Remember when Kanye West threatened to make an album where he would bear his heartbroken soul, align with T-Pain, sing on every song with the then inescapable Auto-Tune effect and, less problematically, lean on the common element -- the Roland TR-808 drum machine -- of classics like "Make It Last Forever," "Posse on Broadway," "808," and "Bossy"? It could have been a wreck, a case of an artist working through paralyzing heartache while loose in a toy store. Except West wasn't joking. Not only did he go through with it, but Roc-A-Fella released the result in time for the 2008 Christmas shopping season.
In various spots across 808s & Heartbreak, the constant flutter of West's processed voice is enlivened by the disarming manner in which despair and dejection are conveyed. When, in "Welcome to Heartbreak," he dispassionately recounts sitting alone on a flight, ahead of a laughing family, he makes first class sound like Siberia; he'd swap lives with the father in an instant. The majority of the lyrics, however, are directed at an ex who evidently did some damage; in "RoboCop" alone, she gets compared to the antagonist in Misery and is called a "spoiled little L.A. girl." Earlier in the album, the number she did on him is called "the coldest story ever told," yet he admits he still fantasizes about her. All the blocky drums, dragging strings, droning synths, and joyless pianos lead to a bleak set of productions -- even the synthetic calliope in "Heartless" is unnerved, and the relative pep of "Paranoid" provides no respite, its bitter lyrics subverting a boisterous beat. Several tracks have almost as much in common with irrefutably bleak post-punk albums, such as New Order's Movement and the Cure's Pornography, as contemporary rap and R&B. ("Coldest Winter," where West longs for his departed mother, samples the most desolate song from the first Tears for Fears album.) For anyone sifting through a broken relationship and self-letdown, this could all be therapeutic.
There are rappers. There are singers. Generally, they should stick to doing just one, unless you are named TQ and you sing a song called "Westside."There have been some disastrous results when rappers try and sing, P. Diddy's (then Puff Daddy's) singing in "Come with Me" from the Godzilla soundtrack comes to mind, among other disasters from wordsmiths that should keep the hook singing to people...
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Possibly the most hotly debated release of 2008 was Kanye West 's 808s & Heartbreak . I've been listening to the album off and on since the November release, in hopes that it would grow on me and I'd find some rare gem or piece of inspiration behind it. Alas, I'm still quite dumbfounded and undecided. There's no party without one of Kanye's club hits, whether it be "The Good Life," "Stronger,...
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I feel Mr West on this record which opens the experiment album titled "808 and heartbreaks".I added my own story at about 1:34 or so,not to take away from the vibe i hope,but just to add a no auto-tuned function into the mix.The hey,hey,hey that kanye sings after every 8 measures serves as the driving force for this record in my opinion and that is what inspired me to write my verse,while drivi...
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In theater we describe musicals as being scenarios where the stakes get so high that characters can't express themselves through words anymore; they feel so strongly about the given situation that they have to sing. That same idea is what drives Kanye West's new album, the remarkably divisive 808's & Heartbreak . Released less than a year after the death of West's mother and breaking up with hi...
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808's & Heartbreak just may be the definitive album of Kanye's career - sentimental, confused, and strong yet vulnerable. This is Kanye's most personal, introspective and most reflective album to date. He raised eyebrows when he sang the album's introductory single Love Lockdown at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, and raised them again when it was revealed that the entire album would be sung wi...
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I once dashed off a furious letter to an ex-lover. I demanded to know why she'd left me for somebody with "a huge nose". I argued that my ex deserved somebody with a standard sized snozz. Namely, me. A Shakespeare sonnet it was not. The letter provoked reaction.My ex-lover turned up to calmly request the return of concert tickets bought before the break-up. "Enjoy them!", I shouted on handover...
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To continue the massive tirade of "Reckoner" and "Love Lockdown" remixes — I'll one-up ya, a "Reckoner" and "Love Lockdown" mashup. Courtesy of DJ Earworm. The mashup, "Reckoner Lockdown," is fantastic. Kanye's mellow, auto-tuned vocals fit pretty damn well with Reckoner's alabaster instrumentals. But thankfully Earworm pushes "Lockdown"'s killer drums and bassline towards the end. A [...]
