Some Questions Regarding Kanye West’s Updated ‘The Life Of Pablo’ Release

Carl Williott | April 1, 2016 10:25 am

By now, you’re probably aware that Kanye West‘s seventh album, The Life Of Pablo, is available for purchase as a digital download and is streaming on all services. And you’re probably aware that back in February Kanye vowed this would never happen, that it would be trapped on Tidal for eternity.

Not only that, but Def Jam’s press release refers to TLOP as a “living album.” It reads: “In the months to come, Kanye will release new updates, new versions, and new iterations of the album. An innovative, continuous process, the album will be a living, evolving art project.” That this all went down at the stroke of midnight on April Fool’s Day, which the internet has turned into the most annoying day of the year anyway, is goddamn poetic.

We have so many questions.

*Was this Kanye’s plan all along, or is this just a massive PR pivot?

*Is this his way of proving nothing he says on Twitter is real and thus washing his hands of that Cosby tweet?

*How is he gonna work on the next album (which he wants to give a summer release lol) if he’s always tinkering with his last one?

*How long will this go on?

*After West releases other albums, will he still be updating Pablo?

*Or will he update future albums, too?

*Does this mean he’ll go back and rework past albums at some point?

*Is this all the exact mathematical inverse of the Beyoncé surprise release?

*Is this the most modern album release of all time?

*Is this the least honest album release of all time?

*Is this the most honest album release of all time?

*What is Scooter Braun‘s role in all of this?

*Chart-wise, will next week’s figures count as the album’s debut week?

*Will this “never finished” concept deter people from buying Pablo, or will it motivate people to buy it multiple times to hear the changes?

*Or will there be a system in place allowing previous purchasers to “upgrade” to the latest “version”?

*Which release date is the official release date?

*Can Def Jam really handle the logistical mess they’re about to experience with these updates?

*Or is this actually just a built-in excuse enabling them to neglect Iggy Azalea‘s album rollout?

*Will the poor Def Jam tech in charge of delivering the updated album versions across all streaming platforms be fired when he/she inevitably fucks it up at some point?

*Who else could pull this off?

*Who else would even want to?

*Do non-Kanye fans even care about any of this?

*Are all the initial reviews of the album now rendered null and void?

*If so, is this a subversive gesture to neutralize the hot take economy and give the power back to the musician at a time when music has been severely devalued?

*Is Kanye Burial?

*Which “Wolves” is the best “Wolves”?

*What the fuck right now?

*What if we fuck right now?

*Would everybody start fuckin’?

*What’s the over/under on Pablo updates? Six? Six seems right.

*Will “Pablo 1.0 vs. Pablo x.0″ be the “Raw Power David Bowie Mix vs. Raw Power Iggy Pop Mix” of our time?

Like Sway, we ain’t got the answers. But we doubt Kanye does either.

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