'' The Life of Pablo '' was noted for its " raw , occasionally even intentionally messy , composition " in distinction to West 's previous albums . '' Rolling Stone '' wrote that " this is a messy album that feels like it was made that way on purpose , after the laser-sharp intensity of '' Yeezus '' " , stating that " It 's designed to sound like a work in progress . " Carl Wilson of '' Slate '' suggested that " the point is that in the context of all this sonic landscaping , in West 's kamikaze , mood-swinging way , '' Pablo '' now seems undeniably ( not half-assedly , as I 'd been about to conclude ) like an album of struggle " , adding that the album created " strange links between Kanye 's many iterations — soul-sample enthusiast , heartbroken Auto-Tune crooner , hedonistic avant-pop composer , industrial-rap shit-talker " while making use of bass and percussion lines " that are only the tail-end decay of some lost starting place , some vanished rhythmic Eden . " '' NME '' described '' Pablo '' as " an album on which , at a moment 's notice , Kanye veers from futuristic beats on the likes of ' Feedback ' to bog-standard modern trap – as when up coming rapper Desiigner turns up on ' Father Stretch My Hands , Pt. 2 ' – to vintage soul on ' Ultra Light Beam ' . The song " Famous " features a segue from " braggadocious , bell-ringing hip-hop " into samples of Sister Nancy 's dancehall song " Bam Bam " chopped up over the chord progression featured in Nina Simone 's " Do What You Got ta Do . " Prior to the album 's release , West tweeted out that the album was a hip hop album , as well as a gospel album . Additionally , in an interview on Big Boy Radio , West stated " When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk , Kirk Franklin , and we 're just going through it , I said this is a gospel album , with a whole lot of cursing on it , but it 's still a gospel album " , adding " The gospel according to Ye . It 's not exactly what happened in the Bible , but it 's this story idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary . " " Ultralight Beam " , particularly , is noted to feature several gospel elements , from " the sound of a 4-year-old preaching gospel , some organ " , as well as a church choir singing the refrain of " This is a God dream . " Gospel elements similar to those of the song are included in " Low Lights " . Chance the Rapper and his instrumental collaborator , Donnie Trumpet bring elements of soul revivalism into the track during Chance 's guest verse . Greg Kot of the '' Chicago Tribune '' contrasted Chance the Rapper 's " gospel-informed hip-hop tracks " with West 's take on that tradition , stating that " West 's version of gospel touches on some of those sonic cues – heavy organ , soaring choirs – but seems more preoccupied with gospel text and the notion of redemption . " Madison Vain of '' Entertainment Weekly '' called '' The Life of Pablo '' " a gospel album that journeys through grief , a meditation on internal wounds , and an unapologetic assertion of where'Ye believes his rightful place is in the world is . " Ray Rahman of '' Entertainment Weekly '' noted the album 's frequent meditations on matters of faith , family , and West 's own role as a cultural figure while observing that " '' Pablo '' frequently ( some might say abruptly ) toggles between Sad Kanye and the bombastic and celebratory Kanye . " '' The Daily Telegraph '' described West as " constantly veering between swaggering bravado and insecurity bordering on paranoia , smashing the sacred against the profane and disrupting his own flowing grooves with interjections that sound like they are spilling over from another studio altogether . " '' GQ '' wrote that the two-part " Father Stretch My Hands " " begins as a gospel song about fucking models , transitions halfway into a soul-baring confessional dance track , then drops in two entire verses of an entirely different song about drug-dealing and cars by an 18-year-old Brooklyn rapper , before resolving into a meditative piece for vocoder by a contemporary classical composer and ending with a snippet of the sampled gospel song that the whole thing started from , just to remind you how far we 've traveled from there in the span of four minutes . " The song " Famous " included the controversial lyric " I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why ? I made that bitch famous . " The lyric refers to country/pop singer Taylor Swift , whose acceptance speech West interrupted at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards , and was heavily publicized and criticized by media outlets and listeners . Kot called the song " an example of just how brilliant and infuriating West can be at the same time . " Jayson Greene of '' Pitchfork '' wrote that the lyric " feels like a piece of bathroom graffiti made to purposefully reignite the most racially-charged rivalry in 21st-century pop . " " Feedback " features West 's riposte to his critics : " Name one genius that ai n’t crazy . " The interlude " I Love Kanye " features self-aware a cappella lyrics referencing West 's image in the public . Tracks such as " FML " , " Real Friends " , and " Freestyle 4 " feature " gloomy , doomy " discussions of trust issues , antidepressants , and familial problems . The song " Wolves " features the lyrics , " Cover Nori in lamb 's wool / We surrounded by / The fuckin wolves " , among other Biblical allusions , offering a comparison between West and his wife Kim Kardashian to Mary and Joseph
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The Life of Pablo