Dissect - S8E13 - Epilogue: The Life of Pablo

Episode Date: July 31, 2021

Yeezus brought Kanye to the church steps with his divine woman. But what happened after the vows were exchanged? That's the journey of The Life of Pablo. Follow Cole's new show KEY NOTES on Spotify. Premieres June 29th. Watch "How Kanye West Uses Samples to Tell Stories" Analysis Video. Shop Season 8 merch here. Follow Dissect on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, quick reminder that next Tuesday, June 29th, we're premiering my brand new show Keynotes on Spotify. Keynotes is a unique, interactive music show that combines full songs with my original analysis, and I'm focusing on multiple genres and artists each episode unified by a central theme. I don't think there's a show like this in the world, and I'm really excited for you to hear it. Follow Keynotes right now on Spotify by using the link in the show notes, and enjoy episodes on Tuesdays beginning June 29th. This season, we dissected every lyric, note, and nuance of Kanye West Yeez's, from its innovative soundscapes, creative samples, and sweeping narrative. But if we had to boil it down to its core, a one-sentence summary,

Yisus is a story about a heartbroken man whose protective mask of ego and indulgence erodes to a point he can finally be vulnerable enough to fall in love again. When the album ends, there's tenuous hope Yisusus will manage to be happy with the divine woman God sent as a reward for his arduous journey. But despite its hopeful promise, Bound 2 isn't exactly your stereotypical sappy love song. It's a complicated, messy amalgamation of romance, sex, humor, vulgarity, and ego. As much as we'd like to believe our anti-hero is finally ready for a relationship, it's still complicated. This seems to be the reason why it's Jerome, the over-the-top womanizer, who gets the final word on the album.

When Kanye made Yeezus, he was in a house, Watch your mouth, bam. When Kanye made Yeezus, he was in a serious relationship with Kim Kardashian, with a baby girl on the way, not yet married, but engaged, trying to transition from living as an indulgent and decadent superstar to a loving, dependable husband and father. Kanye clearly loved Kim, but he knew his indulgent years as a celebrity had formed bad habits.

So while Yeezus brought us to the church steps, It's Kanye's next album, The Life of Pablo, that explores what happened after the vows were exchanged. How had Kanye settled in to his new role? Was he able to kick Jerome out the house for good and fully commit to his new family? Let's dissect and find out. From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushna and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. On today's special one-off epilogue, we're dissecting the narrative of Kanye West's 2016 album, The Life of Pablo. Our sweeping analysis of the life of Pablo

begins with its cover art because it's here that we find the album's core tension depicted visually. On an orange background are two photos. One shows a female model and a revealing string bikini. The other, a bride and groom on their wedding day,

with family on either side of them. The photos are a contrast in mood and lifestyle. The model channels sexuality and indulgence. She seems taken right out of a cliche rap video that showcases superficial aspects of money, drugs, and women. Meanwhile, the bride and groom symbolize love, connection, dedication, and family. To reinforce the competition between these two images,

the album cover includes a repetition of the question, which won? From Kanye's perspective, the question boils down to, do you want a model to fuck, or do you want a wife and family to love? This is the same tension we heard play out on Yeezus. When the album starts, the Yeez's character only has meaningless, short-term sexual encounters. By the time the album ends though, Jesus reveals he wants a relationship, he wants love, he wants marriage. But when you've lived the decadent, indulgent life Kanye had up to that point, can you turn it off? Can you be the man you need and want to be rather than the man you've been?

