Kanye West “808s & Heartbreak” Review
In three months Kanye West has stirred up a ridiculous level of hysteria surrounding 808s & Heartbreak, putting the album’s hype on par with any other release this year (almost). That being said, the album is just as much an experimental artistic venture as it is an experimental study in digital market and consumer behavior. When he was running around airports asking people to listen to samples of his new recordings, Kanye wasn’t just looking for feedback from strangers. When he debuted the video for “Love Lockdown” on the Ellen Degeneres Show he wasn’t just debuting a video. When Kanye continued to push the release date of the album up, he wasn’t doing so to simply compete with pirates who might leak it. Regardless of what’s driving him, the man has become the most effective self-promoter in the digital age of music; Kanye is his own street-team, does his own promotions and takes care of his own research and development. In that respect, 808s is an album like no other before it. But all that aside, when actually listening to the music, the first thing that comes to mind is, “What’s with the autotune asphyxiation, Kanye?”
Part of the ingenuity of 808s is that it has been recorded, produced and released within a period of a few months. Accompanying that, however, is an album that might prove to be the first of Kanye’s to sound dated in a couple years. But considering how current Kanye is attempting to keep all things associated with 808s, his overuse of autotune shouldn’t be questioned – for better or worse, autotune is 2008. One can only imagine that when Lil Wayne was performing on Saturday Night Live earlier this year, Kanye was tuning in and thinking that he could not only do something similar, but do it better (thankfully though, he hasn’t picked up a guitar… yet). And that’s exactly what he’s done here – Kanye has paralleled the ideas of other contemporary pop artists while building something far greater in the process.
The album’s first song emphasizes its direction immediately, “Say You Will” utilizing vocal distortion throughout. And in the song, as with the entire album, are beats just as strong as those on any of his previous releases. Continuing with “Welcome To Heartbreak” Kanye molds the album’s vocal trend around some of his most personal lyrics. “Dad cracked a joke, all the kids laughed / but I couldn’t hear all the way in first class.” Verse after verse, Kanye recalls the cost of continually hustling and maintaining his high profile status, having to give up opportunities that he might otherwise be able to enjoy. But the song doesn’t lean on self-pity or the idea of being a victim of celebrity entirely, rather it acts as a journal questioning the value of what he’s doing. You’d think that money would allow him a bit of time to spend with his family, but Kanye is in a rare position to live in a reality that many will never be able to empathize with or relate to myself included). It’s easy to judge, but it’s a lot easier to hate than it is to consider the twisted perspective on reality one must have when looking down from the top.
Continuing into the belly of the album, “Love Lockdown” doesn’t sound nearly as out of place as it did when it was initially released. The single also serves as a fantastic bridge to “Paranoid,” featuring Mr. “don’t call me Jennifer” Hudson, which is the most electric song on the album. With the track Kanye’s rhymes bounce for the first time on 808s, the song sounding closer to that of his recent collaboration with Estelle (“American Boy”) than to anything on the rest of the record.
In the week’s prior to 808s‘ release, the majority of songs began showing up on a variety of blogs and other sites; sometimes as finished products, sometimes as rough demos. One of the final songs to leak was “See You In My Nightmares” featuring Lil Wayne. For the second time in two years, however, Lil Wayne’s contribution leads to the most forgettable track on Kanye’s album. “Nightmare” isn’t terrible, and is genius compared to last year’s “Barry Bonds,” but if there is a low point on 808s, “Nightmare” is it. On the other side of the leaked song spectrum is “RoboCop,” a track which leaked and was immediately shot down by Kanye via his blog, I DID NOT LEAK ROBOCOP!!!… THAT’S NOT EVEN THE FINISHED VERSION… I’M PRETTY UPSET ABOUT IT BUT THAT’S THE WAY LIFE IS SOMETIMES!” The album’s version kicks off with an industrial-teasing introduction that surges into a wave of overwhelming pop-strings. If 808s & Heartbreaks represents Kanye West right now, “RoboCop” represents the epitome of what Kanye is doing musically; the song is an over-the-top genre-bending pop gem.
