The wait is over. Kanye West safely gave birth to The Life of Pablo and Yeezy 3. The mother is reportedly doing fine. But we won’t keep you hanging on any longer, here is everything you need to know about what just happened.
The Music
- Kanye started things off with the first song on the album, Ultra Light Beam. He spent the show behind the sound desk playing the tracks off his laptop. Frank Ocean, A$AP Rocky, TY Dolla Sign and Pusha T stood behind him—hey, everyone needs some moral support from their friends.
- The rapper/designer wore a maroon long-sleeve Cali Thornhill Dewitt-designed shirt that had “I feel like Pablo” on the breast pocket and a black Yeezus cap.
#yeezus himself. Snm. #YeezySeason3 #TLOP #TheLifeOfPablo pic.twitter.com/68CYMGuSfM
— MARCUS DILIBERO (@MarcusDilibero2) February 11, 2016
- He told the crowd, “‘Feel free to dance and cheer!”
- The online response to The Life of Pablohas been deafening. So far, people have been pretty positive. Attendees and fans have described it as a combination of all Yeezy’s his previous sounds, complete with all his favorite tropes: trash-talking, gospel, irrational confidence and at times heart-aching earnestness.
- There was still a lot of the signature tongue-in-cheek self-love in there. At one point he rapped, “I love you like Kanye loves Kanye,” in a rapid fire interlude that was 100 percent about himself and how people talk about him.
- The crowd really got on the pro-Kanye train when a group of people shouted, “Fuck Nike!” The jeers were in support of Yeezy’s recent beef with the brand, which he kicked off over the lyrics to “FACTS”: “If Nike didn’t have Drizzy then they wouldn’t have nothing“
- Later in the show someone yelled, “Fuck Michael Jordan.” Kanye shot back, “I wouldn’t be here except for Michael Jordan. Respect Jordan! Respect Jordan!”
- Ultimately, Kanye brought it back to earth at the saying, “This album is really a gospel album…It’s been a hard struggle, but I feel so happy, so much joy to be actually following my dreams without people shitting on me.”
The Show
- It has been reported that Kanye hired over 1000 models. One of them was Naomi Campbell, who walked in a black fur coat.
#YeezySeason3 by @kanyewest show today at #NYFW pic.twitter.com/IN7ZFV5s4Q
— Naomi Campbell (@NaomiCampbell) February 12, 2016
- Other stand outs includes social media It-kids like Ian Conner, Amina Blue, Rebecca Fox, India Love as well as rapper Young Thug. Kylie Jenner, who walked in the previous two seasons, sat this one out.
- For anyone playing at home, between the six of them Naomi, Thugger, Ian, Amina, Rebecca and India have over seven million Instagram followers. So pretty much the population of Hong Kong.
- All models, Insta-famous or not, were instructed to follow an extensive list of sometimes contradictory rules. Our favorites:”ALTERNATE BETWEEN ATTENTIVE AND EASE” and “DO NOT ACT COOL”. You don’t have to be a Yeezy star to recognize that as good general life advice.
Performance Rules #YS3 pic.twitter.com/P9hOLFI0Gt
— Yeezy Central (@YeezyCentral) February 11, 2016
- The women wore wearing mostly totally sheer, nude bodysuits. When color appeared, it was strictly autumnal hues.
- There was no catwalk, rather a stationary display designed by artist Vanessa Beecroft — the woman behind the Yeezus tour and previous Yeezy fashion show setups. Models stood on the floor or platforms and looked intently into the crowd.
The scene at Yeezy Season 3. #yeezy #nyfw pic.twitter.com/L1dKi5tOJj
— Footwear News (@FootwearNews) February 11, 2016
- Towards the end of the show, Ye promised that adidas are going to make more Air Yeezy’s at a lower price point.
- Backstage Kanye told Anna Wintour that his dream is to be the creative director of Hermes for a couple of years.
- Talking about Anna, she sat with Virgil Abloh and Olivier Rousting by the Kardashian-Jenner family. Carine Roitfeld, 50 Cent, Lil Kim and Jaden Smith were all in the audience, too.
The Family
- Kim, North, Kendall, Kylie, Kourtney, Khloe, Kris and Caitlyn were all there. The Kardashian/Jenner’s dress code was white; everyone wore shades of bone, snow and cream and fur coats. Their outfits were designed for them by Balmain. Apparently there were also a lot of diamonds in the mix. North wore custom Yeezus tour merch.
- Lamar Odom was there too, in his first public appearance since his hospitalization last year. He danced throughout the show with the Kardashian ladies, and as he entered the arena, the entire venue erupted in cheers. Just when you thought no one could upstage North.
- At the end of the show, Kanye closed the evening with Only One: The Game, a video game he worked on about the death of his mother Donda. In it she flew through heaven on a horse. He played the clip twice telling the crowd, “The idea of the game is my mom traveling through the gates of heaven.”
Kanye previewed “Only One -The Video Game inspired by his Late Mom Donda. pic.twitter.com/WzQhRUpMDn
— Yeezy Central (@YeezyCentral) February 11, 2016
- Kanye closes by thanking his family, Kirk Franklin, Rihanna and others on the album, the crowd for supporting him, Tyga for being there, and everyone for letting him “spill his gut out.”