The Life of Pablo
| Kanye West
The Life of Pablo
The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American rapper and recording artist Kanye West, released on February 14, 2016, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016 in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Production on the album was handled by West and a variety of producers. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The Life of Pablo is the first Kanye West album that's just an album: No major statements, no reinventions, no zeitgeist wheelie-popping. But a madcap sense of humor animates all his best work, and the new record has a freewheeling energy that is infectious and unique to his discography.
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Rolling Stone
Kanye wrestles with his biggest enemy – himself – on a complex, conflicted masterpiece
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Complex
Kanye West is the best album artist in hip-hop history, and The Life of Pablo stretches his run to seven straight without a dud.
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Consequence of Sound
Kanye West for better and worse, funneled in an imperfect method, as flawed and intriguing as an actual human life.
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Hip Hop DX
The list of features and producers seems endless, yet pristinely managed. Most of the minutes are dominated by other voices. Pablo could easily be confused for a collaborative album.
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The Guardian
The Life of Pablo is good, it’s very good indeed. What it isn’t is consistent.
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The Odyssey
While the release of "T.L.O.P." was long overdue and very much appreciated, this album does still feel like it needs some finishing touches. As great as the album is, and as hard it is for a Kanye stan to admit, "T.L.O.P." would have benefitted from even more of a push back.
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AV Music
In the end, it’s the music, as messy, self-involved, but utterly brilliant and typically forward-thinking as it is, that remains his salvation.
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USA Today
While it may not deliver on West's promise of being "the album of the life," it's undeniably the work of one of music's most boundary-pushing artists and will give fans plenty to unpack until West's next feverishly anticipated release.
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The Telegraph
There is much to be admired here, rather less to be enjoyed. The Life Of Pablo is certainly rich in musical scope, chock a block with inspired ideas, encompassing lush melodies and striking beats showcasing West’s skills as a rapper, producer and marshaller of other people’s talents.
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NME
Kanye West’s dangerous, disjointed and confused seventh album retains the rapper’s status as the most interesting musician on the planet.
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Crack Magazine
The Life Of Pablo is a frustrating but undeniably engaging listen – dazzlingly unpredictable and fleshed out with enough strokes of radiance for us to follow Pablo’s lead and keep the faith.
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Okay Player
Its also like Kanye wanted to give us a little of all the different Kanyes on this album, which is cool. But whats missing is the truly big moments.
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The Atlantic
This is his first album since getting married, becoming a father of two, releasing a fashion line, and receiving a few lifetime-achievement awards and honorary degrees. Yet it repeatedly pleads for strength in a time of personal strife.
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Plugged In
The profound and the profane pound away at each other on The Life of Pablo. Kanye West's seventh studio album twitches spasmodically amid tender, vulnerable, faith-affirming emotions and vulgar, graphic, narcissistic nastiness.
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DJ Booth
Kanye might’ve lost his mind but he hasn’t completely lost his touch.
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The Hot Box
The Life of Pablo may not be understood by all, but it should be enjoyed by many.
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All Music
The Life of Pablo circles the wagons around family and soul mates in a manner that makes this the most holy of endeavors.
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Hot New Hip Hop
The struggle between his Christian faith and basest instincts has always been central to Kanye’s music, and The Life of Pablo is almost a straight-up concept album about that.
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The Communicator
As far as the best and worst songs on the album, there is not a single genuinely bad song to be found. On “Pablo,” he talks more smack about other famous people he has beef with than ever before. It’s its own thing, and that’s the only thing I could have asked for from a new Kanye album.
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The Gourmet Bachelor
Uneven, but occasionally brilliant 8th full length album by the always polarizing and even hated West. West’s discography remains singular amongst both rap artists and pop artists in general during the 21st century
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Vibe
The Life of Pablo is a jambalaya of its predecessors. There’s the soul of The College Dropout. The metaphoric quality of Late Registration. The self-awareness of Graduation. The melodic melancholy of 808s & Heartbreak. The grandioseness of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And the straight-up gall of Yeezus.
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Albumism
The Life of Pablo is an imperfect record, to be sure, one that ultimately can’t be salvaged by its creator's slipshod ambition, nor by its A-list contributions. Nevertheless, here and there, Pablo contains songs that rightfully belong among the best of Kanye’s twelve-year career in front of the microphone and hold the promise of the more sophisticated and soul-affirming songs we pray define his music in the years to come.
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KEXP
The Life of Pablo feels like one big exhale away from the real world towards a place of attempted spiritual calm. The synths and drums are palatial throughout, lifted at every step by dense but short-tailed reverb. The arrangements are spacious but constantly shifting.
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The Tech
The Life of Pablo is not a narrative, a memoir, or a sociopolitical abstraction. Rather, it is an impression of all the arrogance, creativity, bravado, and debt in which Kanye West is immersed.
