Then our hero lashes out at his ex in the industrial-tinged “Robocop” and defends his honor in the Young Jeezy-assisted “Amazing” (Jeezy provides the only actual rapping on the entire album). In the first act, he’s trying to make sense out of his life over the ominous, sweeping piano of “Welcome to Heartbreak,” before playing the victim and wondering what he did to deserve any of this. There are bits of the album (“Heartless” in particular) that recall his earlier work, but very little of this material is what anyone would describe as “radio-friendly,” or even hip-hop.Ĩ08s gives the impression that we are listening to ‘Ye come to terms with his losses in real time. Like Billy Corgan’s 1998 opus, which was written following the death of Corgan’s mother and the firing of Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, 808s & Heartbreak is a minor masterpiece whose pleasures come from the little details rather than from overt hooks. A better, if more unlikely, counterpart is the Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore. Gone is the stadium-sized swagger of his first three albums, replaced by the electro minimalism of “Say You Will” and the demented vaudeville shuffle of “Amazing.” ‘Ye still shows flashes of his normal hubris throughout, but when filtered through his newfound introspection it takes on a bitter, almost ironic tone.Ĩ08s isn’t out-there enough to be mainstream hip-hop’s Kid A, and even though it’s clearly a breakup album, it isn’t quite Kanye’s Blood on the Tracks. West eschews rapping entirely on 808s & Heartbreak, opting instead for an AutoTune-drenched croon. What is shocking is the result, which might be the weirdest album released this century by a star of his stature. These two personal losses, plus his various overblown controversies, have somewhat dampened the triumph of last year’s massive Graduation album and critically acclaimed Glow in the Dark Tour.īut even West’s many detractors have never questioned his work ethic and high personal standards, so it’s not necessarily surprising that he found time to record another album even in such a tumultuous year. The multi-platinum rapper/producer makes headlines for skirmishes with photographers and awards-show tantrums, but between the death of his mother, Donda West, last November, and his split earlier this year with Alexis Phifer, his girlfriend of six years and fiancée of 18 months, it’s been a pretty rough year for arguably the biggest pop star in the world.
Heartbreak is a new emotion for Kanye West.
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