Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak

THE REVIEW

A sparse and minimal foundation welcomes us into the world of broken hearts. 

We are not talking about classic stories of American colleges that start badly and end (if possible) even worse. No, no straightened fringes and custom suits. Just a man who has lost the two most important loves of his life. His mother and his girlfriend. The first, considered like a beacon in the middle of nowhere, a fixed point of reference, snatched from poverty and a life of hardship by the prodigal son. A new home, a new life, a new image. Sacrifices, as we know, are rewarded. Mr. West has never forgotten the sacrifices his mother made to get him to where he is now. He repays her for everything, and why not, he even gives her a hand when it comes to the aches and pains of aging. A breast perhaps a little too prominent that now causes problems, and a surgical operation to reduce it. And the mother who dies on the operating table.

Welcome To Heartbreak.

 Two loves, it was said, lost suddenly.

Gone are the carefree Hip-pop atmospheres and dancefloor hits, Mr. West completely strips off all designer clothes and sports cars, to fully succumb to the pain. Lugubrious and cold atmospheres dominate this album that has absolutely nothing of Hip-pop. It's a sort of journey into electronic Soul, with a voice rendered even colder and robotic by autotune. 12 shamelessly anti-commercial, introspective, and whispered tracks. 

It's an atypical album that only Kanye West could afford to make, amidst the depressing landscape of today's American Nigga-blood artists. All sporty cars and giant gold chains. Only Kanye West could afford to release as a single the tribal "Love Lockdown", an anthem to (here we go again) lost love.

It's an album that contains engaging Soul moments ("Heartbreak"), and real ballads (The beautiful "Streets Light"). Few collaborations (which could have been avoided) that take a back seat. It's the album of solitude and intimacy. The journey continues with the atypical "Robocop", a bolt from the blue, and with the very Black piano of "Bad News". And the circle closes with the last 2 gems, "Coldest Winter", a song on the album admittedly dedicated to his mother, and with the Freestyle Live of "Pinocchio Story".

And the circle closes. The heart-shaped balloon deflates. 

And everyone goes home.

Beautiful album.