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True Too
For the Life of Pablo, everything surrounding it gave us reason to believe this run was over. Even the album itself is a constant battle between perfection and indecision. The irony, of course, is that it has no general direction, but will influence the genre for years to come.
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The Fulcrum
Above all else, The Life of Pablo proves that Kanye West will always hunt for something different and be forever evolving. Sometimes people may miss the old Kanye, but when the new one makes albums like this, he’s more than welcome to stay.
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Insanity Radio
I have to admit that this album caused me headaches; it is not an album you can easily listen to on a daily basis. It took me a while until I actually had built an opinion because it constantly balanced between mess and masterpiece. The Life of Pablo varies from highly experimental tracks to truthfully composed songs and powerful lyrics and is as far away from the consistent and constructed Yeezus as you could imagine.
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Hip Hop N' More
The Life Of Pablo accurately presents Kanye as a man of many identities and while it is fair to criticize the album for being sporadic and lacking cohesion, one would be hard pressed to find an album so invigorating sound like it’s still a work in progress.
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The Spokesman
The Life of Pablo had quality tracks for all Kanye West fans. While there isn’t a cohesiveness that many would like to see with an album, from West nonetheless, this still is a quality project.
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DIY Magazine
A genius - and yes, perhaps a little bit crazy - with an attention to detail like no other, no matter what might slip from his grasp, Kanye West is in full control of every atom of ’The Life Of Pablo’. Whether he’ll let you believe it is another matter.
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News Week
The Life of Pablo lives up to this outsized hype in its own sprawling, scattershot way. It's as messy as its rollout, as wide-ranging as the portfolio of collaborators who surface here, as maddening and rife with contradictions as Kanye West himself.
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XXL
T.L.O.P. does the perfect job of showcasing what makes Kanye brilliant -- excellent production mixed with creative samples and his Quincy Jones-esque ability to get the best work out of some of music’s most talented artists.
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STERE03
I genuinely found myself enjoying it each time I played it through, I just think that there’s nothing really enticing me to listen, except the fact that I have no other new music. When it comes down to it, The Life of Pablo would be on the low end if I ranked my favorite Kanye albums, so it’s not exactly the masterpiece we all believed it would be, maybe next album we’ll see a little more stability.
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The Spectator
I personally enjoyed the album very much and would recommend it to both Kanye fans new and old. Ye did a great job with this one and was well worth the wait and confusing.
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Wickedd Childd
This whole album relies on whether or not you believe that this mess was organized chaos or just an unorganized mess. If you believe this album is a concept then you will enjoy it, if not, maybe just listen to the songs individually.
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US Weekly
West says this is his “gospel album,” yet it falls just short of being a religious experience. Still, Yeezus deserves praise for much of it.
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Lion Newspaper
After three long years, Kanye is back. The first time through, “TLOP” might not overwhelm you, but if you give it the time, attention and focus that it deserves, just about anyone will love this album like Kanye loves Kanye.
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Whats Good
The Life of Pablo isn’t much of an album; it’s disjointed, lacks cohesion, and ditches any type of narrative to give the music any semblance of organization. Yet somehow, West still accomplishes the seemingly impossible. No matter how much the music jerks from one stylistic disposition to another, each and every track commands so much attention that its hard to fault the work as a whole when there’s so much variety.
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Sputnik Music
The Life of Pablo is art. That is all Yeezy ever wanted it to be. It can't be hard to understand Yeezy's recent affection for Pablo Picasso, considering Pablo was critically reviled as an artist during his life.
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Idolator
The Life Of Pablo shows the ways in which West both embraces the world and hates what it does to him. He fires off in different directions at different targets but knows he can’t control and neutralize every threat he recognizes.
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Radio 1190
If I had one major gripe about the project, it’s that he really does seem to focus on sex far too much. There doesn’t seem to be one song where he doesn’t at least mention something to do with sex. We get it Kanye, you’re married. With that being said, if you’re not sold on Ultralight Beams, then I honestly don’t know what music would possibly be good enough for you.
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Dead End Follies
The Life of Pablo is not the "album of the life", but it is excellent and it will definitely be considered for album of the year. One of Kanye's most memorable albums.
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HOF is Better
Love him or hate him, at the end of the day quality music is undeniable. I guarantee you there will be something for everyone on this album. The production is dope and the list of features is unbelievable. You’ll appreciate the journey “The Life Of Pablo” takes you on.
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Basementality Media
The Life of Pablo, despite its many flaws, he proves he can make art that matters, not just to his fans, but to him.
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Bandwagon
The Life of Pablo is Kanye’s most adventurous — and, like its album art would suggest, his roughest and most scrapbook-like work yet. It’s a homage to God and gospel music, a humble salute of the Pablos of the world and to the Yeezy who runs the world.
