One of Music’s greatest talents, Rapper Kanye West, has broken his chain of gritty, yet sometimes abstract, Rap Gold albums, for what he calls Pop Art. The list of “College Dropout”, “Late Registration” and “Graduation” was thought to be completed with “Good Ass Job”, however, West veered onto another course with the heartfelt tunes of “808s & Heartbreak”. The album is said to have been inspired by West’s ended engagement to model Alexis Phifer and the death of his mother, Donda West.

The album begins with “Say You Will” that features West singing, as he does throughout the entire album. “Don’t say you will/ Then play you will” goes the lyrics that evoke a man speculative of “rushing in”. The song ends with a magnificent display of the Roland TR-808’s drumming, with its tribal beats that were part of West’s overall concept of the album. Following is “Welcome to Heartbreak” featuring Kid Cudi whom was recently signed to West’s label G.O.O.D. Music. In this song Kanye introduces the reasons behind his sorrow, “My friend showed me pictures of his kids/ And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs…Chase the good life my whole life long/ Look back on my life and my life gone/ Where did I go wrong?”

The album’s second single, “Heartless”, is third on the list, “In the night I hear them talk the coldest story ever told/ Somewhere far along this road he lost his soul/ To a woman so heartless”. When questioned about the anticipated success of the album in an interview, West said that lines like that one and others are meant to be remembered by listeners if the album is to be a success. The music video for “Heartless” is animated and was directed by Hype Williams. One of my favorites from the album “Amazing”, featuring Young Jeezy, it displays some of the album’s only “true rap” and a more high energy beat than other songs on the album.

“Love Lockdown” the album’s first single was first heard during Kanye’s live performance at the 2008 MTV VMA Awards. The performance took many by surprise because it was the first look into the style that he would be exploring for the production of “808s & Heartbreak”. As goes the beat of the song, the video features tribal spears and warriors running around, while West sings in an all white suit. The song “Paranoid” features the drums creating a more dance floor feel, as the lyrics say “You worry bout the wrong things, the wrong things”. “Robocop” follows with the same concept. The song rants of a female companion who has become obsessed with information. “Up late night like she on patrol/ Checkin’ everything like I’m on parole”. If you remember, back in October, an unfinished version of “Robocop” was leaked to the internet, which infuriated West. The finished version is much better though, with added lyrics.

“Street Lights” is a song obviously made to sound sad. This song shows that the Streets Lights Kanye speaks of are a far cry from the “Flashing Lights” he once spoke of, if not physically then mentally. “Bad News” is next, with the same tone and the words “Didn’t you know I was waiting on you/ Waiting on a dream that’d never come true”.

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Kanye West’s apparent good friend Lil Wayne steps onto the album with “See You in My Nightmares”, one of the album’s most passionate songs. I don’t know if Wayne wrote his verse himself, but it was very much on topic (get it?). Both exhibited excellent use of the auto-tune feature that has become a lot more popular in their music.

My favorite song on the album “Coldest Winter”, which is said to be about West’s mother, is the shortest on the album, but packs a punch. “Memories made in the Coldest Winter/ Goodbye my friend/ Will I ever love again?” This is followed by the final track, done by Kanye live in Singapore entitled “Pinocchio Story”. Kanye West ends the album with cries for help with inner turmoil, realizing that the life he worked so hard for is filled with loneliness and fake things. “I turn on the TV and see me and see nothing/ What does it feel like to live real life, to be real?/...I wanna be a real boy”

Kanye West has been one of my favorite rappers for some years now, but with this album he drifted from his core. However, we can not punish an artist for exploring venues that are revealed to them as they travel through life just as we do. “808s & Heartbreak” is one of the most consistent musical products released in a long time. The album’s themes were made and then kept. If that doesn’t do it for you, realize the passion in each lyric and the ingenuity used to present it. For these reasons the Ordinary Joe Music Blog gives Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” a “B”.

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