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Before I get into this post that I spotted over at NicoleBitchie.com (yeah, I read the gossip), I just want to mention how crazy I think it is about all these new Kanye West tracks being leaked everywhere. Personally, the only track off the new album that I have heard is "Love Lockdown". What happened [...]
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Exclusive feature! We have Kanye West's video for Heartless! Check it out inside this post! Heartless is an animated video, and it's complete with the trademark Kanye West charisma. LOL at the smoking outsite bit. Kanye plays the stress he's been dealing with, though it borders on dramatic. Don't you think the video has doeses of Tupac 's Do Love ? I remember this video ...
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Can't keep up with all the new Kanye? Pigeons and Planes is here for you. First off is a sample of "Anyway", the latest leak from 808s . Shitty sound quality, but this will probably leak soon, so check it out to get a feel for the song and check back for the leak. Kanye West - Anyway And in case you missed it, here's some other leaks from 808s and Heartbreak : Kanye West - Robocop ...
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Yeezy edges out Taylor Swift and Guns N' Roses for the #1 spot atop the Billboard charts this week, moving a respectable 450,000 units of 808s & Heartbreak . Billboard reports: Kanye West earns his third straight No. 1 on The Billboard 200 as "808s & Heartbreak" bows in the top slot. The Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam set moved 450,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, the artist's lo...
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Kanye West with friend and album artist for Graduation, Murakami. Whoever said the Game was cooler than Kanye? If such person exists, he must be one helluva lunatic. So, in other issues, early in the 7th of October, the most awaited video of Kanye West 's Love Lockdown debuted and, naturally, every music blogger scrammed to be the first one to put it out on their blogs. Although I'm not one ...
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Here's Kanye's New Video for Heartless from 808's & Heartbreaks. Look down below for his explanation of how it was made. Ye doesn't half-step with his videos. Heartless... [For the whole story visit Xplosive World]
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--- - |- A new direction for Mr. West that I definitely enjoy. He seems to be embracing his dark pop side including Auto Tune/Vocoder vocals and minimalist production. I gotta say he has a pretty decent voice. ~~- Kanye West
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Straight from my man Steve, over at OGHipHop, Kanye apparently debuted his new album 808 & Heartbreaks last night in LA. I'm not gonna cover all the boring details of the event here, like who was there and who was wearing what. But the important item to confirm is that yes, the entire album is [...]
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During one of his numerous apologies to Taylor Swift on Jay Leno's "new" show, Kanye mentioned he was going to "take some time off" to get away from the business and focus on personal growth. I guess that's put on hold now because according to 88-Keys, Kanye is working on a new album and he's heard some of the tracks already. I know the conspiracy theorists who have been shouting PUBLICITY STUN...
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Did you watch the Bejing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony this past summer? Remember the part with all the drummers? Why do I feel like Kanye West watched and got so inspired he'd make a drum-track heavy album called 808s & Heartbreak?Today another leak from the album, which drops on November 25th, "Robocop."
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While Kanye West drops little hints here and there about a possible new album, people have been trying to confirm if it will be out by year's end. Today confirmation was received via some "investigative journalism.":http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003848163 Turns out West's peeps listed a new West release under the title 808's and Heartbreak on music ret...
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Produced by Urban Noize Remixes, this has got to be the sickest dopest Heartless mix out there today.Download
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Remember when Kanye West told the world he'd never do another MTV awards show? Sunday night West closed out the 2008 MTV Music Video awards by playing his new sexy and sultry single "Love Lockdown" supposedly off his forthcoming album titled Good Ass Job. The album continues in the theme of his previous three albums - the College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. (What typically comes...
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Fresh off the release of the song and video for You're My Life; J.A.M.E.S. Watts is back with the second installment of his Re-Fix series. A radical departure from the first, which found me rapping over Jay-Z's classic Dead Presidents instrumental, this time I've decided to give the "Re-Fix" treatment to Kanye West's Amazing from the [...]
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Say You Will |
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| 2 Welcome to Heartbreak |
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| 3 Heartless |
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| 4 Amazing |
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| 5 Love Lockdown |
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| 6 Paranoid |
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| 7 Robocop |
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| 8 Street Lights |
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| 9 Bad News |
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| 10 See You in My Nightmares |
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| 11 Coldest Winter |
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| 12 [Untitled] |
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| 13 [CD-Rom Track] |
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Click to purchase…
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 "808s & Heartbreak")
