808 39;s Heartbreak
Trine Gritz
808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 24, 2008, having been recorded earlier that year in September and October at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dominating its production, West was assisted by fellow producers No I.D., Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker, and Mr Hudson, while also utilizing guest vocalists for some tracks, including Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne.
Conceived in the wake of West's breakup with his then-fiance Alexis Phifer and the death of his mother Donda West in 2007, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major artistic departure from his previous rap records. Instead, West performed sung vocals that were processed through an Auto-Tune processor against an electronic production and minimalist sonic palette, including prominent use of minor keys and the Roland TR-808 drum machine. West's lyrics on the album explore themes of loss, alienated fame, and heartache, inspired by the distressing personal events, as well as his struggles with pop stardom.
808s & Heartbreak debuted atop the Billboard 200, selling slightly over 450,000 copies in its first week. Despite varying responses from listeners, the album received positive reviews from music critics, who generally commended West's experimentation, and was named one of 2008's best records in several year-end lists. Four singles were released in its promotion, including the hit singles "Love Lockdown", which became the highest Billboard Hot 100 debut of West's career, and "Heartless". Despite the positive critical reception, the album was mostly overlooked at the 52nd Grammy Awards; however, its single "Amazing" was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Among West's most influential records, 808s & Heartbreak made an immediate impact on hip hop, pop, and R&B music, as a new wave of rappers, singers, and producers adopted its stylistic and thematic elements. Further impact has been noted for pioneering the emo rap and experimental R&B subgenres in particular. Rolling Stone later included the album in its list of "The 40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time" and provided a ranking at number 244 on its revised list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". By 2013, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the United States, and by 2020, received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
West felt that his emotions could not be fully expressed simply through rapping, which he said had limitations. There were "melodies that were in me", he explained. "What was in me I couldn't stop."[7] Wanting to create a pop album, West dismissed the contemporary backlash to the concept of pop music and expressed admiration for what some pop stars had accomplished in their careers.[8] West acknowledged the criticism of the album by saying that he can't be judged on a reflection of his "heart and soul", which would be like attempting to judge a grandmother's love.[9] The rapper later stated that he wished to present the music as a new genre called "pop art", clarifying that he was well-aware of the visual art movement of the same name and wished to present a musical equivalent.[10] He elaborated: "Either call it 'pop' or 'pop art,' either one I'm good with".[10]
The album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008.[11] Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii.[12] The 808 of the title is a reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine, used heavily in the album. Drawing inspiration from 1980s synth-pop and electropop performers such as Phil Collins, Gary Numan, TJ Swan, and Boy George, West felt that the 808 was a resourceful instrument that could be used to evoke emotion; the concept was introduced to him by Jon Brion.[13][14] West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch to produce a distorted, electronic sound, an effect he referred to as "heartbreak". He felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind.[10] According to West, the fact that Hawaii's area code was "808" was coincidental, as he had already developed the album's title before being informed.[15] The realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however.[11] In terms of musical direction, West's intentions, according to Mike Dean, were to defy the typical sound of hip-hop beats, instead evoking the presence of tribal drums.[16] Overall, West maintained a "minimal but functional" approach to producing the album.[13][17]
