Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

So all these leaked 808s & Heartbreak tracks are really starting to grow on me. The lyrics are all pretty terrible, but they're fairly easy to ignore since the vocals sort of just blend into the music. Looks like this isn't going to turn out to be the colossal embarrassment I was expecting. Hard-line hip-hop partisans are going to fucking hate it for realz, though.

[Copper Feel 0]

How valid are the comparisons to Blood on the Tracks? Considering the genre, I'm guessing not very.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

What the hell? I haven't heard 808's and Heartbreak, but what exactly are people saying is similar to Blood on the Tracks?

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

I'm eager to hear this. I think the hip-hop I like the most tends to lean more melodic, if that makes any sense. Like "Regulate." Then again, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'm eager to hear this. I think the hip-hop I like the most tends to lean more melodic, if that makes any sense. Like "Regulate." Then again, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Between this and the discussion of banana bread in the EHME's Friend Died thread, I feel like you've been watching the Michael McDonald/"I Keep Forgettin'" episode of Yacht Rock.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I got about a minute into "Coldest Winter" and couldn't listen anymore.

[Kinetic 0]

What the hell? I haven't heard 808's and Heartbreak, but what exactly are people saying is similar to Blood on the Tracks?

 

Any time a major commercial artist releases one of those downtrodden "break-up" albums, the mainstream music press lets the Blood on the Tracks comparisons fly. I would imagine that it's even less apt here than it was for Sea Change a few years ago.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Kanye's driving me crazy with this auto-tune stuff. Seems like a lot of hip-hop personalities are trying to recreate the magic of Dre's Love Below. None of them are working, though, and we just end up with a lot of ill-conceived experimental "rap" albums.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Uhm, 808s & Heartbreak is shaping up to be way better than The Love Below, which was ultimately little more than one transcendent single surrounded by a bunch of half-baked bullshit.

 

Also, I wish people would stop tagging this thing with the "experimental hip hop" tag, because other than a couple of guest verses from Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne (who barely even raps) there's absolutely nothing "hip hop" about it. It's electro-pop, straight up.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I'm eager to hear this. I think the hip-hop I like the most tends to lean more melodic, if that makes any sense. Like "Regulate." Then again, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Between this and the discussion of banana bread in the EHME's Friend Died thread, I feel like you've been watching the Michael McDonald/"I Keep Forgettin'" episode of Yacht Rock.

"Yacht Rock" may be one of the best things I've ever seen on Youtube. The Van Halen and Jimmy Buffet ones are genius.

 

As for Kanye's upcoming album, well, I'm not really looking forward to it, though I always felt personally that he's a better producer than rapper.

 

Finally, I've been meanng to check out The Sparks for ages, but haven't had the time to.

[Guest Czecherbear]

I'm eager to hear this. I think the hip-hop I like the most tends to lean more melodic, if that makes any sense. Like "Regulate." Then again, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Between this and the discussion of banana bread in the EHME's Friend Died thread, I feel like you've been watching the Michael McDonald/"I Keep Forgettin'" episode of Yacht Rock.

I haven't watched Yacht Rock in months. "This is gonna be some good-ass banana bread" was one of those signatures or subtitles that never came to be, incidentally. I guess I got sidetracked.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Uhm, 808s & Heartbreak is shaping up to be way better than The Love Below, which was ultimately little more than one transcendent single surrounded by a bunch of half-baked bullshit.

 

Also, I wish people would stop tagging this thing with the "experimental hip hop" tag, because other than a couple of guest verses from Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne (who barely even raps) there's absolutely nothing "hip hop" about it. It's electro-pop, straight up.

I've heard eight of the 12 tracks slated to be on the official album and no way. Couple of decent tracks, but for the most part, it's uninspired crap. I'm not a huge fan of Love Below, but it was a lot more dynamic than anything on this is going to be. Kanye's a fabulous producer, but anyone could create the sparse backdrops he's got on this album.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Uhm, 808s & Heartbreak is shaping up to be way better than The Love Below, which was ultimately little more than one transcendent single surrounded by a bunch of half-baked bullshit.

 

Also, I wish people would stop tagging this thing with the "experimental hip hop" tag, because other than a couple of guest verses from Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne (who barely even raps) there's absolutely nothing "hip hop" about it. It's electro-pop, straight up.

I've heard eight of the 12 tracks slated to be on the official album and no way. Couple of decent tracks, but for the most part, it's uninspired crap. I'm not a huge fan of Love Below, but it was a lot more dynamic than anything on this is going to be. Kanye's a fabulous producer, but anyone could create the sparse backdrops he's got on this album.

I heard six of them earlier today, and I have to say, it sounds horrible. It's got an interesting idea (using the old 808 Drum Machine and trying out Electro Pop/Synth Pop), but the Auto-Tune/Vocalizer shit is dreadful, and everything I've heard sounds uninspired and soulless.

