| "Saint Pablo" | |
|---|---|
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| Song byKanye West | |
| from the albumThe Life of Pablo | |
| Released | June 14, 2016 (2016-06-14) |
| Recorded | 2016 |
| Genre | Hip-hop |
| Length | 6:12 |
| Label | |
| Songwriters |
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| Producers |
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"Saint Pablo" is a song by American rapperKanye West, featuring prominent vocals by British singerSampha. It originally surfaced online on March 31, 2016, after it had been leaked ontoApple Music for a few hours. The song was later added to West's seventh studio album,The Life of Pablo (2016) on June 14, 2016.
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The song addresses West's thoughts and insecurities, including multipleTwitter controversies and a debt he had of $53 million.[1]
"Saint Pablo" was produced by West himself andMike Dean, with co-production fromAllen Ritter and additional production fromNoah Goldstein. It features vocals fromSampha, who sings thehook and the thirdverse. The song contains samples of "Where I'm From", written byJay-Z,Deric Angelettie, Ronald Lawrence andNorman Whitfield, and performed by Jay-Z.[2] The piano sample also pays homage toFrédéric Chopin's "Funeral March".
Co-producer Mike Dean used several different synths when producing the song. The main synth used during West's verse was created using aRoland Juno-106.Moog synthesizers were used for an additional layer of melody, as well as the synth solo that occurs at 3:53.[3]
"Saint Pablo" first premiered atYo Gotti'sThe Art of Hustle release party. On March 31, 2016, the track was leaked online and appeared onApple Music for several hours.[4][5] On June 15, 2016, West temporarily removedThe Life of Pablo fromTidal because he wanted to put the song into the album.[6] The track has been made widely available on Tidal, Apple Music, Google Play Music andSpotify since this removal.[7][8]
"Saint Pablo" met with positive reviews.NME authorRichard Owain Roberts praised the track, describing it as West being "in classically confident mode, despite the fact he opens up the epic track by admitting that he's in debt."[9]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[10] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[11] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
