Imagining 'The Life of Pablo'
April 10, 2016 9:25 AM Subscribe
Pigeons and Planes: With both Spotify and Tidal yet to launch in the East Asian market, a lot of listeners have been left in the dark when it comes to Kanye West’s latest album, 'The Life of Pablo', which remained exclusive to Tidal from February 14 until April 1. Kyoto-based producer TOYOMU (Bandcamp, Soundcloud) has been creating his own lo-fi music for some time now, and as a fan of Kanye he was upset when he learned he could not listen to the album without illegally downloading it. So he decided to make the whole album himself without listening to it, using sample credits he found on WhoSampled and lyrics he grabbed from Genius. You can listen to TOYOMU's Imagining 'The Life of Pablo' on Bandcamp.
It's such a rich and interesting idea. someone should do this with the first three de la soul albums that can't get cleared for electronic distribution.
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:49 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:49 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Kanye just got Sweded.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:50 AM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:50 AM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
needlepicking, it's not a good as DARKSIDE's Random Access Memories Memories (that to be said, for the most part was better than Daft Punk's record).
posted by lmfsilva at 10:22 AM on April 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by lmfsilva at 10:22 AM on April 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
Why didn't he just download it? You get two years for illegal downloading in Japan.
posted by Talez at 10:42 AM on April 10, 2016
posted by Talez at 10:42 AM on April 10, 2016
> someone should do this with the first three de la soul albums that can't get cleared for electronic distribution.
De La Soul put up MP3s of those albums for free download themselves a couple years ago. The links are gone, but if you know where to look, there they'll be.
Mind, I like your idea too.
posted by ardgedee at 10:44 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
De La Soul put up MP3s of those albums for free download themselves a couple years ago. The links are gone, but if you know where to look, there they'll be.
Mind, I like your idea too.
posted by ardgedee at 10:44 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I world love to listen to The Life of Pablo and if it were on iTunes or Amazon, I totally world. I understand that Kanye wants to keep tinkering with it and can keep updating it on Tidal, but I can't bring myself to subscribe. Sorry, Kanye. I still agree with you about you being a genius and stuff.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2016
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2016
I understand that Kanye wants to keep tinkering with it and can keep updating it on Tidal
I don't, but perhaps that's because it feels like George Lucas:
posted by filthy light thief at 12:04 PM on April 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
I don't, but perhaps that's because it feels like George Lucas:
A few years ago George Lucas made and ate a sandwich. To this day he's still throwing pepper and mayonnaise down his throat to 'improve' it.Let it go, and make something new. Nothing is ever perfect, and to strive for perfection is madness.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:04 PM on April 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
Might also be part of a plot to get to the top of Billboard multiple times. He releases, people listen, say it's not done yet, tweaks a couple, people listen again, and the plays pile-up. Although being obsessive about the end product seems more Kanye than anything else.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2016
posted by lmfsilva at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2016
Let it go, and make something new. Nothing is ever perfect, and to strive for perfection is madness.
I've taken to looking more like a software project than an album.
Each release is it's own and each samples are a patch.
It's a fun way to peek inside what the creator thinks about his music (hip hop specifically via sampling) has always been about what you've layered into the sound.
posted by 27kjmm at 1:32 PM on April 10, 2016
I've taken to looking more like a software project than an album.
Each release is it's own and each samples are a patch.
It's a fun way to peek inside what the creator thinks about his music (hip hop specifically via sampling) has always been about what you've layered into the sound.
posted by 27kjmm at 1:32 PM on April 10, 2016
I believe that Pablo is on both Spotify and iTunes.
posted by cell divide at 2:13 PM on April 10, 2016
posted by cell divide at 2:13 PM on April 10, 2016
I think this might be the best* review of Kanye's Life of Pablo I've read:
West may be inappropriate and given to TMI, but he's a fundamentally conservative figure, taking clichés as fundamental even when it comes to his own persona. "Name one genius that isn't crazy," he raps; where to start? The myth of the tortured artist has been long debunked, and West says nothing new about it - or about celebrity, wealth, sexuality or any of his pet topics.' 'Real Friends' retreads the old, self-pitying ground that West covered so much more effectively on 808s & Heartbreak; 'No More Parties In LA' attempts to be an epic depiction of California's seedy underbelly, but both West and Kendrick Lamar box themselves into moaning about gold-digging women. [...] success in playing the capitalist game does not constitute genius, and nor is it fascinating except, perhaps, as a psychologist's case study in sociopathy. The concept of "greatness" has long lost all meaning - and The Life Of Pablo, an extended tantrum from a 38-year-old reactionary man, is just another iteration of its hollowness.
