After Kanye West’s 4th album, “808’s And Heartbreak“, you had to give time time to digest West’s music. Since “808″, he has introduced to Hip Hop a new sound with every album release. With The Life Of Pablo this time around, West has introduced a new way to consume music. With no physical copies ever being available, with West updating the album every couple of months and calling it “a living, breathing piece of art” and West currently on the St. Pablo tour for this album, how does the album hold up eight months later?

I was fortunate to first listen to this album in a Chicago Movie theater on February 11th 2016. It was a wonderful experience being with other West fans. I got chills and cried when songs like “Ultra Light Beams” and “Real Friends” played through the speakers. “Ultra Light Beam” is the opener for the album. It is a bible reference where St. Paul was blinded by an ultra light beam and soon after became Jesus Apostle. This symbolizes West’s Christian faith. Accompanied by Kelly Price, The Dream, Chance the Rapper and Kirk Franklin, the album is a feel good gospel song. (Gospel meaning good news, and it’s hard not to feel like you’re receiving good news when listening to this song).

The second song is “Father Stretch My Hands pt1”, featuring Kid Cudi. Whenever West and Cudi come together, it’s like watching Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen play; you will witness greatness.

I’m not going to break down the rest of the album individually, the theme of the album many people speculate is about the relationship of West with his wife Kim Kardashian, and the environment that led them together. The temptations of fame is also a big thing seen throughout the album as seen in the second track, “FSMH pt1”, where West says “If I fuck this model/and she just bleached her asshole/and I get bleached on my shirt/I feel like an asshole” is not literally about Kanye West having having sex with a shirt on, but about having a guilty conscience.

My theory of the meaning of the album is the struggles West faces as a celebrity, a creative genius and wanting to be a god fearing father for both of his children. You can see this in the production of the album that sometimes that transition to another beat while still being in the same song. Because life is like that, feelings quickly change in an instant.

The album is called The Life of Pablo, and many wonder which Pablo? Picasso the artist? Escobar the Druglord? Or Pablo the Jesus disciple? The question that West poses in the album is, Which Pablo are you?