The Life of Pablo was a revolution on several fronts: it introduced Desiigner’s inimitable presence to the world, made gospel cool, and showed that questionable audio mixing and even more questionable lyrics can be overlooked if your music is heart-rending and original enough. Now, Kanye West’s ever-changing opus has notched another achievement into its Parisian marble facade. The RIAA has at last given the album a platinum certification, making it the first streaming-only release to receive the honours.
Pablo‘s been streamed over three billion times, which is the RIAA’s equivalent to the one million physical or digital copies required to be sold for the platinum plaque. It’s Kanye’s seventh platinum album total, too. The main downside of this is, of course, more ammunition for Kanye to pull out in one of his manic screeds the next time someone doubts or “impedes” his artistry. If Turbo Grafx 16 is still coming out, be prepared for this to maybe dominate the lyrics, unless he has some new, harsh words for his (former?) “friend” Donald Trump.
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Phil is cautiously re-entering the Kanyesphere. He’s on Twitter.
