Complex sentence: Following a period of public and legal controversy, West retreated to a "self-imposed exile" in Hawaii in 2009; there, he worked on the album in a communal recording environment that involved numerous contributing musicians and producers.
Split into simpler sentences: Following a period of public and legal controversy, West retreated to a "self-imposed exile" in Hawaii in 2009. There, he worked on the album in a communal recording environment that involved numerous contributing musicians and producers.