Well, it appears as though we spoke too soon when we said “The Life Of Pablo is finally free of Kanye West’s endless tinkering” over the weekend, because in the last couple of days West has returned to his lab for even more tinkering. Originally, he had simply—and mysteriously—pulled The Life Of Pablo from his official website, replacing it with a recorded message from Yasiin Bey. The album was still streaming on Tidal, but the story going around was that Kanye was still polishing up one of the tracks and would re-release it later.
Today, though, West suggested that The Life Of Pablo is going to remain a Tidal exclusive forever, tweeting that it “will never never never be on Apple,” that “it will never be for sale,” and that “you can only get it on Tidal.” Then, he offered a passionate plea for all of his fans to sign up for Tidal, because otherwise people like he and Jay Z might have to stop doing ridiculous stuff like releasing an album, then pulling it, then releasing it exclusively on an unpopular streaming service all in the span of a few days.
My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
Please to all my friends fans and music lovers. Sign up to Tidal now.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
West also expressed his frustration with music reviewers today, first with a pretty funny tweet about Pitchfork scoring Pablo too low and then transitioning into an actual passionate plea for “white publications” to stop commenting on “black music.”
Pitchfork, the album is a 30 out of 10
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
To Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, New York Times, and any other white publication. Please do not comment on black music anymore.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
I love love love white people but you don't understand what it means to be the great grandson of ex slaves and make it this far.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
The system is designed for colored people to fail and one of our only voices is music. One of our only ways out is music.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
Like everything West has been doing lately, this has all been a lot to take in. Luckily, he has some advice:
Shut the fuck up and enjoy the greatness.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016