It'd be simple to reduce the album to this one idea. Is Kanye ready for marriage or not? But the life of Pablo is about so much more than that. For Kanye to be the husband and father he wants to be, he needs to confront himself. He can't simply fake the appearance of a family man. Family isn't fame. With fame, you can hide behind a character built on ego and bravado. But your family needs the best version of the real you. With that in mind, we come to the album's title, The Life of Pablo. Mere hours before the album officially released, Kanye took to Twitter to clarify the title amidst the speculation that Pablo referred to both the famous painter Pablo Picasso

and the infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. He tweeted, quote, Paul, the most powerful messenger of the first century. Now we stand here 20 centuries later, because he was a traveler. He was a learned man not of the original sect, so he was able to take the message to the rest of the world. All memes are wrong. The life of Paul, the life of Pablo, ultra-light beams. I am consumed by my purpose to help the world, unquote. Kanye here is citing St. Paul of the Bible. The gist of Paul's journey is that he was originally known as Saul and hated Christians. He didn't believe in their God, and he was cruel to them, actively capturing and jailing them. It was on such a mission that Saul found himself on the road

to Damascus with ugly and murderous intent. Outside the city, God appeared as a light so magnificent it left Saul blind, though his co-travelers were unharmed. God chastised Saul, then told him to head into Damascus. For three days, Saul stayed in Damascus. He sat and reflected on what had happened to him and what the hell he'd been doing with his life to that point. When his vision returned, he got baptized, began to preach Christianity, and eventually became known as Paul. He'd go on to write a majority of the New Testament, becoming one of the most important figures in the history of Christianity and ended up canonized. His journey takes him from horrible sinner to literal saint. Sin is often associated with superficial pleasure and saintliness with spiritual commitment. This aligns with the album's cover images,

a model in a string bikini versus a bride and groom. Add in that Pablo is the Spanish version of the name Paul and the concept of the album starts to crystallize. This will be Kanye's version of the Paul journey, his own tussle with sin and faith, converting from Saul to Paul, Jesus to Pablo. This is everything. Pablo's first track Ultra Lightbeam immediately confirms the religious nature of the album. The first lyrics we hear are pointed, I'm trying to keep my faith.

This isn't just Kanye dealing with monogamy. This is him struggling with something much larger. The belief system that guides him, supports him, and provides him strength in times of conflict. As the dream sings, I'm looking for more, somewhere I can feel safe, and end my holy war. for more. Somewhere I can feel safe.

And in my holy war. Ultra Lightbeam ends with Christian singer Kirk Franklin speaking. He says, Father, this prayer is for everyone who feels they're not good enough. This prayer for everybody that feel they're too messed up. You can never go too far when you can't come home again. This speech is the thesis statement of the life of Pablo. Kanye is worried he's not good enough to be happy,

to have a wife, to be a father, to be loved, that he's been swept too far into the dark waters of sin. This is why St. Paul is so relevant to the album. In one Timothy, Paul's quoted as saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example of those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. everyone that feels they said I'm sorry too many times. You can never go too far when you can't come back home again.

That's why I need. Ultra Lightbeam ultimately serves as a prologue that helps establish Pablo's main themes. It's the song over a movie's opening credits, or the chorus at the start of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that informs the audience of the war between two families and its star-crossed lovers. It also recalls the light that blinded saw and changed the world. It makes sense then that we should start the story properly with behavior that's akin to Saul's,

which explains why we hear one of the most bizarre and discombobulating song transitions in recent memory. Now if I fuck this model, and she just bleached her asshole, and I get bleached on my t-shirt. I'mma feel like an asshole. I was tired when I meant... Kanye takes us from the immaculate,

divine beauty of Ultra Lightbeam to a line about some model who has a bleached asshole on Father Stretch My Hands Part 1. This switch may seem abrupt and disconcerting, but that's because it's supposed to be. The album opens with this plea to be better, to connect with God. Kanye is struggling, and he wants to reflect that struggle in the Pablo narrative. Much like he balanced any moment of vulnerability with extreme ego on Yeezes,

