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Kanye’s Comeback

Kanyes+Comeback

It’s been quite the week for Kanye West. With New York Fashion Week in full swing, West rented out Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Feb. 11 to showcase his newest fashion line, Yeezy Season 3, as well as preview tracks from his seventh studio album, “The Life of Pablo.”

There were many noteworthy moments from the event, which was inspired by a Rwandan refugee camp, but perhaps the most controversial occurred when West performed one of his new tracks, “Famous.” The song, which features Rihanna, makes a suspicious reference to West’s “frenemy” Taylor Swift with a lyric claiming to take responsibility for “making that b—- famous.” The backlash is creating major deja vu to 2009, when West humiliated Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards. The pair had gone back and forth for years, writing songs about the incident and talking about it in the media, but it seemed they made up during the Grammy Awards last year. Just when fans thought the West versus Swift war had drawn to a close, West decided to open an old wound.

With so much talk about “Famous,” fans were eager to get a chance to hear the whole album. West had been sharing details about it on Twitter, but was constantly making changes to it. Back in March of 2015, West tweeted that the name of the album would be called, “So Help Me God.” A few months later, he tweeted that the album would be titled “SWISH.” Later, he changed it for a third time to “WAVES.”

David Shankbone Photo, Courtesy of Flickr.
David Shankbone Photo, Courtesy of Flickr.

Then, just two days before the Yeezy Season 3 show, West took to Twitter posting a picture in the studio along with the acronym “T.L.O.P.” for a new title. He immediately followed that tweet saying, “That’s the new album anybody who can figure out the title gets tickets to Season 3 and free Yeezys.” Finally, just a day before his show West settled on “The Life of Pablo.”

The title left many to wonder; who is Pablo? Sources have claimed that it is a reference to painter, Pablo Picasso. On the track “No Parties in L.A.,” West seems be making a reference to the painter when he raps, “I feel like Pablo when I’m workin’ on my shoes / I feel like Pablo when I see me on the news / I feel like Pablo when I’m workin’ on my house.” Others have speculated that it might be a reference to the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

West finally dropped “The Life of Pablo” exclusively on Tidal.com after his SNL appearance this past Saturday, which you can watch here. The album features many artists, including The Weeknd, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Chance the Rapper, Andre 3000 and Frank Ocean. In recent tweets West claims Tidal will be the only way to listen to the album, as it won’t be for sale through Apple or in stores. Time will tell if that will stick, or if Kanye changes his mind once again, yet again stirring up his staple controversy. Until then, appreciated Kanye’s comeback and stay tuned for more of his unexpected acts.

Feature Image: Mark Azali Photo, Courtesy of Flickr URL

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Kanye’s Comeback