Holding 24 Grammy Awards to one’s name is no small feat, especially with a career that started as freestyling to the beats. In the years that followed, that very artist soon rose to prominence, coming across as arguably one of the finest influencers of hip-hop with over ten studio albums, each unique and true to a trademark style. However, in his music-production history, no other Kanye West album has gone through as many changes as his 2016’s ‘The Life of Pablo’.

Featuring song additions, remixes, edits, and even album name changes, the final album dropped to fanfare, although not without debate.

Kanye West referred to multiple people in his famed album

Initially called ‘Help Me God’, ‘SWISH’, and ‘Waves’, Kanye West finally settled on the title of his 2016 album but left fans open to guessing the identity of Pablo. Wild theories ran amok, starting from the poet Pablo Neruda to a kid of the same name supporting his then-presidential campaign. However, in the season finale of Kocktails With Khloe in April 2016, the rapper disclosed that his album referred to not a singular person but to Pablo Picasso, Pablo Escobar, and Saint Paul.

In an explanation, Ye stated that he chose Paul the Apostle for his role as the “strongest influencer of Christianity,” justifying the gospel music in his tracks. Thereafter, he chose Escobar because he stood as “the biggest mover of product” and Picasso “was the biggest mover of art”. Therefore, his album came as an amalgamation of ideologies from all these three men, or the world’s most influential ‘Pablos’. “And that mix between message, art, and product is The Life Of Pablo,” stated Kanye West to sum it all up.

About eight years down the line, the biggest selling point at this point for West remains his album, ‘Vultures’, whose second volume faces the threat of never taking flight.

‘Vultures 2’ may never land on streaming platforms

Kanye West dropped the first volume of his Ty Dolla $ign collaboration, ‘Vultures 1’, to a decent reception. Moreover, ‘Carnival’ from that very album has shown no signs of stopping as it holds back major releases. However, the ‘Y$’ collaborative duo had announced three volumes of ‘Vultures’ with the second, lined up for a March 8 release, still not going live and without any official explanation.

The rapper, though, in a recent interaction with a fan page, hinted at his plans to shelve the idea of dropping his releases on streaming platforms altogether. Rather, he asked if they “get a million people to buy the album” as a means to enable them to get rid of streamers’ “control” of artists. With a week’s worth of delay fast approaching, fans may well agree to West’s alternatives.

What did you think of who Pablo stood for in Kanye West’s ‘Life of Pablo’? Let us know in the comments below.