Kanye chooses to move from the naked weakness displayed on Ultra Light Beam to the sinful indulgence on Part 1. In order for Kanye to reestablish that connection with God, in order for him to become a good husband to his wife and a great father to his kids, he must rise out of the depths of his immoral behavior. With this in mind, the album's flow and energy starts to make sense. The album could begin to feel like hasty transitions between heavenly, airless pop music and grimy, chaotic soundscapes. But when we consider the album as a deliberate, consistent display of contrast,

then the transition between ultra-light beam and Father Stretch My Hand Part 1 isn't strange at all. In fact, it's a sonic equivalent to the model juxtaposed with family on the album cover, keeping in line with the which one question that framed how we should listen to this journey. Connie is plagued with the decision to choose between the family life and the gluttonous celebrity life. This results in a disorienting album flow that's actually meant to capture the internal pandemonium that is Connie West's very conflicted soul. Father Stretch My Hand Part 1 is indulgent, focused on having sex with a model. But part 2 finds Connie vulnerable, expressing his own flaws and limitations, talking about his mom, dad, and wife.

get the boys for that. Drop some stacks. Pops is good. Mama pass in Hollywood. If you ass, lost my soul. Driving fast. Lost control. Off the road.

Jaws bro. It's on part two that Kanye starts to dissect his manic celebrity lifestyle and how he's never been able to keep up with it. He fears being like his dad and causing a divorce. He admits his mom's passing caused him to lose his soul. He retreats much like Yeez's did into luxury items to cover up what's going on inside. But the final lines of the song belong to Caroline. Shaw and Pastor T. L. Barrett. The pastor says, if I don't turn to you, no other help I know,

I stretch my hands. And Shaw asks, how can I find you? Who do you turn to? How do I bind you? Once again, Kanye as the artist chooses elements that provide contrast and tension related specifically to faith, whether that's faith in God or a loved one. Thus, on the fourth track, we receive more ego and indulgence. Kanye pivots from considering his problematic behavior on part two, to defensively grasping onto the excesses of fame on the aptly titled Famous. He showcases this Saul-like behavior by calling back to what had been the lowest point in this public image, the 2009 VMAs. I feel like me and Taylor might still has sex. Why, I made that bitch famous.

God damn! I made that bitch famous. This isn't Kanye gloating about Taylor Swift. It's satire. This is what being famous does to you. It makes you believe ridiculous things could be true. Then the next song, Feedback, once again pulls the curtain back on Kanye's behavior. At the start of the second verse, he paints an image of Pablo buying a Rolex and Rottweiler.

One is an idyllic image of ease and luxury, the other of intimidation and masculinity. The self-reflected Kanye then chimes in here, saying, Seems like the more fame, I only got wilder. This unease leads into two years ago. songs that directly contrasts one another, low lights and highlights. Low lights doesn't even feature Kanye. More of an interlude, this track simply features a woman talking about all the good God has done for her. Some day up and he will reach out his hand and always be crying these tears. This woman is not unsure of her connection with God like Connie seems to be. In fact,

she's ready for her ascension into heaven because of the godly life she's led. Her proclamation is very similar to chance the rapper's confidence back on ultra-light beam. An important line comes near the track's end, when the woman says, it feels so good to be accepted for who you are and love no matter what. This recalls Kirk Franklin's speech about it being impossible to go so far into faithlessness or sin where you can't come back again. It also recalls St. Paul's words about Christ.

By this point in the album, the consistent bipolarity has been established, so it should be no surprise that after the vulnerability of low lights, we switch again to an ego-driven, adulterous track like highlights. Most of this first verse is just a random series of highlights about Kanye's life. But over time it devolves into shocking depravity. As Kanye repeats, I need every bad bitch up in Equinox. I need to know right now if you're a freak or not.

Equinox is a luxury gym favored by celebrities. So why is Kanye asking about freaks in a gym? Why the blatant disregard for the very family he discusses just a couple minutes earlier in the same song? Once again, it's to capture the urges he feels to live a rampantly sinful life. This dialogue isn't too far off from the polarizing figure captured on Yeez's, and Kanye is still trying to break free from that behavior. This temptation has been present since the album's second song, but it finally manifests in its full ugliness on Freestyle 4.

The production on this song, this song is dark, sludgy, and haunting. The lyrics are almost entirely about sex, from Kanye having some freak dreams to asking about having wild sex on a table at a dinner party. This is a peek into Kanye's psyche as he expresses its innermost primal and carnal desires. This ultimate expression of sinful desire is countered by the next track I Love Kanye, a short, reflective moment of spoken word where he compares the old Kanye to new Kanye. I miss the old Kanye, straight from the gold Kanye, chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye. I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye, the always rude Kanye.

