Kanye West - 808s And Heartbreak

“Goodbye, my friend.
Will I ever love again?”

That is the question asked by Kanye Omari West, and unfortunately, many of his fans. 808s and Heartbreak, the new album by super-producer Mr. West, is set to appear on shelves November 24th. Originally slated for a December 16th drop, rapper/producer West decided himself to push the date forward after finishing the album early in Hawaii, where most of the recording sessions were done. Produced solely by West, with minimal help from longtime friend No I.D., 808s promises to be his most emotionally involved effort yet. The question that remains is, will this also be his worst received effort to date?

A word to the wise, before placing your currency in the local FYE cashier’s hand, the rumors are true. Kanye does not rap much on this album, with the exceptions of the bonus freestyle track, Pinocchio Story, and a verse by Young Jeezy on the song Amazing. The entire album is sung by the rapper with the help of the Auto-Tune sound made popular recently by entertainer T-Pain. West himself has said that this is not a rap album, describing it as “pop-art.” Boasting only 12 tracks, most of which have previously leaked separately onto the internet, the album clocks in at close to 50 minutes.

On September 7th, 2008, during the MTV Awards, Kanye West closed the ceremony by performing a new song entitled Love Lockdown. West later revealed that the song, which had been written just ten days before the show, was to be the lead single from his new album. When a studio version was released to internet and radio, West was highly criticized for the mundane use of the Auto-Tune vocals and weak drum cadence used during the chorus. The song was then remastered with newly tuned vocals and stronger sounding Japanese Taiko drums laced throughout the record. The newer recording was praised as being better than the original, yet still an ill-attempt to capitalize on the Auto-Tune fad. By September 24th, less than a month after supposedly beginning Love Lockdown, Kanye posted on his internet blog that he had completed the album, and would be releasing it in November. The result is 808s and Heartbreak.

With the list of features amounting to only three names, Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy & GOOD Music artist Kid CuDi, 808s and Heartbreak is exactly what its title suggests, break-up music with hard backing. Say You Will, the album’s opener, is the first of these break-up ballads. Kanye pleads with an unheard assailant not to “say you will, if you won’t.” Welcome to Heartbreak, which comes next, is one of the more upbeat, and more depressing, tracks on the album. Ye’ croons about how the illusions fortune and fame doesn’t amount to they joys of family and human contact. From this track alone, listeners can feel just how deep and dark the hole is that the rapper is currently in. The album’s second single, Heartless, is emo-pop at its finest. Kanye spends the 3 and a half minutes telling of the “coldest story ever told” about a man who’s played by his girlfriend.

Not one to dwell forever, though, Kanye does momentarily return to his boastful ways. Amazing, which features Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy, is a very low-key ego track. Kanye proves that he can still talk himself up the way he’s been doing since 2003. Other notable tracks on the album include Robocop, which was recently retreated by jazz musician Herbie Hancock, See You In My Nightmares, which features rapper and fellow Auto-Tune lover, Lil’ Wayne, and Coldest Winter, a mournful record chronicling the loss of his late mother.

As it stands before the album’s scheduled release, early estimates say that Mr. West will have to pull on a completely new fanbase to reach the million-sold mark this time around. 808s and Heartbreak is an extreme departure from the rapper’s usual hard boiled egotistical delivery. Were is not for painfully wretched songs like Paranoid and Bad News, the album may have been considered a successful departure, but the rushed sound of many tracks and the half-hearted features bring the record below the skyscraper sized standards we’ve set for Kanye. While many of us doubt poor sales numbers will lead Ye’ back in the proper direction, we still hope that not winning any awards this year will.

6/10