Being possibly the most hotly anticipated album of the decade by certainly the most controversial artist of the millennium, I just couldn’t wait for The Life of Pablo by Kanye West to be available to buy in stores.
But it seems that day is still a long time away, so I have had no choice to but to download it illegally.
Mr. West, sue me.
When the only way you can listen to the album is by paying Kanye’s ‘big brother’, JAY Z to stream the album exclusively through TIDAL, it’s no surprise people are taking to illegally downloading to get hold of The Life of Pablo.
However, I do realise that Kanye West must be forward thinking.
In a time where artists can’t just release their music the old fashioned way, releasing through TIDAL seemed like a good idea.
In reality, all it’s doing is pushing us real fans away from Kanye West.
I just want to physically buy The Life of Pablo and own it as mine and no one else’s.
The first album I ever bought was The College Dropout, by Kanye West!
Gone are the simple times where I walked into a record store, picked up The College Dropout and had that moment to have and to hold for the rest of my days (Until the CD breaks).
Nowadays, due to the increasingly more competitive streaming market, I would have to pay subscriptions to Apple Music, Spotify and TIDAL to legitimately listen to all of the artists I love.
Perhaps it is more convenient for all the music you love to be accessible somewhere in that cloudy web we call the internet.
But this is not a convenience I can afford to pay £30 a month for.
From a philosophical point of view, I like to think illegally downloading this album would be everything Kanye West wanted.
A man like Kanye West who denounces Nike, Louis Vuitton, H&M and God knows who else probably should respect the tyranny of loyal fans.
I believe that as a repayment for that loyalty, it should be possible for everyone who loves Kanye West’s music, to own Kanye West’s music.
Sharing your art with the world is everything music is about, that is how I feel at least.
We should not have to buy into an exclusive, subscribing demographic only to still not even own the product we are specifically paying for.
The act of releasing The Life of Pablo on TIDAL contradicts everything that the phrase, ‘Yeezy taught me’ stands for.
The brash, heart on sleeve ‘pink polo’ Kanye West would have never restricted his art to only a small few in comparison to his wide fan base.
I refuse to pay a monthly fee to have the music I want dangled before my eyes, yet I have no clue when I finally will be able to call it mine.
Tragically this is why we have no choice but to steal it.
So, blame Kanye West.