Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak Review
Love Lockdown and Heartless Set Tone for Hip Hop Meets 80’s Electro
Dec 3, 2008
If pain yields art, then Kanye West has delivered a whopper of a baby. Filled with grievance, anger, resentment and bitterness over the untimely loss of his mother and a bitter split from his long-time fiancée, 808s and Heartbreak provides the hurt-o-meter for his inner struggles and personal tragedies.
Kanye runs the spectrum of pain on this album, from longing to be loved on “Say You Will,” to yearning for more than just bling on “Welcome to the Heartbreak” to the pain of losing his mom on “Coldest Winter”.
Love Lockdown
Does all this pain and heartache make for a joyous album? Not really, but for once Kanye West breaks free of his ego and sing/raps about matters that extend beyond himself. In the process he has created the greatest album of his career and two top ten singles, “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless” that expose the artist like he has never allowed before.
Produced by The Carter Administration, Kanye West, Gee Roberson and Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, on 808s and Heartbreak, instead of self-important raps about fame and fortune, Kanye West sings with vocoders and other 80's based synths to cover up his weak vocals, making this less of a hip hop album and more of a broader development for one of music’s most innovative artists.
The name of the album comes from a dominating vintage 808 drum box used predominantly in early 80’s hip hop, creating a sound that reaches back twenty years but also propels what passes as hip hop into the next decade.
Paranoid Robocop
Always the innovator, Kanye West has had a way of turning a quick lyric, sound bite or sample into groovy hip hop that transcends boundaries and appeals to both hardcore hip hop fans and casual top 40 listeners. Singles such as the biting "Gold-digger" and the catchy "Stronger" have been both innovative and arty - a rare combination for a hip hop artist looking for serious airplay.
808s and Heartbreak marks a definite turn in his career. While the bulk of the record deals with personal life struggles, his difficulties have also spurred such 80’s dance inspired tracks as the “Paranoid”, straight out of 1987, and the weird, yet endearing “Robocop”. But anyone with ears should avoid “Pinocchio Story” at all costs.
808s and Heartbreak solidifies Kanye West’s place in musical history as one of hip hop’s biggest stars and proves that in the hip hop world, artists can keep their feet firmly planted while exploring other musical outlets.
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