Disco de Kanye West: “808s & Heartbreak”

This album will not be fully appreciated until it is rediscovered 15 years from now by kids that have never heard College Dropout, Late Registration, or Graduation. They will be impressed by the primal sounding drums, mixed with the deep bass of the TR-808, haunting keyboards and Kanye's vocals channeled through the autotune program. They will notice how he uses this effect to turn his voice into that of a brooding android, as apposed to the Happybot that T-Pain conjures out of the program, which when added to the sonic backdrop gives the album a post-apocalyptic feel.

I can't wait until this album does get the respect it most certainly deserves. I believe that is the most daring album to come out in my life time and I've been around the block a time or two. It is extremely ugly and amazingly beautiful all at once. Bravo Kanye!

Favorites (in no particular order):

Say you will

Welcome to heartbreak

Heartless

Amazing

Love Lockdown

Paranoid

Robocop

Street Lights

Bad News

See you in my nightmares

Coldest Winter

Yes it's THAT GOOD!!!!!

Remove all prejudices and biases and give this album an honest listen. You will love it!

After

], I thought that Kanye West might be incapable of making a bad song. He was the rare musician who made albums without filler. After a very good first album (

]), West tightened up his act to make two consecutive albums without bad tracks (aside from the skits on

]). On these three albums he showed that he was the rare producer whose rapping talent matched his production talent (Dr. Dre and Timbaland are examples of great producers who can't rap). On 808s & Heartbreak, however, West showed that not only could he make a bad song but he doesn't really rap (he sings instead) and his production is subpar for his very high standard. The result is an album almost completely different from his first three and while decent on its own, it is not great and it certainly does not approach the greatness of Late Registration or Graduation.

The most notable thing about this album is West's overreliance on the Auto-Tune. Unlike T-Pain's use of the device, I don't find it irritating to hear West use the Auto-Tune, but it does have the effect of making the album rather sterile. It's harder to hear emotion through the distortion of the device. The Auto-Tune also has the effect of making some of the songs drag on a bit. Part of this is because West is singing the lyrics rather than rapping them, but somehow the Auto-Tune seems to exacerbate this slow delivery.

The other notable characteristic about this album is a very different production style when compared to previously albums. It could be considered a downgrade from the three previous albums, but even when looking at on its own, the production is lacking. On several songs, with "Say You Will" being the worst offender, the beat drags on for up to three minutes after the lyrics are complete. This is not like a guitar solo but instead is simply a loop of the same three second clip. In "Say You Will" there is a 20 second break in that loop about a minute and a half after the lyrics stop, but the original beat resumes thereafter running the time post-lyrics to over three minutes. On half of these songs (four of eight), the beat runs for 30-40 seconds after the lyrics stop. The other four run longer.

Aside from this apparently deliberate editing mistake, the production is unremarkable. On songs where less is more in the beat department, the singer's delivery carries the day and a more complex beat would seem to only take away from the singer's voice. Whitney Houston's

and Mariah Carey's

are examples. Obviously Kanye West is not anywhere near their level in terms of singing ability. As far as I can recall, when a musician lacks the ability to sing remarkably, the production is more complex so as to make up for the singer's deficiency. An example is Britney Spears'

, which featured mediocre singing and stellar production. To this album's detriment, Kanye West went in the opposite direction and created an album that works as background music but doesn't really jump out at you. West was apparently attempting to evoke the sound of tribal drums, but the only instance where that really works well is on "Love Lockdown" where the beat is alternately simple and very complex. The complex parts are what grab your attention.

With these significant drawbacks in mind, there are still quality songs on this album. They are listed below in order of my preference for each:

1. "Love Lockdown" is the best song on the album. Its production is superior to the other tracks because of its complexity but also because it seems to fit what West is saying and how he is saying it perfectly. The beat drags on for 55 seconds after the lyrics, but unlike in the other tracks, it is complex and varied enough to keep my attention.

2. "Heartless" is probably faster-paced than any other song on the album. West also raps the most of verses, which is a welcome break from the rest of the album and well done.

3. "Amazing" is average until Young Jeezy's verse, which makes it one of the better songs on the album. He's as good as ever in his rapped verse.

4. "See You in My Nightmares" is a duet with Lil Wayne and has the least use of the Auto-Tune on the entire album. West does well on the track but is outperformed by Lil Wayne. It probably has something to do with West singing while Wayne is rapping.

Most of the songs on the album are mediocre. They won't make you want to buy the album but they won't ruin it for you either. There are, however, a few that might ruin it for you:

1. "Pinocchio Story" should not have been on this album. The audience can be heard more clearly than West and his freestyle is unremarkable.

2. "Paranoid" has the most irritating beat on the album. It's an 80s throwback that doesn't fit the album.

3. "Robocop" is apparently the most hated track on the album. Apparently even Kanye West doesn't like it. I think it's kind of funny that he uses the Robocop sound effect in the beat, but funny probably isn't the reaction he was trying to elicit.

My advice to buyers is to buy the album if you're a big Kanye West fan because it's interesting to hear this change of pace, especially in light of the terrible events that went on in his life in the last year. If you're not a fan, though, I'd suggest buying the highlights only.

For some people, music is a form of entertainment. If you've never listened to something and understood the art of what was being told, then this Kanye album won't be for you.

Undoubtedly, 'Ye is an entertainer. His multi-platinum previous albums are testament to that.

This album is abstract art...and I love it. The auto-tune represents a broken voice. 'Ye uses it well, and considering the magnitude of losing one's best friend, one's inspiration, one's love, and one's wisdom all in the same year, the art becomes more obvious.

When he had a release party for his album, he hired an artist who had 40 naked models accentuated by colored lights. That is what this album is. It is the human body....human emotion...naked.

If you look at the human body and want entertainment, don't pick this up. If you can look at the human body and see form, art, pain, happiness, shape, and glory....pick up this album.

Judging by the star ratings, you either love or hate this album. Most of the complaints I have been reading are: "there is no cursing," "he doesn't rap on this album," "he sold out," etc. I have been listening to Rap for 23 years but also like all types of music. I appreciate the fact that Kanye is making real music from the heart and his music changes with him. If you're stuck on one type of music only, Rap, and expect to get what you heard on College Dropout or Late Registration, you will probably hate it. If you truly appreciate music and what it stands for, realness, you won't be disappointed.

When I heard that Kanye's new album would be auto tuned, i gotta say i was pretty pissed.

I never liked him to be honest, but the whole auto tune concept i felt at the time was extremely annoying

What really got me to buy it was, curiosity and the album cover

After I listened (took me a few times) i realized the album is amazing

What's great is even after the auto tune had been used in every other mainstream song by various different artists

Kanye West managed to bring something completely new to it

After listening to it I went out and bought graduation but was heavily dissapointed

And from what i heard, graduation was supposed to be his greatest achievement