During the latest episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” Kanye West shocked fans by releasing his long awaited album, “The Life of Pablo.” The album release comes shortly after the artist and designer debuted his latest A/W 16 collection with Adidas, Yeezy Season 3, at Madison Square Garden. The fashion presentation not only drew the who’s who of the fashion industry, but also Ye fans who were treated to an exclusive listening session of his aforementioned record.
Following West’s performance of “Ultra Light Beam” and “Highlights” off his new album, fans took to Twitter to express their excitement over the new music. One fan tweeted, “Pablo is my valentine.”
“The Life of Pablo” was not entirely the record fans hoped for. Originally, West announced the title as “Swish,” then there was that infamous and weird Twitter confrontation with Wiz Khalifa about changing the name of the album to “Waves” — the title a featured song.
So, where does “Pablo” come from? The Bible, of course. Yeezus is referred to Paul from the Bible. In the album context, he is Pablo and Pablo is the biblical Paul. Yes, it’s all very confusing.
Flash forward to the the morning after the release of the album, West made headlines yet again through Twitter, his favorite pastime. He tweeted out a not so cryptic cry for help from Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
The tweet read, “I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt … Please pray we overcome …This is my true heart.” West continued, “Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas.”
Fans weren’t sure what to believe by the odd tweets and frankly many of them didn’t even care. Their main focus was on where to purchase the new music.
Like Rihanna and Beyoncé, West’s music is a Tidal exclusive, meaning iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music are fresh out of “Pablo.” Needless to say, fans were not happy. Tidal, the brainchild of Jay-Z, comes with a membership price tag of $10 in addition to the cost to download the music.
One fan tweeted, “Tidal can keep Pablo.”
When West got wind of his fan’s frustration he tweeted, “Please for all music lovers. Please subscribe to tidal!!! I decided not to sell my album for another week. Please subscribe to tidal.”
It looks like the options are slim: join Tidal or wait a week. Either way, it doesn’t look like West or his bizarre antics are going anywhere any time soon — that’s one thing even his fans can agree on. Perhaps this is a Yeezus world that we’re just living in? Or is it a Pablo world?
