“Release dates is played out. The surprise is gonna be a surprise.”
As I write this, Kanye West is yet to release his new album. Yesterday, February 11th, at about 4:30pm EST, ‘Ye played his seventh album to the public for the very first time at his Yeezy Season 3 event in Madison Square Garden, New York City. The event was streamed on Tidal, and broadcast in cinemas across the globe, as Kanye showcased both his latest line for Adidas, and the 10 tracks now collectively known as The Life of Pablo. Following the event, it was only a matter of time before the album would appear on Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify, most presumed; the album was slated to be released that day. However, what would follow was one of the most excruciating waiting games I’ve witnessed.
Really and truly, everything about this album has been a waiting game. West reportedly began working on the album in November 2013, 5 months after the release of his sixth studio album, Yeezus, with some songs, like No More Parties in L.A., even having roots as early as 2010. Eventually, it was announced that the album was slated for a 2014 release under the title So Help Me God. Soon after this announcement, a number of tracks, supposedly from or for the album, began to pop up here and there. First, there was God Level, which appeared briefly in an Adidas World Cup promo. Next was the un-mastered leak of All Day in August 2014. That New Years Eve, Kanye dropped Only One, featuring and co-produced by Paul McCartney.
In February 2015, Kanye and Adidas presented Yeezy Season 1; the launch of his latest fashion line. During the show, Kanye premiered Wolves, which at the time featured Vic Mensa and Sia. Days later, the three would perform the track at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special. Later in February, he performed All Day at the BRIT Awards, before giving it a proper release in March.
Slowly but surely, Yeezy was releasing tidbits of information about the record. Not long after the release of All Day, Kanye announced the album had been rechristened from So Help Me God to SWISH. “[It’s gonna be] bars, songs, cookout music that just feels good … This album is embracing the music, joy. Being of service to the people. I just hope people like it and enjoy it”, Kanye told The Breakfast Club. In the same interview, he stated that the album was “80% done”. Things were really shaping up: Yeezy Season was indeed approaching. Then suddenly, all went quiet.
After months of waiting for a Beyoncé-esque surprise release, Kanye would finally premiere a new song: Fade, during the Yeezy Season 2 fashion show in September. What was glaringly flagrant was how different all of these songs were from one another. It was tough to imagine them all flowing together on an album, especially a Kanye West album, but we’d been told the album was 80% complete, so we had to believe that all of this new music would appear on SWISH.
One year since the release of Only One, on New Years Eve, Kanye dropped FACTS on Soundcloud, a diss track aimed at Nike. Despite its criticism, many were just happy to know Kanye still had music on his mind. A week later, Kim Kardashian announced the release of Real Friends, along with the return of Kanye’s weekly music premieres, Good Fridays. Throughout the day, Real Friends disappeared and reappeared a number of times, as Kanye perfected the mixing. The following week our tentative patience was tested as the world awaited the arrival of No More Parties In L.A. Over the weekend, Kanye posted constant updates from the studio.
Days later, Kanye would at last announce what appeared to be a release date, tweeting “Swish February 11 16”. Kanye announced Yeezy Season 3 for February 11, and finally we had some certainty. Then, he released the tracklist. Wolves and Famous (formerly Nina Chop) were there, but none of the other tracks that supposedly made up some of the 80% complete album this time last year appeared.
Then, outta nowhere, SWISH became WAVES. It was surreal; we were seeing this album transform before our eyes. It was confusing, worrying, but ultimately damn exciting. As February 11 drew closer we saw the tracklist change constantly. He changed songtitles, he changed the arrangement, and he introduced a three-act structure. All of these changes took place on the same piece of paper, and with each update, more names were added.
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In an interview with Big Boy, Kanye revealed no title was set in stone, and he was gathering feedback from his friends, family and fans. There haven’t been many situations like this in the past, if any, where we have been granted this kind of access to the process of making an album.
