The Life of Pablo - RANKED

Kanye West’s seventh studio album ‘The Life Of Pablo’, was released on February 14th, 2016 through GOOD music and distributed by Def Jam Records. The album is an all-time favourite here at SCOOP so we thought it was only right we ranked it from worst song to its best, talking you through each track.

20. Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission

This track is rightfully in last place due to the fact that it’s simply just a phone call between Max B and Frech Montana from back when Kanye’s album was titled ‘WAVES’ and has a lot of Twitter feud history behind it and has its significance to Kanye, however, it isn’t technically a track so we couldn’t see it being anywhere but last, due to the fact that it wouldn’t make sense being amongst other songs.

19. Franks Track

In our opinion, this is the worst song on the album following the ‘Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission’ as this is another case of it not being an official song due to it being Frank Ocean’s vocals and is only 40 seconds long. For that reason, we cannot rate it amongst the other songs for the same reason as the last.

18. I Love Kanye

Although we have a lot of time for self-love and appreciation for ourselves, we believe this song deserves this position due to the lack of beat and the monotone voices. However, we get that this was very personal to the artist, letting him talk about himself in the third person and is a strategic move as he also added to the ‘Kanye loves Kanye’ meme to get people talking about him more on social media.

17. Pt.2

The second part of ‘Father Stretch My Hands’ is a beautiful track about how West doesn’t want to make the same mistakes his father did during relationships with women, for example, how his dad treated his family when West was younger. However, it should have been capped there with his heartfelt words but, unfortunately for us, the song very heavily featured three verses of ‘Panda’ by Desiigner. As time went on we fell out of love with this song due to the second part being so overhyped and overplayed. Without this second half, the track would easily be in our top ten from this album.

16. Freestyle 4

Genius has said that this track is to represent an intoxicated Kanye, the man who lives a ‘fast life and wilds out at family dinners’ and we see exactly what they mean as we get a feeling that he’s out of control, very evident in the sound of his voice and the way he’s rapping sounds almost angry. We don’t like the angry side of Kanye, more of the laid-back, chilled, calm Kanye that we can just vibe to all the time, so for that reason we’ve placed this track number 16.

15. Low Lights

Kanye had said he put this track on the album while “just thinking about all the moms driving they kids to school then going to work” but the track is simply just a ‘girl boss’ track for all of his female listeners. We are all over that energy as it says things about tough times getting better and that they aren’t always bad days, with a lot of mentions of God opening the path and the clouds being able to help anyone that may need it in their day-to-day lives. For this reason, we love this song as such a pick-me-up, uplifting track, deserving of 15th place.

14. Waves

If we’re honest, Chris Brown isn’t someone we actively listen to and the track itself is quite short and very repetitive. We like a track with a lot of verses and this just isn’t that. If this track was just Kanye, it would be ranked a lot higher but it just simply isn’t for us, not a lot of replay value.

13. Facts (Charlie Heat Version)

This track is able to just flex all over Nike due to Kanye having an Adidas Yeezy Boost designer line, due to them selling more shoes than Nike in their release as he says in the chorus “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman” following it with lines like “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy, I feel so accomplished”. Sending shots to Drake and Don C explaining that if Nike didn’t have these two huge figures showing their brand then they would simply be nothing and need these artists more than anything to be something. We’re quite neutral on this track but is definitely one for the playlist to be able to hype you up when you need it.

12. Wolves

This track is all about when you’re at your weakest point and people trying to do harm to you, showing the audience that God is the answer as the title of the track is a metaphor for the anger of the wolves being the media and how they were acting towards his family and fame, stating that he wanted to escape, being lost and wanting to find a way out. With an add of Sia just makes the song a level above what it was before as she shows a female perspective to what Kanye had been saying throughout, with Sia also reciprocating the same feelings, showing women struggle the same as men, and that we just can’t ignore, placing this track thirteenth.

11. Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1

Genius has said that the meaning behind this song is that ‘Kanye reflects on an argument he had with a girl he loves’ and that ‘by the end of the verse, he realises nothing else matters but waking up next to her every morning’. Such a short and sweet track on the album but amazing on a lovely walk with your headphones blaring on a sunny day. The beautiful choir in the background of the verses really pulls the whole track together and makes it ten times better.

10. Fade

The deeper meaning behind this track is that West is calling out to a distant lover, claiming to feel them both slipping away from the relationship. However, we feel this can’t be rated too high as Kanye himself isn’t actually on the track too much and is featuring Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign, with parts from Rare Earth and Ms. Barbara Tucker. We like the track but in terms of rating as a Kanye fan, we believe we can’t rate this too highly.