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Drowned in Sound
Once again, Kanye has released music filled with contradictions and confusion. Once again, it’s like nothing heard before. Once again, it’s good to have him back.
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AU Review
There are blemishes here and there, but when considered as a whole, in the context of Kanye both inside and outside the studio. We’re never going to get the ‘old Kanye’ back with the concerns he has today and though that may drag content at times, all signs point to The Life of Pablo being looked back upon as yet another game-changing classic from Kanye West.
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The Young Folks
The Life of Pablo is that album where the jumbled mess is a torrential downpour of great noises that don’t all fit together and fragments end up better than the album as a whole. It doesn’t excuse the album’s overall quality though. When it gets good, the album gets really good.
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Muse Magazine
All these contradictions, juxtapositions, and hypocrisies can somehow exist comfortably in both The Life of Pablo and Kanye West the public figure.
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Exposé
Those who are fans of a succinct album that flows eloquently from track to track will struggle with this album. It is by no means a relaxed, easy listen and things you like will hastily morph into other sounds far removed from the original piece. But, it is absolutely worth the listen from start to finish, as to appreciate the sheer scale and variety of the finished LP.
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Music Existence
There is no better example of an artist who is here to get out his dreams and constantly provide us with material that is unlike what we have ever heard before, and with that, you can almost do no wrong. Well, at least Kanye can’t.
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Monkey Goose
The Life of Pablo does in fact seem to lack a sense of fullness, but that does not take away from it being, in my opinion, a pretty solid Kanye West album.
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LA Music
Whether or not TLOP marks the return of the old Kanye is hard to say, but he is definitely returning to his musical roots to develop new, different sounds.
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The Times UK
As an eccentric pop star, Kanye West is hard to beat. Who else could fill New York’s Madison Square Garden, and have a live stream going out to cinemas across the world?
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Totally Dublin
The Life Of Pablo is a magnetic, flawed, overlong album that is stuffed to the gills with ideas, most of which play through very quickly, which may or may not be its strength.
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Respect Magazine
TLOP is Kanye’s defining moment as an artist and not just a rapper. Giving him the notion to feel like Pablo Escobar and Pablo Picasso at this stage of his life.
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Blitz Weekly
The Life of Pablo sounds like a true anecdote of someone’s life. It’s entertaining listening throughout the album and hearing about Kanye’s relationships with ex-girlfriends.
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Medium
This may be Kanye’s best work yet — a self-conscious reflection of where Kanye is in 2016. Confident, excessive, and still questioning himself.
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The Black Juice
I expected more bars from Kanye West. It safe to say I will never get a full album of Kanye West rapping of old probably ever again. He rushed this album and many tracks seem unfinished.
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Tangled up in Music
All the hype around the album built up by the delaying of its release, the re-releases, the altering of the track-list and so on seems a bit silly. What we eventually got was far from a masterpiece, in fact, it was the first time a Kanye album felt like he hasn’t much left to say.
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Entertainment Junkie
This more laid-back approach to music sounds fresh to the ears of a Kanye fan; it sounds happy. There are dark patches attached, but The Life of Pablo's defining feature is its gaiety.
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Lfystyl
Whether by design or out of pure negligence, Kanye West again seems intent on provoking listeners with his latest album. Rather than release a cohesive body of work, Kanye forces listeners down a hall of mirrors, all of which reflect Yeezus in his own image, not as a musician, but an infallible deity.
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Dead End Hip Hop
I’m right in the middle, I enjoyed the tracks that signaled Ye’s return to “real” lyrics if you will, however with that came a lot of filler that wasn’t needed on the album. If we’re talking big picture this album is a bit of a disappointment given the rollout and gassing of the record.
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The Factory Times
The best part if the album to me is that it not something you expect from Kanye. Kanye really pushed boundaries with this album and as times goes on we will appreciate this album more. Kanye is showing his growth in this album so it should not sound like the rest.
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Identity Magazine
The Life of Pablo is Kanye West trying to figure out where he stands in pop culture. How people would perceive him while being completely honest, as if he is thinking out loud. Nevertheless, Kanye West has proved, once again, his dominance.
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Focus Hip Hop
The album’s dope. I think most Kanye fans will like this. If you were turned off by Yeezus you should definitely still give this album a chance.
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Luddite Studio
The Life of Pablo is the sprawling, astute accumulation of every technique and tactic that elevated West to the pinnacle of hip hop and has kept him there for a dozen years. It’s also the first Kanye record whose buzz and sideshow drama outweighs the content therein.
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Black Youth Project
This seemed like West’s exit from the music arena because it sounds like he threw songs, beats, lyrics, and samples together and expected people to listen and support his music because of his widely-recognized and popular name, and even though that is the case, this album is not at the level at which I have always enjoyed him.
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