Dream Article: Kanye West

I ain't done this nigga

Exile is the eighth solo studio album by American rapper Kanye West. It was released on August 8th, 2018 by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions date all the way back to September 2008's 808's & Heartbreak sessions. The production on the album was handled by West himself, alongside Mike Dean, Rick Rubin, Plain Pat, Carnage, and more.

Exile's release was preceded by a re-launch of the GOOD Friday giveaway series he started with his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. One of the earliest versions of the album, at the time untitled, was premiered alongside the Exile film at an undisclosed location. The first five minutes of the film were released alongside the first GOOD Friday giveaway, but the rest of the film is currently unavailable to the public.

Exile was originally released to Yeezy Sound in a heavily edited form, shortening all of the songs to no longer than 5 minutes. The album title was changed to "Kanye West's Exile Vision" and released under the "GOOD Music" name, before being pulled off of the platform and rereleased with slightly longer tracks and the original title back in it's spot.

The album didn't not have any singles released, an unusual technique, as West stated he doesn't want people to just hear a single song; it's a complete album made to be played in its entirety. Others theorized that no singles were released because it's rumored that TurboGrafx-16 will still be released, and Exile is simply a prelude.

Background

In September of 2008, while West was making his 808's and Heartbreak album, West recorded a unnamed track, which had vocals and elements added into "Sleepwalkers" on this album. Recording for this album continued in 2009, alongside My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's earliest versions, while the album was still titled "Good Ass Job". When the album experienced changes, some of the tracks left off were transformed into tracks on the Exile album, even though the album's concept wasn't thought up until late 2017.

Along with a ton of reworked and sampled leftovers from his earlier work, Exile includes some of West's unreleased tracks, including a Carnage-produced track appearing on the second part of "Cabin Fever/Capri Sun". After rediscovering some of the old leftovers he had, West rethought a concept of having 10 songs that were 10 minutes long on an album, and the original idea for "Exile" was born.

While West worked on the album and movie without letting the public know, some of the featured artists on the album teased an upcoming Kanye West "experience". Without any previous warnings, West dropped off "Total Recall", a cinematic instrumental, and the first five minutes of the Exile film, as the first GOOD Fridays drop-off.

As the GOOD Friday releases continued, fans wondered what West was working on, and how much longer they'd have to wait for it. The premiere for both the film and movie were held at an undisclosed location, but pictures and a few five second long snippets surfaced on various celebrities' Twitter's, including featured artists Pusha T and Chance The Rapper. The title of one of the tracks was partially revealed by CyHi the Prynce after a playlist entitled "Yeezus 2" was discovered on his Spotify account.

Days before the album's release, Kanye officially announced it with a minute-long trailer using scenes from the movie and the title track playing over it.

The album features 10 tracks, all of which over 5 minutes long (on the official release).

Recording

The official credits for the album are unreleased, partially due to the lack of a physical release, so the recording locations are unknown. Half of the album is made up of heavily reworked Yeezus tracks, that were left off after Rick Rubin cut it, and unreleased So Help Me God tracks, extended and edited.

The title track is rumored to be a So Help Me God leftover, worked on at the same time as "All Day" with Paul McCartney and "Broken Lights" from his collaboration album with Kid Cudi. Travis Scott's vocals were most likely added later on, closer to the Life of Pablo era.

"Madman's Melody" was recorded at three different periods but all feature somewhat similar instrumentation, which is why they were placed together. The "Spirit" segment, featuring The Go-Getters and Teyana Taylor, was more than likely recorded not too long after the Cruel Summer era, but before the Yeezus era. It features a sound like "Bound 2", which may mean he was working on parts of this song while experimenting with how Yeezus was going to sound. The Go-Getters were added to the track later on. The "Living So Italian" segment featuring JAY-Z, which was released in a rough low-quality version of the third GOOD Friday, was recorded during the Watch The Throne era, but elements of it were rerecorded for this release. The "Angel" segment is rumored to be recorded around the same time as Only One, as both of them have similar content, lyricism and vocals, but over an old-school beat.

"Sleepwalkers" is a rerecorded demo of a 808s and Heartbreak leftover, although the only elements of the demo that remain are the hook and parts of the instrumentation. The rest of the song was created during the MBDTF era. Fearing that the track would sound outdated, West rerecorded his hook and verses. The track was extended when West had a concept for "Donda's Boy", featuring 10 songs that were 10-minute length. The track was rediscovered during the So Help Me God era and additional production was added.

