Orange album cover with repeated 'THE LIFE OF PABLO' text, a wedding family portrait, and a model photo

The Life of Pablo

2016eventclassic

Published October 2, 2026

The Life of Pablo is Kanye West's seventh studio album, released February 12, 2016, after a chaotic rollout that saw its title change four times in roughly a year. The release cycle produced a cascade of viral moments, from a Twitter brawl with Wiz Khalifa to Martin Shkreli's $10 million purchase offer, that became some of 2016's defining internet drama.

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Overview

The Life of Pablo was less a conventional album rollout than a running Twitter spectacle. Across early 2016, Kanye West live-tweeted tracklist updates on handwritten paper, picked fights, changed the title repeatedly, and kept editing the album after it was already out on Tidal5. The viral residue is a cluster of micro-memes, hashtags, and screenshots that still circulate as shorthand for peak-era Kanye chaos.

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The album had worn three previous names before landing on its final one: So Help Me God, SWISH, and Waves14. Each change produced its own round of discourse, and the final title swap arrived three days before release4. The rollout also crossed into fashion and Twitter beef territory, giving the project a reach well outside music press.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Kanye West
Date
2016

Reports of a new Kanye West project first appeared in late 2013, with the rapper hoping to release it by summer 20142. By March 2015 the album had a working title, So Help Me God, and no firm release date1. In February 2015, West performed "Wolves" during Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special, confirming the song for the tracklist3.

In May 2015, West announced on Twitter that the album was being renamed SWISH4. In January 2016 he changed it again to Waves, then on February 9, 2016, three days before launch, he switched the title one last time to The Life of Pablo4. The album was officially released on February 12, 20165.

How It Spread

The rollout's viral peak came in late January and early February 2016. On January 25, West tweeted a handwritten tracklist and called it "the greatest album of all time"; the post pulled in over 150,000 retweets, and two follow-up photos of the same page signed by collaborators like A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, and Kylie Jenner together drew close to 300,000 retweets5. Two days later, West's Waves title announcement set off a Twitter feud with Wiz Khalifa, who warned him off the term; West misread Khalifa's "KK" (short for Khalifa Kush) as a shot at Kim Kardashian and fired back a 31-tweet barrage5.

Amber Rose then entered the thread with her "#FingersInTheBootyAssBitch" tweet aimed at West, which within two days gathered 286,269 retweets and 336,450 likes and spawned the ironic hashtag #KanyeAnalPlaylist5. On February 11, West debuted the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the Yeezy Season 3 fashion show, with the Tidal livestream reportedly reaching more than 20 million viewers5. That same day, Martin Shkreli publicly posted a letter offering $10 million for exclusive rights to the album on the condition that it never be released commercially6.

The "Famous" lyric about Taylor Swift ("I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex") drew immediate backlash and pulled Swift's publicist into the discourse, kicking off a dispute over whether West had actually gotten her approval5. Taken together, the rollout became one of 2016's most-screenshotted social-media sagas.

Timeline

2013-11

Early reports surface that Kanye West is recording a new album targeted for summer 2014[2].

2015-03-01

Album is reported under the working title So Help Me God with no firm release date[1].

2015-05

West announces on Twitter that the album is being renamed SWISH[4].

2016-01-25

West tweets a handwritten tracklist and declares it "the greatest album of all time"[5].

2016-01-27

West renames the album Waves, kicking off a 31-tweet feud with Wiz Khalifa and the #FingersInTheBootyAssBitch tweet from Amber Rose[5].

2016-02-09

West changes the title one final time to The Life of Pablo[4].

2016-02-11

Yeezy Season 3 listening event at Madison Square Garden; Martin Shkreli publicly offers $10 million to buy the album exclusively[6].

2016-02-12

The Life of Pablo is officially released on Tidal[5].

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Frequently Asked Questions