* best, of course, meaning the one I agreed with most. Perfection, greatness, genius do not equal Kanye, not by a long shot. When he first emerged, he was quite awesome and exciting, sampling great songs at will and turning them into even doper ones (for example, maybe you remember Talib Kweli's Get By that uses Nina Simone's Sinnerman to a freakin' great effect). But, as often happens, success can make people fold into themselves. Fortunately on Yeezus he had help from (an impressive list of) other producers who diverted the attention away from the geniusness of the genius and who managed to turn it into a pleasantly weird trip. The Life of Pablo, is, i'm afraid, quite bland and bluntly reiterating how much Kanye loves Kanye. There is, it seems, nothing else for him left in the world: everybody else exist only in relation to him, to love him, and so on. This is not interesting. At least for me. TOYOMU's Imagining is, in its weirdness and incompleteness, something that Kanye, I feel, should strive towards: re-imagining himself as interesting and acknowledging his potential bizarreness. Why should we love you Kanye?
posted by sapagan at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2016
West may be inappropriate and given to TMI, but he's a fundamentally conservative figure, taking clichés as fundamental even when it comes to his own persona. "Name one genius that isn't crazy," he raps; where to start? The myth of the tortured artist has been long debunked, and West says nothing new about it - or about celebrity, wealth, sexuality or any of his pet topics.' 'Real Friends' retreads the old, self-pitying ground that West covered so much more effectively on 808s & Heartbreak; 'No More Parties In LA' attempts to be an epic depiction of California's seedy underbelly, but both West and Kendrick Lamar box themselves into moaning about gold-digging women. [...] success in playing the capitalist game does not constitute genius, and nor is it fascinating except, perhaps, as a psychologist's case study in sociopathy. The concept of "greatness" has long lost all meaning - and The Life Of Pablo, an extended tantrum from a 38-year-old reactionary man, is just another iteration of its hollowness.
* best, of course, meaning the one I agreed with most. Perfection, greatness, genius do not equal Kanye, not by a long shot. When he first emerged, he was quite awesome and exciting, sampling great songs at will and turning them into even doper ones (for example, maybe you remember Talib Kweli's Get By that uses Nina Simone's Sinnerman to a freakin' great effect). But, as often happens, success can make people fold into themselves. Fortunately on Yeezus he had help from (an impressive list of) other producers who diverted the attention away from the geniusness of the genius and who managed to turn it into a pleasantly weird trip. The Life of Pablo, is, i'm afraid, quite bland and bluntly reiterating how much Kanye loves Kanye. There is, it seems, nothing else for him left in the world: everybody else exist only in relation to him, to love him, and so on. This is not interesting. At least for me. TOYOMU's Imagining is, in its weirdness and incompleteness, something that Kanye, I feel, should strive towards: re-imagining himself as interesting and acknowledging his potential bizarreness. Why should we love you Kanye?
posted by sapagan at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2016
I think this might be the best* review of Kanye's Life of Pablo I've read:
Well there are little bits of him that are still endearing that shine through. But I think the only late (starting from MBDTF) Kanye album you need is... MBDTF. Which is actually an amazing album (because he has amazing collaborators) but he's been stuck on the same shit ever since.
posted by atoxyl at 2:51 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well there are little bits of him that are still endearing that shine through. But I think the only late (starting from MBDTF) Kanye album you need is... MBDTF. Which is actually an amazing album (because he has amazing collaborators) but he's been stuck on the same shit ever since.
posted by atoxyl at 2:51 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
But I think the only late (starting from MBDTF) Kanye album you need is...
Yeezus. You meant to say Yeezus.
posted by an animate objects at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeezus. You meant to say Yeezus.
posted by an animate objects at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
A dangerous racist? No.
posted by roger ackroyd at 6:54 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by roger ackroyd at 6:54 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Kanye West = the Donald Trump of hip-hop?
They are both people who attract a lot of drama. But that's a bad comparison otherwise.
posted by solarion at 6:57 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
They are both people who attract a lot of drama. But that's a bad comparison otherwise.
posted by solarion at 6:57 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
People who have announced they are running for president?
posted by Bugbread at 10:16 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bugbread at 10:16 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have not yet listened to the Kanye version, so I am going to be the control in this experiment and listen to TOYOMU's version first.
posted by mountmccabe at 10:54 PM on April 10, 2016
posted by mountmccabe at 10:54 PM on April 10, 2016
For the record, Pablo is not available on iTunes or Amazon as of this writing and, according to West, will never be .
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:06 AM on April 11, 2016
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:06 AM on April 11, 2016
Pablo is not available for purchase but you can find it on every major streaming service, including Apple Music
posted by JimBennett at 5:33 AM on April 12, 2016
posted by JimBennett at 5:33 AM on April 12, 2016
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posted by JimBennett at 9:33 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]