The use of I hear when Kanye says something like I Miss the Old Kanye takes on many meanings. On one hand, we can view this song from the perspective of a fan who's watched Kanye West morph over the years. While Kanye's debut The College Dropout was bright-eyed and innocent, his second album, Late Registration, was already exploring the dangers of fame. From Gold Diggers to Starstruck Nurses, From the struggle to create great art to addiction, Kanye's critique of celebrity became less theoretical and more direct and emotional, and his portrayal of self degenerated at the same

rate. The young man who made Jesus Walks Never Let Me Down and Hey Mama was now creating Pinocchio story, hell of a life, and I'm in it. But what if the I isn't a fan at all? What if Kanye is also reflecting on how he feels about himself? He ends the track telling us he misses the old Kanye, and even says, I used to love Kanye. The implication could be that he doesn't love who he became once he gained fame. Of course Kanye missed the old Kanye, who wouldn't miss their humanity. In Pablo's first act, humanity and monstrosity battle for Kanye's soul. It's in the second act following I Love Kanye that one ultimately wins out.

That's right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we reached the Life of Pablo's ninth track I Love Kanye, a spoken word piece that further develops the motif of contrasts. After establishing the conflict between family versus indulgence, marriage versus models that competes for Kanye's attention, the album's next song crowns a winner. On the first verse of waves, we get new Kanye personified.

The scene has Kanye step into a club, then tell a guy, I'm the one you're bitch like. And it only gets more aggressive. from there. But then the second verse is thoughtful and poetic. Sun don't shine in the shade. Birds can't fly in a cage. Even when somebody go away, the feelings don't really go away. This is like the soulful old Kanye. This version of him is the sun and bird, while new Kanye is the shade in the cage, that can't coexist. Realizing his old self has never really gone away, he can now let go of the new. Within the album's narrative, this is Kanye's conversion.

And as water is necessary to a baptism and symbolic of a cleansing or rebirth, it's fitting that the song, and at one time the album, is titled Waves. Because waves will go out, but they also come back in. That part of himself that could love Kim, that could align with God, that old Kanye has always been there. It's with this purification in mind that we've discussed the next three songs, FML, Real Friends, and Wolves. They all reflect a more mature perspective,

and the alluring pop sound of the earlier sinful songs gives way to a more sober production. On FML, the first verse details Kanye's dedication to his wife. He says he can't jeopardize his marriage for, quote, one of these hoes. So the second verse is him letting go of the desire for those women. Here he tears away the mystique of Connie the superstar that we saw in famous, highlights, in the first half of waves. you know, you ain't never seen nothing crazy then, this nigga when he off his Lexi Pro.

Remember that last time in Mexico? Remember that last time the episode? Now unguarded, Kanye says, You ain't never seen nothing crazier than this N-word when he off is Lexi Pro. The rest of the verse is an example of that ramped up excessive energy. This is the reality of Kanye, the ugly truth that the gold diggers can't handle because they only want the superficial Kanye,

the perfect image of Kanye. But a wife can handle the truth, the flaws, the failures, That's faith, that's grace, that's love. Then the next track Real Friends details the isolation Kanye's superficial life has led to. His lifestyle and behavior have resulted in the hollowing out of his relationships. Direct callbacks to the heartfelt song Family Business from the call his dropout show Kanye's awareness of what his actions have cost him,

that is real friends have been replaced by wolves. This signals the final track of Act 2, Wolves. The song is the culmination of the Witch One theme set up on the album cover. Kanye reflects back on how he and Kim came together. They were both in bad places, and similar mental states that both Connie's departed mother and Kim's departed father would feel were too wild. This feeling of disappointing your deceased parents is heavy.