West credits rapper Kid Cudi, who had signed to his GOOD Music record label, with helping create the album's stark, brooding sound.[18][19] After receiving a copy of his 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, West became an avid fan, especially of the hit single "Day 'n' Nite".[18] West surprised Kid Cudi with a phone call and asked him to fly to Hawaii to work on 808s & Heartbreak.[20] The pair worked together in the studio while having films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind play silently in the background. Ultimately, Kid Cudi co-wrote four songs on 808s & Heartbreak, the first being the chorus for "Heartless".[20][18] West told Rolling Stone, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important. [That's] more important than where things chart."[18] No I.D., West's collaborator and former mentor, added that tracks for the album also originated from their concurrent recording for Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 (2009). "Matter of fact, when we did 'Heartless,' [West] just stopped and said, 'No.' I was like, 'No what?' He was like, 'No way! This is my record!'", as No I.D. recalled. "I was like, 'Come on, man. Can we just finish the guy's album?' He was like, 'Nope. I'm doing an album.'"[21]
For his vocals on 808s & Heartbreak, West employed the voice-audio processor technology of Auto-Tune. He had experimented with it on his 2004 debut album The College Dropout, specifically the background vocals of "Jesus Walks" and "Never Let Me Down", but he had not used the technology for lead vocals until 2008. "We were working on the remixes for Lil Wayne's 'Lollipop' and Young Jeezy's 'Put On' and he fell in love with the Auto-Tune", producer Mike Dean recalled.[16] Towards the end, West enlisted T-Pain for coaching on how to utilize the technology.[15] In an interview with Billboard, T-Pain said that West told him he had listened to his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005) before making 808s & Heartbreak.[22] T-Pain also claimed that West brought him in to make 808s sound more like his debut album.[22] West stated that he loved using Auto-Tune and dismissed notions from those who did not like the technology.[23] At a listening event, he considered it "the funnest thing to use".[24] West went on to state that he appreciates how Auto-Tune makes it clear when he sings off-key, enabling him to "sing more perfect".[25]
Young Jeezy contributed a rap verse on the track "Amazing" while "See You in My Nightmares" is a duet with Lil Wayne. Singer-songwriter Esthero provided the few female vocals found on the album; credited under birth name Jenny-Bea Englishman, she co-wrote three tracks.[26] When "RoboCop" appeared on the Internet, West disclaimed responsibility and was upset that the leak had occurred as the track was an unfinished version.[27] Mike Dean had previously stated that the track was expected to receive additional treatment by jazz musician Herbie Hancock before the album's release.[16]
West's singing has been characterized as "flat" and "nearly unmelodic", which "underscores his own cyborgish detachment".[42][39] His voice was compared to the fictional artificial intelligence character HAL 9000,[43][44] channeling a robotic sound.[45][46] Andre Grant of HipHopDX wrote that "to combat this trenchant melancholia, he poured himself into an all-autotunes R&B album" which would prove divisive in hip hop.[47] Canadian writer Stephen Marche viewed that West used "the shallow musical gimmickry of Auto-Tune, a program designed to eliminate individuality, and produced a hauntingly personal album".[48] Nekesa Mumbi Moody of Associated Press described 808s & Heartbreak as uneven, citing West's experimental off-key singing.[49]
Most of West's lyrics are directed at an ex-lover.[39] In Robert Christgau's opinion, 808s & Heartbreak is a "slow, sad-ass and self-involved ... breakup album,"[42] while Plagenhoef found it "steeped in regret, pain, and even more self-examination than a typical Kanye West album".[31] West refers to an ex-lover's treatment of him as "the coldest story ever told" on "Heartless", and on "RoboCop", she is called a "spoiled little L.A. girl" comparable to the antagonist in the 1990 film Misery.[39] On "Paranoid", West describes a lover who "worries about the wrong things" and is pushing him away with her distrustful ways of thinking.[17] With the introspective "Love Lockdown", West discusses the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship.[50]
Among other themes, existential crisis is explored on "Welcome to Heartbreak", in which West's character dispassionately recounts sitting alone on a flight, with a laughing family seated behind him.[39] The song harbors lament over the cost of past decisions and feelings of emptiness in a life of fame and luxury.[51] West longs for his late mother on the album's penultimate track "Coldest Winter".[39] The track contains an interpolation of the desolate 1983 song "Memories Fade" by Tears for Fears.[12] According to Christgau, the closing "Pinocchio Story" is "the only track here about what's really bringing [West] down: not the loss of his girlfriend but the death of his mother, during cosmetic surgery that somewhere not too deep down he's sure traces all too directly to his alienated fame".[42]
c80f0f1006