Kanye West Flip-Flops, Will Release ‘Life of Pablo’ on Tidal Rivals
Rapper vowed last month that album would be available only on Jay Z’s streaming service
Joan E. Solsman | March 31, 2016 @ 9:54 AM
Last Updated: March 31, 2016 @ 3:08 PM
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Kanye West’s walk-back off his vow that latest album “The Life of Pablo” would only stream on Jay Z’s Tidal is about to become a full-on sprint in the other direction.
The full album is expected to land on Tidal’s biggest competitor, Spotify, tomorrow, sources confirmed to TheWrap, and Rhapsody and Google Play Music confirmed they would have “Life of Pablo” on Friday too.Mashable earlier reported that the album also was expected to be released Friday to Apple Music, where Kanye swore it would never appear.
Representatives for Apple Music and Tidal did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Last month, in one of his characteristic Twitter rants, the hip-hop megastar promised his latest album would only be available on the Tidal streaming service, in which he’s part owner.
My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.
But on Monday, one of the album’s most high-profile singles, “Famous,” cropped up on Apple Music, Spotify and Rhapsody — all Tidal rivals. As the week went on, the track “I Love Kanye” also spread to Spotify, Apple Music and Rhapsody, as well as the new paid tier of Soundcloud, launched this week.
SoundCloud told TheWrap it didn’t have details to share on West’s album.
Even Kanye’s proclamation last month was an about-face from Twitter rants just days earlier, when he indicated that “The Life of Pablo” would be available for sale conventionally a week after it launched on Tidal exclusively.
This week Tidal said “The Life of Pablo” was streamed 250 million times in its first 10 days; the service has three million subscribers, while industry-leader Spotify has 30 million paid members.
West’s decision to release his album only on Tidal rocketed the service to the top of Apple’s App Store charts, but it also stoked a field day of piracy. After its first day of availability, piracy blog TorrentFreak estimated that 500,000 people had downloaded the album.
Here's Everyone Kanye West Disses on 'The Life of Pablo' (Photos)
Lyric: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous. God damn, I made that bitch famous."
West claims that Taylor Swift owes her popularity to the infamous incident of him taking the mic from her at the 2009 MTV VMA's and shouting that Beyonce's video was better. West also claims Swift okay'd the lyric, which Swift refuted.
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Diss: PETA
Track: "Feedback (2)"
Lyric: “PETA’s mad 'cause I got a jacket outta possum."
West dissed PETA back in 2012 with the song "Theraflu," sparking a feud with the animal rights organization. They responded that the rapper makes "caveman costumes."
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Diss: The police
Track: "Feedback"
Lyric: “Hands up, we just doing what the cops taught us. Hands up, hands up, then the cops shot us.”
An obvious reference to protests against the police of Ferguson, MO. After teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by police in August 2014, protesters adopted the mantra "Hands up, don't shoot!"
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Diss: Kanye's Dad
Track: "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2"
Lyric: “Up in the morning, miss you bad. Sorry I ain’t called you back, the same problem my father had.”
West's father divorced his mother when West was only three and stayed in Atlanta; West and his mother moved to Chicago.
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Diss: Ray J
Track: "Highlights"
Lyric: “I bet me and Ray would be friends. If we ain’t love the same bitch. Yeah, he might have hit it first. Only problem is I’m rich. 21 Grammys, superstar family. We the new Jackson, I’m all about that action.”
Ray J dated Kim Kardashian for a brief time in the early 2000s, long enough to make the infamous sex tape that launched Kim to fame. Ray J's career, meanwhile, has steadily gone in the other direction.
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Diss: Cousin
Track: "Real Friends"
Lyric: “I had a cousin that stole my laptop that I was fuckin’ bitches on. Paid that nigga 250 thousand just to get it from him.”
The whole song refers to people who pretend to be friendly with West in order to get something from him. The actual lyric refers to a cousin who extorted money from West after stealing his laptop, an incident that's also referenced in "No More Parties in L.A."
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Diss: Amber Rose (or Sumeke Rainey)
Track: "30 Hours"
Lyric: “My ex says she gave me the best years of her life. I saw a recent picture of her, I guess she was right.”
It's hard to pinpoint exactly which ex Kanye is referring to, but the internet has decided on Amber Rose as the most likely target since her and West's online sniping has lately reached an all-time high.
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Diss: Gossip site MediaTakeOut
Track: "30 Hours (2)"
Lyric: “I wake up, assessin’ the damages. Checkin’ MediaTakeOut. Picture of me drunk walkin’ out with a bitch. But it’s blurry enough to get the fake out.”
West has previously lambasted the gossip site on Twitter, recently typing "Now - Media TakeOut - always remember that you dissed the collection that changed the world."
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Diss: Monica Lewinsky
Track: "No More Parties in LA"
Lyric: “Any rumor you heard about me was true and legendary, I done got Lewinsky and paid secretaries.”
Maybe less of a diss than a casualty, as West has no problem throwing out Lewinsky's name to refer to a blow job.
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Diss: Nike
Track: "Facts"
Lyrics: “Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman.”
“If Nike didn’t have Drizzy [rapper Drake], man they would have nothing.”
“Nike out here bad, they can’t give shit away.”
“Nike, Nike treat employees just like slaves."
"Gave LeBron a bill not to run away.”
After splitting with Nike over money disputes and signing with Adidas, Kanye is now saying that the classic Air Jordans can only compete with his new Yeezy line by using superstars Drake and LeBron James.
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The rapper unleashed a torrent of trash talk on his latest album; here are all of his targets
Lyric: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous. God damn, I made that bitch famous."
West claims that Taylor Swift owes her popularity to the infamous incident of him taking the mic from her at the 2009 MTV VMA's and shouting that Beyonce's video was better. West also claims Swift okay'd the lyric, which Swift refuted.
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