So Help Me God
So Help Me God is an unreleased album by Kanye West, likely intended to be released in 2015.
| So Help Me God | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Unreleased album by Kanye West | |
| Recorded | November 2013 - May 2015 |
| Studio | Various |
| Genre | Hip-Hop |
| Label | GOOD Music |
Contents
Sessions and Recording
Background Information
The start of the So Help Me God sessions is probably in mid September 2014, when West returned to from his Yeezus tour to continue recording in Mexico. [1] Before these sessions, the title for West's upcoming album was Yeezus 2, which would've been the sequel to 2013's Yeezus. [2]
While in Mexico, West worked with Paul McCartney to finish work on Only One, they had started recording it in January in Los Angeles. [3] McCartney also recorded his verse for All Day, which already included his guitar and whistling. A new song, FourFiveSeconds was created as well, with Ty Dolla $ign contributing backing vocals as he did on Only One. A 2015 interview with Ty Dolla $ign reveals that he contributed vocals to about nine songs while in Mexico working on So Help Me God.
Further work on the album was done in October 2014 in Wisconsin at Justin Vernon's house. According to a 2016 Pitchfork interview with Vernon, West and his crew stayed at his house for nearly a week recording material. Kendrick Lamar, Common, and Win Butler of Arcade Fire were among artists who also visited. [4]
By December 2014, West was back in Los Angeles recording for So Help Me God. [5] Vic Mensa was flown out to LA to work on the album around February 2015, recording his verse for Wolves and possibly recording U Mad as well, a song of his which would have a feature from West. [6] Wolves was premiered later that month at West's Yeezy Season 1 fashion show. [7]
In March 2015, West and his team traveled to Paris to perform at the Louis Vuitton Museum and premiere his All Day music video. [8] While there, Charlie Heat produced the first version of Famous, then titled Nina Chop and featuring Young Thug. [9] Work was also done on Real Friends, as the beat was sent to Kanye during this time period. [10]
May 3, 2015 marked the end of the So Help Me God era, with West announcing the album title's change to Swish. [11] West performed at the Glastonbury Festival in June, premiering So Help Me God cuts Can U Be and Get Off Me during the after party.
While the So Help Me God era formally ended in May 2015, DONDA designer Joe Perez notes that the title was periodically brought back on more than one occasion before the eventual release of The Life of Pablo. A few pieces of concept artwork were even created for the album during one of these time periods in February 2016.[12] Perez posted some of them on his Instagram in January 2020, with designer David Rudnick posting two additional concepts to his Twitter later that night.
Potential Tracks
November 2013 - June 2014: Los Angeles
- Tell Your Friends - March 2014
- God Level - May 2014
- Waves - May or June 2014
- Piss on Your Grave - May or June 2014
- Special - Before July 2014
July - September 2014: Mexico
- Awesome - August 2014
- Feedback - August 2014
- Tom Cruise - Before August 2014
- Man Up - Before August 2014
September - October 2014: Mexico
- All Day - September 2014
- FourFiveSeconds - September 2014
- Only One - September 2014[13]
- Fall Out of Heaven - October 2014*
- Highlights - Before December 2014
![[13]](http://web.archive.org/web/20160410222718/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZDWwW-UMAANv4Z.jpg:large){kind=link}
December - February 2015: Los Angeles
- Mitus Touch - January 2015
- Wolves - Before February 2015
- U Mad - Before February 2015
- I Feel Like That - Before March 2015
- Southside Serenade - Before March 2015
March 2015: Paris
- Nina Chop - March 6, 2015
- Real Friends - March 2015
- Mula - Before May 2015
- Can U Be - Before June 2015
- Get Off Me - Before June 2015
- FML - After January 2015
- Rap Tarantino