9. Highlights

The way Kanye goes crazy on this track is so memorable during his second verse as you simply cannot forget what he’s saying, he compares his life and family to the Jacksons as he says “21 Grammys, superstar family, we the new Jacksons, I’m all about that action” and the fact that he’s already threatening everyone that treats his son bad as he says “I’ma bust a coach’s head open on some Diddy shit, if he ever talk to my son like an idiot”, basically stating that he’s on smoke and will not be holding back. The real rap he’s giving in this track is met with vocals from The-Dream and it’s just a perfect match, for that reason it deserves this position.

8. Feedback

During this song, Kanye compares himself to Pablo Escobar and had highlighted how the two handled their fame by becoming more aggressive. And a big outro to reference Oprah’s famous free car giveaway and talks a lot about black history and the Black Lives Matter movement, talking about picking cotton in line “Rich slave in the fabric store picking cotton” giving the audience a double meaning as he means it literally in the way of slaves having to pick cotton from fields and the fact that he may need to pick out cotton for his fashion lines. This track is very clever from Ye as it’s something that other rappers may have been too afraid to speak about, for example, he also references Tupac’s death, whereas this could have been an area that others may not have spoken on. For this, we salute West for doing something others wouldn’t.

7. Saint Pablo

This track is full of West’s thoughts on his persona and the way the media portrays him in comparison to the fact that the internet believes he’s this horrible and cruel man. Opening the track with the fact he believes he’s too nice as he raps “My wife said, I can’t say no to nobody, and at this rate, we gon’ both die broke. Got friends that ask me for money knowing I’m in debt, and like my wife said, I still didn’t say no” going on to talk about how his race is perceived in lines “Most blacks with money have been beaten to submission, Yeezy with the big house did it way different”, relating to slavery as they were once not allowed to stay in slavers houses and regularly beaten. We also love this song as you can tell how Kanye views himself from a third-person view as he is very much in touch with the people around him.

6. No More Parties in LA

During this song we see a collaboration between Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, with West going in on some very long verses, which is something that we hadn’t seen in a lot of on the album, making the track so laid back and such an easy listen at any time of the day. This track is just shy of our top five, purely because our top five that we’ve picked are just elite in our opinion, so this could not be swapped out for anything else.

5. FML

The track with two perspectives, one for his life as ‘Fuck My Life’ and another for ‘For My Lady’ as he references his relationship with Kim Kardashian a lot during this song, for example, he claims that he needs to make it his mission to ‘give up the women’ before he loses half of what he owns. Going in harder on the second verse as he says a lot of things that could have messed up his life in terms of the chorus about him fucking up his life. For example, there’s a lot of talk about someone not leaving him alone. The track ends with comments that link to how the public sees the two in relationships as he kept repeating the line “They don’t want to see me love you”. We love this song as he reflects on mistakes he’s made and we can only respect an honest rapper.

4. Ultralight Beam

This gospel track is everything we need in any circumstance, it’s a beautiful insider to Kanye's relationship with God with a mix of Chance The Rapper and the choir in the background with their verses at times, the track is immediately better than most. In particular, we love Chance on this as he talks about relationships with family members and his kind words as he met Kayne in the bar “I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail”, showing West to be the G.O.A.T and that nobody can go near Chance as he’s met West, his idol, so now he can’t go wrong. We love this track and its replay value, it deserves a top-five spot.

3. 30 Hours

Another lengthy track that we love, with Kanye sharing his experiences during his relationship with Sumeke Rainey. Letting us all know about his long drives back and forth across America to maintain his relationship at the time. We love that towards the end of the track, André 3000 was doing his thing and Kanye was just saying what was on his mind at the time, basically talking into the mic, at one point he was freestyle on what he wanted the track to sound like, as he ends it with “You know what I’m sayin’? Drop some shit like that”. We are obsessed with this track and it will always be a part of West's top five in his whole discography.

2. Famous

For us, this track is elite and is easily one of Ye’s best songs. His shots at Taylor Swift, his cockiness, and Rihanna’s amazing vocals make this song complete. The whole track features Kanye just showing off and claiming he’s the best, making everyone that touches him famous, becoming untouchable. We love it when West is flexing all over everyone. This track cannot be any lower on our list so it’s only right for second place.

1. Real Friends

The personal value of the track is what makes it number one, a lot of nostalgic value, and a certain time in our lives that makes it unbeatable. The track itself reminds us of Autumn but is amazing because it’s such an easy, beat-heavy banger. Kanye lets us know about his relationships with family and friends again in the track as he talks about how many people in his life may not be genuine, which may mean they’re using him for money and fame. Across this track, West just shows everyone else up as he just says stop using me for my money, go and do something elsewhere and stop using me. We love this track and it’s only right it remains number one.