It explains why Kim and Kanye were in such states of self-loathing. each was convinced they were unlovable, but what's left them in ruin is what unites them. They understood one another when no one else could or would. They forgave each other for their paths, and they built one another back up. At the end of the track, Connie poses their relationship in terms of a modern-day Mary and Joseph meeting in the club, neither of them perfect, but they achieve redemption through their union and children. The notion that becoming a parent changes someone for the better isn't uncommon. Many people say parenthood gave them a and purpose that had always been missing. That's true transformation and redemption. And we hear Kanye

display that transformation and achieve that redemption as he wraps his two children at the time, North and Saint in Lamb's Wall. Here, Connie officially places the pressure to live an indulgent celebrity life in the past, and instead embraces his role as a protective father. Using biblical imagery to reimagine his life as a tale of atonement, Kanye finally chooses between the two lives displayed on the album's cover. Which one you ask? Kanye has chosen love and family over sinful desire.

Frank's track acts as an epilogue to the album's first half. Key lines are, I'm mixed now, fleshed out, and life is precious. Pablo slash Kanye has grown as a person and learned an important lesson. Now, there's been some debate about whether the six songs that follow Frank's track are part of the Pablo album proper, or instead or a sequence of bonus tracks after the main story has been told. There's certainly evidence for both interpretations, but we're going to continue our analysis looking at the rest of the album as part of the story. Recall that the biblical story of Paul includes a conversion from a sinner to a man reborn,

from Saul to Paul, which is something like the experience of Pablo's first half. But for Paul, the conversion in Damascus was only the beginning. He spent the next 30 years preaching the teachings of Jesus, and he traveled broadly to do it, from Israel through the Middle East to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and many other countries. His tireless efforts helped spread Christianity, which is why Kanye in those initial tweets referred to Paul as a traveler and most powerful messenger of the first century. So if Kanye's honest to the idea of Paul's life, it would mean he has to include a period of what happened after the Pablo character's redemption. This is one interpretation of why the album moves forward with 30 hours,

no more parties in LA, facts, fade, and finally St. Pablo. It's Pablo's version of reflecting on who he was and of spreading his story and faith around the world. Thus, this part of the journey begins with Silver Surfer Intermission, which is merely what its name implies, an intermission starring the rapper Max B., who often calls himself the Silver Surfer. He fittingly encourages Connie and the voicemail to keep, quote, doing your wave. Intermissions are commonly used in theater in the aftermath of an important mid-story climax. The break lets the important moment sink in and creates anticipation for what

follows. With Kanye having completed his conversion, the life of Pablo's second part has a change in focus and tone. Just imagine Saul after he regained his sight and transformed into Paul. He suddenly had time to reflect on his past, to re-contextualize his present, and think about all he could do with his future. On 30 hours, Kanye and his calm, happily married present reflects back on a far more turbulent time when he was early into his career and in a bad relationship. The next song, No More Parties in December, skirt, skirt, skirk like a private school for women. Then I get there and all the pop-box that's finished, girl. You don't love me, you're just pretending. I need a happy beginning, middle, we're ending. The next song, No More Parties in L.A. keeps up with this dichotomy, with Kendrick Amar playing the role of a young rapper new to Los Angeles and flexing like Saul. This verse has a twist to it, because the girl Kendrick's been trying to impress with his star power, reveal she actually trapped him.

She said Kay Lamar, you kind of dumb to be a poet. I'm a put you on game for the lames that don't know they are rookie. Instagram is the best way to promote some pussy. Having been caught up in that mess early on in his sinner period, it makes sense that Kanye follows Kendrick's verse with, Scary, No More Parties in LA. Please, baby, no more parties in LA. He's at a point where he no longer wants any part of that dynamic. Like 30 hours, Kanye is far more mature and reflective with his verse than Kendrick,

who is purposely embodying yet another victim of the limelight. During his epic 90-bar verse, Kanye reflects on the dangers of L.A. and what can happen when the celebrity lifestyle warps your egos. On the next track, Kanye further displays the danger of giving into your ego. He spends almost the entirety of the song bragging about his accomplishments and dissing Nike after their failed partnership. But then Fax ends with a turn toward thoughtful consideration. After all, the braggadocio, he reflects on the death of his hometown friend. When Kanye sees news about Chicago, likely referring to crime and murders in his hometown, it grounds him,

