THE LIVES OF PABLO
Welcome to the Lives of Pablo. Provided are collections of posters inspired by Kanye's The Life of Pablo album.
Originally, I wanted to leave out a lot of information and have every individual guess what each "movie" is about. Have all of you stare at each poster while listening to each song and vibing out with the visuals. Really diving into this world and connecting with each piece. Pretty much was hoping you would take the initiative of having a listening party on your own. Then I realized this is 2016 and no one is really going to do so unless it's an actual event (which I was attempting to throw but what I wanted was pretty damn costly) or unless you all are given somewhat of a guide, directions I guess, to gain more of an understanding of what I'm aiming to get at. Even so, that's still a stretch being that people get easily distracted nowadays. Nonetheless, the following information provided are more details to understand The Lives of Pablo...
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For starters, let me just state that for each poster there is a reason for every single detail. The font, the colors, the emojis, the pictures, the credits, every single thing has a purpose. There is without a doubt an emotional connection created from a sonic standpoint to give a visual presentation. Some posters might be a bit more extensive than others in terms of story. Reason being? Well, I'll get to that in a minute. Moving on...
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In the first collection, what you have are traditional-like posters with sizing, titles and credits provided to give an idea of what each "movie" is like. What kind of vibe each movie has. One example I'll give you is for Wolves. Without giving too much away, Wolves is about an orphan who runs away and goes down the wrong path in life. The credits/influence are what helped me paint my picture a bit more for the "what if" factor of it all. The "writer" for this one, Josh Mond, wrote and directed James White, a film where the main character's stuggle is himself dealing with a drastic situation in the wrong outlets, similar to Wolves. Casting, done by Francine Maisler, nailed it with Into The Wild, a story of a young man surviving on his own. Hannah Beachler's production design for Fruitvale Station was on point giving that close up in the urban area feel which is where Wolves is mostly set in. Kevin Tent really made you feel sorry for George Jung in Blow with his editing skills, I'm sure he'd do the same for Wolves. And lastly, Sharone Meir's cinematography in Whiplish is A1. That's the look that would be given for this film.
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In the second collection, a more minimal approach is shown. Very crisp, very clean, very, well, up to him to agree, but, very Kanye-like-style. With that, Ye' once said in an interview that he has synesthesia, a condition where the sounds he hears are seen in colors. Billy Joel, Van Gogh, Pharrell and many other artists also have this stimulation. I'm not saying I have this talent as well but I figured I'd give it a shot. I listened to each song over and over with my eyes closed trying to paint a picture. Trying to match the whole tone of each song with a certain color. Given in this collection are the colors that I see when I hear each song. Now, I'm not saying my interpretation is right because art is art is art is art so you can decode it however you want, so give it a shot. Have yourself a listening party. Group of friends or by yourself. Put that album on blast and vibe the fuck out. Grab a bottle, roll up an L or two, pass the hookah or do all three and make a discussion out of it. What colors do you see when you hear Famous? What vibes are you getting Waves comes on? What emotions are evoked when 30 Hours starts? These are questions I asked myself over and over when making these pieces.
Now, the emojis. I tried numerous of methods with this collection as seen in the alternative collection to see what fits best. The emojis were originally going to be the original title and just the quote above provided. We live in an era where icons are a new form of communication and can say way more than what they intend to. That's what I decided to do with the emojis. Each icon shown grasps the whole theme of each movie and mirriors the feel of each song. Not only that, it helps each quote provided to be felt a bit more. Moving on to each quote, yes they are all a lyric from each song, however, the meaning is deeper and taps into the emotional state of each character from each movie. An example given is in FML. The story revolves around a married man battling the temptation of cheating on his wife. Quote given- "I'm the only one that's in control." No one's forcing him to cheat on his wife, it's all on him and how he decides to exercise his free will. He's the only one that's in control. Another example, Saint Pablo. Story revoles around Ye' being released from rehab to then have trouble avoiding a lifestyle of drugs of mayhem again. Quote given-"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." As much as the people who care about him want to help him out from his release, he assures them to not worry about him, he's fine. When reading into each story, keep in mind all the factors taken into account for each of the posters. And, of course, along with the visuals, listen to each song and decide for yourself if I'm close to feel of each track.
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The Alternative Collection is just that. Not much to really comment on that other than numerous versions of each story. I wouldn't call them throwaways, just...alternatives I guess.
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Now, understand when diving into this universe, some of the stories are developed more than others at the moment. There are many reasons for this, one being I'm not sure how I want them ALL to end. I am pretty certain how I want them all to tie in together and what theme, looks, and vibes I want, but as far as closure goes for some? Not too sure yet. So, fair warning. Also, being that the man himself released his album but it was still a working progress for the public to witness, why can't I mimic the same technique? So, I'm still working on it. And of course, another reason which is a bullshit one but just me being real with you, I'm procrastinating and have my moments where I'd rather binge me some Curb for the 5th time rather than being personally proactive. While The Lives of Pablo does have elements similar to Tarentino's movie process and how everything is all connected, I'm sure he didn't know every single detail for each project how he wanted all of them to end off the back so, cut me some slack.
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Another detail to keep in mind is the usuage of the name, Kanye. In another interview, Kanye said that he's a representation of all of us. One day you might feel like 808s Kanye while the following day you might be feeling a bit more like Yeezus Kanye. With that, the name Kanye in this project is just a placeholder for whoever you want it to be. You might feel connected more to No More Parties in LA Kanye while you might see someone else you know emboding the personale of Highlights Kanye. Keep in mind this is The Lives of Pablo so every story is a different Kanye although it's very interactive and overlapping with each other. Being that each story intertwines with another, the Kanye name placeholder thing probably doesn't seem like the brightest of ideas.
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Oh well. Fuck it.
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I mentioned overlapping, a universe and Tarantino. For some, you might understand a bit. For others, no worries, that's what this paragraph is for. In this project, all the characters are somewhat related, whether it's actually being related or some interaction amongst one another, same locations but different time period, same character but different time period, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ectetera. One example to further understand is with Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & 2. These back to back movies follow the life of Ye' from childhood to adulthood and how his father wanted him to avoid entering a life of drugs but inevitably still ends up experimenting and jumping into this phyiscal, emotional roller coaster. Now, as stated earlier, Wolves is about this character who goes down the wrong path in life. What path is this? Drug dealing. The Kanye from Wolves is Ye's dealer in Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & 2. Taking it even a step further and also mentioned earlier, Saint Pablo is about this character, Ye' released from rehab and trying to avoid a lifestyle of drugs and mayhem again. This is the same Ye' from Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & 2 so essentially, I created a trilogy just from three songs alone and much much more. I hope that made some sense to you. If not, well, read it again. I also created a map for you so don't get too lost in the sauce.
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I think I covered most of what needed to be understood for you to well, understand, I guess.
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Now, without much further ado, I give you The Lives of Pablo.
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Enjoy.
