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Remember when Kanye West threatened to make an album where he would bear his heartbroken soul, align with T-Pain, sing on every song with the then inescapable Auto-Tune effect and, less problematically, lean on the common element -- the Roland TR-808 drum machine -- of classics like "Make It Last Forever," "Posse on Broadway," "808," and "Bossy"? It could have been a wreck, a case of an artist working through paralyzing heartache while loose in a toy store. Except West wasn't joking. Not only did he go through with it, but Roc-A-Fella released the result in time for the 2008 Christmas shopping season.
In various spots across 808s & Heartbreak, the constant flutter of West's processed voice is enlivened by the disarming manner in which despair and dejection are conveyed. When, in "Welcome to Heartbreak," he dispassionately recounts sitting alone on a flight, ahead of a laughing family, he makes first class sound like Siberia; he'd swap lives with the father in an instant. The majority of the lyrics, however, are directed at an ex who evidently did some damage; in "RoboCop" alone, she gets compared to the antagonist in Misery and is called a "spoiled little L.A. girl." Earlier in the album, the number she did on him is called "the coldest story ever told," yet he admits he still fantasizes about her. All the blocky drums, dragging strings, droning synths, and joyless pianos lead to a bleak set of productions -- even the synthetic calliope in "Heartless" is unnerved, and the relative pep of "Paranoid" provides no respite, its bitter lyrics subverting a boisterous beat. Several tracks have almost as much in common with irrefutably bleak post-punk albums, such as New Order's Movement and the Cure's Pornography, as contemporary rap and R&B. ("Coldest Winter," where West longs for his departed mother, samples the most desolate song from the first Tears for Fears album.) For anyone sifting through a broken relationship and self-letdown, this could all be therapeutic.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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Benjamin McIldowie, ComposerLyricist - Larry Gold, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Dexter Mills, ComposerLyricist - Phillip Ingram, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Jay Jenkins, ComposerLyricist - Luigi Mazzochi, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miles Davis, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Jim Gilstrap, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Chestek, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Olga Konopelsky, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Emma Kummrow, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Teperman, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Davis Barnett, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Tony Williams, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Igor Szwec, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Parker, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennie Lorenzo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Kevin Dorsey, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Will Wheaton, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Mr Hudson, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Rick Friedrich, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - John Stahl, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Montez Roberts, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - H.S. Alexandra Leem, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones, ComposerLyricist - James Cooper, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Romeo Johnson, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Glenn Jordan, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Mescudi, ComposerLyricist - Larry Gold, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Luigi Mazzochi, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miles Davis, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ken Lewis, Piano, AssociatedPerformer - Jeff Chestek, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Kid Cudi, FeaturedArtist - Jeff Bhasker, Producer, Keyboards, Co-Producer, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Olga Konopelsky, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Emma Kummrow, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Teperman, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Davis Barnett, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Igor Szwec, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Parker, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennie Lorenzo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Ryan West, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Plain Pat, Producer, Co-Producer - Rick Friedrich, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - John Stahl, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Montez Roberts, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - H.S. Alexandra Leem, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Patrick Reynolds, ComposerLyricist - James Cooper, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Mescudi, ComposerLyricist - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ken Lewis, Piano, AssociatedPerformer - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - No I.D., Producer, Co-Producer, ComposerLyricist - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones, ComposerLyricist - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Dexter Mills, ComposerLyricist - Jay Jenkins, ComposerLyricist - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Producer, Keyboards, Co-Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Tony Williams, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Young Jeezy, FeaturedArtist - Mr Hudson, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones, ComposerLyricist - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Gibi, Drums, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Zé Bruno, Drums, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Producer, Keyboards, Co-Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jenny-Bea Englishman, ComposerLyricist - LaNeah, ComposerLyricist - Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones, ComposerLyricist - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - LuLa Almeida, Drums, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - Rodney Dassis, Drums, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Mescudi, ComposerLyricist - Dexter Mills, ComposerLyricist - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Kid Cudi, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Jeff Bhasker, Producer, Keyboards, Co-Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Plain Pat, Producer, Co-Producer - Mr Hudson, FeaturedArtist - Patrick Reynolds, ComposerLyricist - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Faheem Najm, ComposerLyricist - Scott Mescudi, ComposerLyricist - Larry Gold, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Dexter Mills, ComposerLyricist - Jay Jenkins, ComposerLyricist - Luigi Mazzochi, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miles