page_title: The Life of Pablo
section_title: Background and development
hierarchical_section_title: The Life of Pablo / Background and development
caption_attribution_description: Chance the Rapper&#160;::: Red Rocks&#160;::: 05.02.17
context_page_description: The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016, in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Production was handled by West and a variety of other producers, including co-executive producers Rick Rubin and Noah Goldstein. West also enlisted guest vocals for the album, including Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi, Desiigner, Rihanna, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla Sign and Post Malone.
  The release of The Life of Pablo was preceded by several promotional singles, including the tracks "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA". During the months before release, the title and tracklist of the album went through several publicized changes. An early version of it was premiered by West at Madison Square Garden on February 11, 2016, as part of his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show. After several additional sessions and alterations, the launch occurred exclusively for streaming on Tidal three days later.
  Following the official streaming debut, West continued to make changes to The Life of Pablo.
context_section_description: In November 2013, West began working on his seventh studio album, under the working title of So Help Me God for a 2014 release date. Production work by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip was announced to be included on the album, the former of which was one of the executive producers of West's sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). Early recording sessions resulted in several tracks that were released as standalone singles or given to other artists, including West's Paul McCartney collaborations "All Day", "Only One", and the McCartney and Rihanna collaboration "FourFiveSeconds". In 2015, West announced the album's new title as being SWISH, though he simultaneously clarified that the title could still be subject to change. West had changed the title of an album in the past, as his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) was originally slated to be released under the title of Good Ass Job. West announced in January 2016 that SWISH would be released on February 11, and released the new song "Real Friends" that same month simultaneously with a snippet of "No More Parties in LA". This also signified a revival of the GOOD Fridays initiative in which West releases new singles every Friday. On January 26, 2016, West revealed that he had renamed the album from SWISH to Waves.
  In the weeks leading up to the album's release, West released several changing iterations of the track list, while he became embroiled in several Twitter controversies. In January 2016, West became involved in a short-lived social media altercation with American rapper Wiz Khalifa on Twitter that eventually involved their mutual ex-partner, Amber Rose, who protested to the former's mention of her and Wiz Khalifa's child. The feud involved allegations by Rose concerning her sexual relationship with West; though he didn't directly reply to her, West claimed that "Wiz lost 2 million followers" since the two rappers feuded. The following month, West posted a tweet that seemingly asserted Bill Cosby's innocence in the wake of over 50 women making allegations of sexual assault directed at Cosby. The track "Famous", featuring vocals from frequent West collaborator Rihanna and American hip hop recording artist Swizz Beatz, was met with scrutiny on social media for a controversial lyrical reference to American singer Taylor Swift, partially in relation to West's interruption of her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
  Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo on February 9, 2016. On February 11, West premiered an early version of the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the track list once more before the release to the public, and further delayed the release to finalize the recording of the track "Waves" at the behest of co-writer Chance the Rapper. He released The Life of Pablo for streaming on February 14, 2016, following a performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL). Following its official streaming release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as "a living breathing changing creative expression." Although a statement by West around the time of The Life of Pablo's initial release indicated that it would be a permanent exclusive to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April 2016. Prior to the release of The Life of Pablo, West had tweeted out that it was a hip hop album, as well as a gospel album. Additionally, in an interview on Big Boy Radio, West stated "When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk, Kirk Franklin, and we're just going through it, I said this is a gospel album, with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it's still a gospel album."
caption: Chance the Rapper contributed to several tracks, including "Ultralight Beam" and "Waves".
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