been his lifelong dream and will finally come true.
The hype for this album has been growing massively, partially thanks to multiple Twitter fights with rapper Wiz Khalifa, insane claims of how good the album will be and the supposed features on tracks.
Kanye West has never made an unimpressive album in his career, has 21 Grammys and says this album will be a piece of art. He also spent over two and a half years making it. This could be his last album, or the last one for a very long time, now that he has a wife and two kids. Expect greatness on Feb. 11.
cottintf14@bonaventure.edu
