Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

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By Ben Vernel

Oh Yeezy.

You had it all, my man. You had credibility, bursting onto the scene and out from under the shadow of Jay-Z with "College Dropout", one of the best debut hip-hop albums...well, ever.

You had genius, exploding onto international radio and jukeboxes everywhere with "Late Registration", creating one of the best songs... well, ever in Touch The Sky.

You had mainstream superstardom with Stronger, and even though your album "Graduation" wasn't widely regarded as 'excellent' - it was pretty damn good.

And then there was your performance at the 2008 MTV VMAs.

You revealed a new, interesting song that Didn't-Feature-Any-Rapping. Gun to my head, it didn't feature any singing either.

It was unlike anything we had heard before from Kanye West. It was unlike anything we had heard before from anyone.

It wasn't a typical pop song, it wasn't a typical R&B song, and it wasn't a typical hip-hop song. It was Love Lockdown. It featured an almost tribal drum beat and a lot of auto-tuned vocoder vocal nonsense.

It was like Kanye was doing a live version of Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, but with an R&B twist.

It was intriguing, to say the least. Would his new album all be like this? Would that be a bad thing? Is this song even any good?

I suppose that is what I'm here to answer - with the recent release of "808s & Heartbreak" sitting on my desk, staring up at me all forlornly, the deflated heart-balloon on the cover looking both minimalist cool and kinda... like a deflated heart-balloon.

What have you done, Kanye? What is this?

Firstly, it is not like anything Kanye West has done before. That much is certain. And if you buy "808s & Heartbreak" hoping or thinking it will be, you'll be sorely disappointed.

As each track leaked from the speakers, I hoped and prayed it would sound like vintage Kanye - and every time my hopes were dashed. In fact, what I experienced felt more like a perverse, morbid fascination with how bad it would be. And one that was continually fed.

However, since transferring the tracks to my iPod, a different feeling has come over me. One of reflection. And one that insists:

'This is not like anything Kanye has done before and it wasn't meant to be, so judge it on its own merits'

"808s & Heartbreak" is a mellow affair, that much is obvious.

It's an electro-beat driven, pop-R&B album. It features strong drums, and synth-bass that hearkens back to the 1980s. At the same time, it is unforgivingly modern.

The first track, Say You Will is a slow, brooding build-up to an album that bears out many of its production peculiarities and sonic sensibilities. The more I listen to it, the more it strikes me that, once again, Kanye has proved he is a better producer than he is a rapper or singer.

The simple bass and piano makes for an understated but beautifully melancholic mood, and the more you listen the more you like. The more you distance yourself from expectations, the more you appreciate the album.

Love Lockdown is, well, Love Lockdown.

We all know it, we all either 'like it a bit' or 'hate it for what it represents' - the New Kanye.

Heartless, the second single, is a much better song. It has a better melody and is more catchy. In fact, it is Heartless, rather than Love Lockdown, that truly represents "808s & Heartbreak" most accurately. It has the same style of production and vocals as Love Lockdown, but it is just... better.

And I suppose that's how I feel about the album as a whole. It's a grower. And it's one that is worth letting grow.

Give Yeezy a chance, he just might have made something amazing.

Again.

RATING: 4 out of 5

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