Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

4.0/5


Easily the most controversial album of 2008, Kanye West has released something completely different. Gone are the self-promoting lyrics, gone are the intricate and nuanced beats, and more importantly, gone is the rapping. West has constructed an album devoted to the loss of his late mother and his breakup with his former fiance, leading to, perhaps, the most insecure hip-hop release ever created. The beats are very minimalist, comprising of mostly 808 drum machines and 1980s style synths. Both of these characteristics are departures from Kanye's former proven style, but the facet that will cause the most controversy is the vocals. Kanye sings on every track with auto-tune technology.

First, lets tackle the subject of auto-tune. It's a feature that has taken over top 40 radio, popularized by T-Pain, used to full extent by Lil Wayne. I'm just going to come out and say it, auto-tune sucks. It makes voices sound fake and computerized. It gives the illusion that someone can sing when they can't. It sounds ridiculous. I can guarantee that in 10 years, we will look back at all the "auto-tuned" songs of this decade and we will say to ourselves, "What were they thinking?"

However, as unfortunate as Kanye's newfound obsession with the technology is (by the way, good thing he didn't discover it before recording the awesome "American Boy"), it doesn't bring 808s & Heartbreak down too much.

The songs certainly go well together. It can get grating at times to hear so little variation, a la Sea Change by Beck. But just like Beck's masterpiece, the album is certainly solid. "Love Lockdown", the first single off the album, is actually one of the less impressive songs. "Heartless" has an extremely infectious melody. "Welcome to Heartbreak" opens with an entrancing cello and contains an ominous and intriguing beat. "Paranoid" is the strongest track on the album, probably because it's reminiscent of the old Kanye. Despite sounding good on "See You in My Nightmares", Lil Wayne sounds retarded and ridiculous. And "Coldest Winter," Kanye's ode to his mom, closes the album out strongly.

People will hate 808s and they will love to hate it. I myself have reservations about his new direction. I certainly hope that it's simply an experiment, a one-time departure, after which he'll go back to making those intricate beats and rapping over them without the ridiculous auto-tune like he used to. But even if you hate it, you have to give props to Kanye for going out on a limb, going in a new direction, and taking a risk. And the result isn't half-bad.