 

Also, the new Q-Tip album may be my pick for Hip Hop album of the year.

[Mik 0]

Full length 808s and Heartbreak leaked today.

[Guest Czecherbear]

Say, I like 808s and Heartbreak quite a bit. Maybe it's a little indulgent, but I suppose it has to be. This could be Kanye's Tonight's the Night.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Yeah it's really good. Perfect walking through the snow music.

[Guest Czecherbear]

Maybe the Autotune gets a little grating after a while, but such is the nature of Autotune. Those synths on "Paranoid" are so great. Reminds me of Michael Jackson. And the layers and layer of percussion on "Love Lockdown"! So this is what it took to get me on board the Good Ship Kanye, huh.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Yeah, his worst album.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Easily. I'll do one better and say that, given the talent behind it, one of the worst hip-hop albums in years.

[Cherry Blossom Viscount 0]

Uhm, 808s & Heartbreak is shaping up to be way better than The Love Below, which was ultimately little more than one transcendent single surrounded by a bunch of half-baked bullshit.

 

Also, I wish people would stop tagging this thing with the "experimental hip hop" tag, because other than a couple of guest verses from Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne (who barely even raps) there's absolutely nothing "hip hop" about it. It's electro-pop, straight up.

 

*Backs slowly out of thread*

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

This shit sucked so bad. Only good thing I can say about it is that it has a lot of bass.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Maybe the Autotune gets a little grating after a while, but such is the nature of Autotune. Those synths on "Paranoid" are so great. Reminds me of Michael Jackson. And the layers and layer of percussion on "Love Lockdown"! So this is what it took to get me on board the Good Ship Kanye, huh.

 

Get your life boat ready for when he records an actual hip-hop album.

[Guest Czecherbear]

Aw, you guys.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

I don't know why you dudes are so eager to hear him go back to rapping. He's not that good at it! I'd be perfectly fine with never having to hear another corny-ass punchline about Louis Vuitton.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Aw, you guys.

 

Maybe this is your baby-step on the way to enjoying legit rap?

[Copper Feel 0]

Seems like a lot of hip-hop personalities are trying to recreate the magic of Dre's Love Below.

 

Strange. I far prefer 808s & Heartbreak. It never feels like Kanye is exploring his fascination at the expense of his songs, which is the problem with The Love Below.

[Guest Czecherbear]

But it's not really a rap album, nor does it aspire to be. That's like saying Low is gonna get me into the New York Dolls.

 

Anyway, the lyrics are a little unhewn in spots (the line about report cards/sports cars comes to mind), but I guess that's sort of his thing sometimes, so how much we can begrudge him that, I dunno. I don't care for the guest spots because it detracts from the personal aspect of the album to have other rappers drop in. In the same vein of conceptual continuity, the bonus track doesn't fit at all. He should've re-recorded it so that it sounded like it was part of the work and not a tacked-on bootleg. I would've redone just because the audio was sullied at 2:20 by what might be a pig being beheaded. But I really dig the cognitive dissonance throughout the album, from the macro (humanity executed with sterile electronics) to the micro (the triumphant uplifting strings against the scornful "you're just a spoiled little L.A. girl" refrain). Pages out of the Kraftwerk/Smiths books. And as I said earlier, "Love Lockdown" is a hit if you're a lover of audio ziggurats like I am. I'm not saying it's the best album of the year--and I don't yet know what is--but it's a neat little document of Kanye West's very shitty year, in which he apparently sat in the dark and listened to lots of Boards of Canada and M83. This is probably going to be one of those big stylistic deviations that people don't fully appreciate until years later. Don't the All-Time Great Artists have those?

[snuffbox 0]

Say, I like 808s and Heartbreak quite a bit. Maybe it's a little indulgent, but I suppose it has to be. This could be Kanye's Tonight's the Night.

 

Is Kanye's mom the new Bruce Berry, too?

[Guest Czecherbear]

If you haven't seen her new tummy, I guess you won't too soon.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I don't begrudge it simply for not being a hip-hop album. I understand that's not what Kanye's intentions were. Nor do I feel it's a tremendous loss that he isn't rapping. My main complaint vis-a-vis the lyrical content of the album is that the abandonment of rap doesn't allow anything more insightful to break through. There isn't many thought-provoking lyrics throughout the album that this sort of lyrical delivery would benefit. Those who criticize his rapping abilities often complain of the corny or trite nature of those lyrics. That content is still here, albeit in a much more telegraphed form.

 

All this said, I don't hate the album. The first two singles have grown on me and "Amazing" is a great little song. I don't begrudge Kanye for trying something different, but the album does nothing to convince me he's better off heading in this direction as opposed to his first three efforts.