reminds him of what's important. Thus, he calls up DJ Mano, as the two had a falling out in 2014 when Kanye fired Mano as his tour DJ. Kanye then shouts out a Chicago legend and former collaborator Twilight Tone and gives praise to Chicago DJ Timbuck 2, who died in late December 2013. Within the context of the narrative, this continual move away from the ego marks Kanye's transformation into sainthood. This fading away of the ego to ascend to a higher plane of thought is what comes through in nuanced ways on the album's penultimate track, Fade.

Fade made me one of Kanye's most nuanced work sonically. The mixed sampling of Barbara Tucker and Rare Earth, the transitions between Kanye and and Tide Dollar Sign and Post Malone, could all be viewed as a sonic transformation into sainthood. On this track, Kanye's literally fading out of his old lifestyle and accepting his calling, just like Paul did. This leads us finally to the album's last track, St. Pablo, a song that we first heard two weeks after the Life of Pablo released, when Kanye brought his laptop to a popular LA club and played it for everyone there. Known then as the closest thing to Einstein, Kanye officially

added it onto the life of Pablo four months later on June 15, 2016, part of his conception that Pablo was a living, breathing work of art, meaning he could add, subtract, or edit it at any time. St. Pablo sees Kanye finally taking on the role of Messenger, preaching about society and culture with the depth of thoughtfulness that has made St. Pablo a fan favorite. Lyrically, St. Pablo is a startling contrast to the superficiality of the stories for a song. Father Stretch My Hands Part 1. But that's the point of the journey. The character goes from a superficial and selfish and indulgent individual to the voice of the people, wanting and trying to improve the world.

That's the life of Paul. That's the life of Pablo. So don't worry about me, I'm fine. I can see a thousand years from now in real life. Stay on a paradigm and shifted when I feel like, troll convention, St. Pablo isn't entirely victorious though. In fact, it brings the album to a rather mournful close, as Kanye discovers a complication with Sainthood. This complication is expressed through SAMHFA, a South London singer who performs the chorus

and bridge with an aching tone that is definitely caused for consideration. Sampha sings You're looking at the church in the night sky, and you wondering where is God in your nightlife. For Kanye, the nightlife, the limelight, initiated his sinful behavior, his detachment from God. It recalls the earlier imagery of Mary and Joseph in the club surrounded by wolves, or the Saul verse on waves. on waves, or the sexual aggression on Freestyle 4, or Kendrick on No More Parties in L.A. The club was the bane of the Yeezus character's existence, where his worst behavior occurred. Kanye found God and his wife, and by extension, his children, by leaving behind the nightlife

because there is no church in the night sky, so to speak. He had been looking in the wrong place. In this case, Sanfa would be a cautionary tale of where not to look. We all go. In his last lines of the song, Kanye says, Only thing I ask next time I'm on stage, we all go. Not just by myself, looking around for N-words like Where's Waldo? He of course refers to going up on stage at the 2009 VMAs to call out what he believed to be an injustice.

But he went alone. And this is a microcosm of all his crusades as a celebrity, whether it's calling out George Bush on Life TV, or calling out homophobia and hip-hop, or breaking down barriers in high fashion. In this way, St. Pablo is part preaching, part prayer. It signals that he still feels alone, like no one listens to him, understands him, or even knows him. So what then? What does it mean to be a saint in this crazy, fucked up world where you don't feel like you belong? Maybe it can drive you mad, leave you hospitalized, inspiring an album about bipolar disorder and striving to find mental health.

And maybe after that you succumb once again to the indulgences of the limelight. and you're making explicit songs about sex and designing t-shirts for Pornhub, which itself inspires a more formal commitment to God and the creation of a true gospel album. Much like The Life of Pablo answered the burning questions we had after Yeezes, the story of Kanye West has rolled on and on, album after album. And just when you think you figure it him out, Kanye shatters all expectations and leaves you wanting more.