Just days before the expected release date, Kanye announced a new, mysterious title: TLOP, leaving the fans to speculate on what it stood for. On the day of the event, Kanye confirmed The Life of Pablo, seemingly referring to both Pablo Picasso and Pablo Escobar, as the official title. Along with this, he released one more ‘final’ tracklist. No More Parties was gone; Freestyle 4 was added. This was the day of the release, and the tracklist was still evolving.
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Then, the event took place. At last, it was real, it was happening, it was here. Pablo had come to life. Everything went smoothly, all 10 tracks from the final list were played, everybody was happy. That is, until people began to wonder when they’d actually be able to buy the album. You see, while its all well and good to hear the songs during a fashion show, in order to really appreciate the work, you need to hear it properly. We’d been given a taste, and it was delicious, but now it was time for the feast. I, like many any other hungry Yeezy fans, took to Reddit, specifically the Hip Hop Heads subreddit, to see if anybody had any information on its proper release.
There was none. Nobody knew a thing, and people were beginning to starve. Many speculated that because iTunes updates at 11pm EST, this would be when the album drops. 11pm hit, there was nothing. Somebody who preordered the album had posted a screenshot online, displaying 02-12-2016 as the release date. So, midnight became the new time.
At midnight, there was nothing.
But no! Kanye is from Chicago! It must be midnight Central Time!
Nothing.
Wait, wait, Kanye lives in California, it’s gotta be midnight Pacific Time.
Nope.
People are beginning to panic. I stayed up until 3:30am refreshing the thread, watching as thousands approached insanity. What made matters worse, is that there wasn’t silence from Yeezy’s camp. The collective blue balls of the Kanye fanboys were strengthened by the fact that his Creative Director, Virgil Abloh, was posting vague tweets about mastering the album. Producer Mike Dean took to Periscope to troll the fuck out of everyone as he presented a live feed from the studio, listening to the album. During one of these broadcasts, Dean filmed a screen that appeared to display a tracklist for about a millisecond. People were quick to notice that a twelfth song had been listed. Was this album still being made, after it had already been played to the public?!
Now, people are getting livid. At one point in the night, Kanye posted 11 photos from the Yeezy 3 event, with no further comment on the album. Some ‘stans’ are threatening to boycott the album. They are entitled to this. They deserve it. They’ve stayed up tonight for it. Many of them have school in the morning. How dare you, Kanye.
Was the World’s Greatest Fuckhead Martin Shkreli not lying when he said his $10 million offer to have the album to himself would force a delay in its release? Absolutely not, but people were freaking out about it nonetheless. Hip Hop Heads had gone into an all out frenzy. They love Kanye so much they’d began to hate him, which I believe is Kanye’s dream (“Soon as they like you, make ‘em unlike you” – On Sight). I went to sleep.
When I woke up this morning, The Life of Pablo was still not out, and I realized that many of those on Reddit had been up all night awaiting its release. Instead, Kanye had gone on a brief tirade against Taylor Swift, and had decided to release a new, non-album song, 30 Hours, stating, “Now that the album is finally finished it’s back to Good Fridays”. This was new Kanye, but not the new Kanye we wanted. All it did was launch stans deeper into the tailspin they had already been caught up in since about 2014. Could this mean the album won’t be out for another 30 hours?? Had Kanye just completely forgotten? Why must he tease us like this? Plus, he just straight up told us the album was finished, so where was it?
But the album was not finished. After premiering what we thought to be the complete album at Yeezy Season 3, Kanye today announced he had added 5 new songs to the tracklist, including a new version of FACTS, the fresh 30 Hours, and the returning No More Parties in LA. He’s seemingly done away with the 3-act structure he had at one point, and the tracklist was on a new piece of paper. Finally, Kanye revealed that the album had been mastered, and would be released today (February 12). With iTunes scheduled to update at 3pm EST, this was presumably the time of release. Once again, fans were left disappointed.