The eight-minute live track/freestyle “Pinocchio Story” concludes the album, expanding on the implication that Kanye’s living in the moment with 808s. While being a solid track, it’s not something that fits into the rest of the album, and its inclusion reflects what might have been a last-minute decision. But “Pinocchio” is as much 808s as “Love Lockdown” is. Both tracks might not work a few months from now, let alone a few years, but they reflect the musician’s attempt to feed off the moment and create something unique in the process. And while interacting with fans, dropping samples of his music at will and attempting to expand his audience, Kanye has done just that – he’s created an album that reflects the moment while being entirely unique and in a category of its own; kind of like Kanye himself.
excited to hear this now. he just accepted an award on the AMAs (i don’t know why i’m watching them either) and gave a great speech.
I don’t know that the words AMAs and “great speech” have ever been used in the same sentence before (who am I kidding, I’ve never watched ‘em). It’s good to hear that Kanye represented himself well.
Obviously, someone didn’t really hear the album because Jennifer Hudson does NOT make an appearance. Fictionalized journalism is so aggravating. Great album nonetheless.
Yup, my bad – thought I had read somewhere that she was contributing… rather “Mr. Hudson”…
Fictionalized journalism… if you’d like better reading material, rather than mocking, you could help build a better writer. Whatever works for you.
fantastic review Chris… much in line with my thoughts on the album.
Nightmare is also my least fave track (whether or not that’s because of Lil Wayne’s guest spot, hard to say)
Right now Paranoid & Robocop are my fave tracks.
the whole thing doesn’t work for me, but i’m loving about 2/3 of it.
also agree about Pinocchio feeling way out of place. I’ll probably skip or even take that one off my iPod after a while…
This was a great review
the only thing I would have to disagree with you about is Kanye’s song with Lil’ Wayne.
I think it’s a great song and I would have to say that every track is amazing.
Solace – the more I listen to RoboCop the more I enjoy it…
Thanks Joe! It’s a tough call for me – it’s not a bad song by any means… maybe this description is a little less caustic: if a song on the album is to be considered “least best” – it’s “Nightmare.”
Glad kanye does what he wants!
We all should sometimes.
Check out this remake of Good Life
by Brooklyn “indietronica” band nite club
I think they did it better than kanye!
http://www.myspace.com/niteclubmusic
It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one not crazy about this album. I agree it’s good… for now. I can’t promise I won’t skip these tracks when they come up a few years from now. I love Kanye’s music and the fact that he’s always changing but halfway through this album I couldn’t handle that autotone thing. I kind of like this darker side of Kanye but this album definitely lacks that touch of humor (which is my favorite part).
I could have used a little humor as well – how cool would it have been if he revisited Broke Phi Broke?!
I am and have always been a Kanye fan. I always know that I can count on excellent production and lyrics. I dont know about this one! I bought the cd on Monday and it has not grown on me yet.
If you was so secure about your writing abilities, you wouldn’t have to get as defensive as you are now. I’m trying to help you out because as a writer, you could be SUED for getting the wrong information, especially when it comes to names. Peace.
This album is different as hell. I’m a very big Kanye fan, but this album has to grow on me. It’s not too bad so far cause some of the songs i like already. He’s an artist that REALLY keeps it real. He entertained everyone about the whole college thing…Who else can do that? (Dont worry I’ll wait). Okay…Unlike most of these other rappers poppin off talking bout they shooting guns and selling dope knowing damn well they ain’t doing none of that and probably never did. Majority of the real gangstas and hustlers are in JAIL. He going through some changes right now and as fans of his music if we love this artist we should support his music and understand what he’s going through right now. YA DIG…
WORST ALBUM EVER…and i respected all his earlier work…but this time he turned way too queer sounding for my liking…
I am very diapointed to say i didn’t like the new kanye album. I do like ‘love locked down’ but i realy do prefer his old material. PLEASE GO BACK TO YOUR OLD STYLE.
I think this album is actually a breath of fresh air, if you take time to think about it. Even with the excessive use of Auto Tunes, this album is very different from the mainstream hip-hop genre. The use of personal experience in Kanye West’s lyrics breaks off from the self-serving and righteous lyrics of popular rappers who actually have nothing to rap about, so they pay someone to write for them.
Kanye West is an enjoyable artist to listen to, albeit he is not the greatest role model nor even the greatest celebrity. He is very talented and I suggest if you like what I have to say, you’ll check out my merch site:
Kanye Dig It?
Michael, it says Mr. “dont call me jennifer” Hudson. Maybe you need to learn how to read better.
thats twice you’ve tried to correct the writer of this review when he made no error. hahah.
great f***ing album. great review.