Despite it's name, "So Help Me God" was most likely not a SMHG era track. Considering it's instrumentation and the fact that West stated after the release of TLOP that he has over 40 unreleased tracks with Kendrick, it's fair to assume this track was recorded during TLOP's process. Allen Kingdom's appearance on the track sounds almost sampled, so his involvement in the track may be from an unreleased SMHG song and West transferred his vocals to the track.

"Cabin Fever/Capri Sun" are rumored to be TurboGrafx-16 tracks that Kanye was ready to release, considering they're the only songs that feature that style of music. "Cabin Fever" features a sample of "Death With Dignity" by Sufjan Stevens, which was seen being played by West on Twitter in a now-deleted post. CyHi's vocals were added while he was working on his debut album. "Capri Sun" is a Carnage-produced track that was previewed before its release a couple of times. The track has been slightly altered from the original snippet, but most of the original elements are still intact.

"I Am Not Home" was used as an intro to the Yeezus Tour, so the track is probably Yeezus era. "The Second Coming" had the bare bones of a beat finished while Malik Yusef was working on his second studio album in 2009. After recording vocals on it, Yusef and West put it in the vault. Rick Rubin discovered the track in the earliest stages of Yeezus and helped West work on it. Justin Vernon, who was recording vocals for Hold My Liquor when he first heard it, instantly became obsessed with it and begged West to be featured on it. Mr. Hudson's vocals were scraped off a 808's and Heartbreak era track, but Hudson came in later on to rerecord it.

"Early Dismissal" features the instrumentation that Kanye was experimenting with post-Graduation, but pre-808's and Heartbreak. The beat was made for the unreleased Good Ass Job project, and eventually rediscovered and reworked by Kanye during the "TLOP" stages. Kid Cudi and Chance The Rapper were in the studio while West worked on the instrumental, helping West with Waves. Cudi harmonized over the place where a hook was supposed to be and Chance and West knew it would be a hit. Cudi recorded a hook and Chance recorded a verse before West's contributions to the track were added post-TLOP era.

"Passageway To Heaven" is a reworked version of a D'Banj solo track from the unreleased Cruel Summer soundtrack. The track was being worked on during the same time as Yeezus, but for a Lupe Fiasco track. However, once Lupe's Food & Liquor II was released, it was left off. Post-Yeezus, Kanye recovered the track, added vocals of his own and extended the track so it would fit a God-like theme he was experimenting with. Lupe recorded a second verse a few weeks before the album's premiere, which he confirmed in an interview. Lupe also claimed he gave the track to Kanye in exchange for another track titled "Hollow Man" for his album Skulls.

"Staring Into The Face of God" is the only song on the album that doesn't have a credited feature, and was rumored to be a Donda's Boy-era track. The final verse on the track was added after MBDTF's release. The track was discovered by Kanye once the "Exile" idea came to fruition.

"Down To Earth" originally only featured Rihanna and West, and was a song created for her ANTI project. However, due to it being partially unfinished, it was left off the album. During the Exile era, Kanye brought in Pusha T and Big Sean to record verses for the track.

Track listing

1. "Exile" (featuring Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and Paul McCartney) | 10:03
2. "Madman's Melody (Spirit/Living So Italian/Angel)" (featuring JAY-Z, Teyana Taylor and The Go-Getters) | 12:14
3. "Sleepwalkers" (featuring Pusha T, RZA and Yasiin Bey) | 10:00
4. "So Help Me God" (featuring Allen Kingdom and Kendrick Lamar) | 8:50
5. "Cabin Fever/Capri Sun" (featuring CyHi The Prynce) | 8:16
6. "Arrival (I Am Not Home/The Second Coming)" (featuring Bon Iver, Malik Yusef and Mr. Hudson) | 10:14
7. "Early Dismissal" (featuring Chance The Rapper and Kid Cudi) | 7:46
8. "Passageway To Heaven" (featuring Lupe Fiasco and D'Banj) | 13:42
9. "Staring Into The Face of God" | 11:11
10. "Down To Earth" (featuring Big Sean, Pusha T and Rihanna) | 8:00