Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak

THE REVIEW

Take the definition of rap; now throw it away. Take the essence of pop; completely tear it apart. Keep in mind the fundamentals of electronic; forget them. Take the record and look at it: it’s Kanye. Now we can reason.

Kanye West has always been talked about as an innovator, some call him a genius, but with this album he surpasses all limits. Although it may not be qualitatively the best, it is certainly the most “Kanye-esque,” in the sense of being unexpected, new, and a trendsetter.

The album rests on three fundamental and incredibly orchestrated "elements." The first is certainly the use of autotune for every track; with that slightly shrill voice, almost monotone, with metallic highs and abrasive sounds. The other cornerstone concerns the productions and it’s the use of a drum machine once widely used: the Roland TR-808. Born in the '80s and widely used during that period, it had long been partially set aside, both in the hip hop world and in electronics. Kanye makes it the secret element of the album; he uses it to lay down exceptionally captivating drumlines, with almost tribal sounds that alone "fill" the beats. On such a musical rug, the highlight is Kanye's lyrics, not so much for poetic intensity or lyrics of any high level, but for how each verse, chorus, and bridge fits the instrumental, echoing the melancholic tones that absolutely dominate the record. Melancholy, indeed. The artist, or rather the man, that emerges from this album is an individual tormented by a love that ended (and ended badly), by the death of his mother which left him shattered, by this desire to leave behind the almost plastic world he built around himself to have a normal, happy, carefree life ("Welcome to Heartbreak").

The features are 4 (among them, Young Jeezy’s verse in “Amazing” stands out) and all the artists called to contribute to the album are somehow embedded in the musical dynamics of the product, which is unusual especially regarding the rap scene. Kanye here plays a bit of a maestro, but at the same time also a musician, meticulously caring for everything possible and, above all, leaving his indelible mark. Therefore, it is difficult to analyze the record piece by piece, as it would be extremely reductive because every song gains more value and comprehension when inserted into the overall framework created by the artist. Each track has its own peculiarities, like the strings for “Robocop” and the piano in “Pinocchio Story,” but each track represents a chapter of this book.

Ultimately, “808s & Heartbreak” is not an excellent work, especially compared to the artist's discography, but it impresses for what it has created, for the fresh air it brought at a time when it would have surely been more comfortable to reap the guaranteed success of previous albums with a similar product. The result is an ambivalent product: light and catchy for those who intend to give it just a superficial listen, and deep and complex for anyone willing to examine its facets. Ambivalent like Kanye, genius and unruliness. That's him, you either like it or you don’t, there are no half measures, but he is always new, and in the end, isn’t making music about bringing your novelty and your contribution?