Davis, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ken Lewis, Recording Engineer, Unknown, Other, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Chestek, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Olga Konopelsky, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Emma Kummrow, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Teperman, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Davis Barnett, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Tony Williams, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Williams, ComposerLyricist - Patrick Doyle, ComposerLyricist - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Igor Szwec, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Parker, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennie Lorenzo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Rick Friedrich, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - John Stahl, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Montez Roberts, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jenny-Bea Englishman, ComposerLyricist - Brent Kolatalo, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - H.S. Alexandra Leem, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones, ComposerLyricist - James Cooper, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Benjamin McIldowie, ComposerLyricist - Esthero, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer - Tony Williams, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Williams, ComposerLyricist - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Mr Hudson, Producer, Co-Producer - Jenny-Bea Englishman, ComposerLyricist - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Larry Gold, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Luigi Mazzochi, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miles Davis, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Chestek, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer - Olga Konopelsky, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Emma Kummrow, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Teperman, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Davis Barnett, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Igor Szwec, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Parker, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennie Lorenzo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Rick Friedrich, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - John Stahl, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Montez Roberts, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - George Bass, ComposerLyricist - H.S. Alexandra Leem, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - James Cooper, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Dwayne Carter, ComposerLyricist - Larry Gold, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Lil Wayne, FeaturedArtist - Luigi Mazzochi, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miles Davis, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Chestek, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jeff Bhasker, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Olga Konopelsky, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Emma Kummrow, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Teperman, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Davis Barnett, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Igor Szwec, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Parker, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennie Lorenzo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - No I.D., Producer, Co-Producer, ComposerLyricist - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Rick Friedrich, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - John Stahl, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Montez Roberts, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - H.S. Alexandra Leem, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - James Cooper, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - MANNY MARROQUIN, Mix Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Plata, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Erik Madrid, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Chad Carlisle, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - ROLAND ORZABAL, ComposerLyricist - Jeff Bhasker, Producer, Keyboards, Co-Producer, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Dawson, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Anthony Kilhoffer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - No I.D., Producer, Co-Producer, ComposerLyricist - Isha Erskine, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Christian Mochizuki, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gaylord Homomalia, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Kanye West, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
Remember when Kanye West threatened to make an album where he would bear his heartbroken soul, align with T-Pain, sing on every song with the then inescapable Auto-Tune effect and, less problematically, lean on the common element -- the Roland TR-808 drum machine -- of classics like "Make It Last Forever," "Posse on Broadway," "808," and "Bossy"? It could have been a wreck, a case of an artist working through paralyzing heartache while loose in a toy store. Except West wasn't joking. Not only did he go through with it, but Roc-A-Fella released the result in time for the 2008 Christmas shopping season.
In various spots across 808s & Heartbreak, the constant flutter of West's processed voice is enlivened by the disarming manner in which despair and dejection are conveyed. When, in "Welcome to Heartbreak," he dispassionately recounts sitting alone on a flight, ahead of a laughing family, he makes first class sound like Siberia; he'd swap lives with the father in an instant. The majority of the lyrics, however, are directed at an ex who evidently did some damage; in "RoboCop" alone, she gets compared to the antagonist in Misery and is called a "spoiled little L.A. girl." Earlier in the album, the number she did on him is called "the coldest story ever told," yet he admits he still fantasizes about her. All the blocky drums, dragging strings, droning synths, and joyless pianos lead to a bleak set of productions -- even the synthetic calliope in "Heartless" is unnerved, and the relative pep of "Paranoid" provides no respite, its bitter lyrics subverting a boisterous beat. Several tracks have almost as much in common with irrefutably bleak post-punk albums, such as New Order's Movement and the Cure's Pornography, as contemporary rap and R&B. ("Coldest Winter," where West longs for his departed mother, samples the most desolate song from the first Tears for Fears album.) For anyone sifting through a broken relationship and self-letdown, this could all be therapeutic.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:52:04
- Main artists: Kanye West
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Roc-A-Fella
- Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
© 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc. ℗ 2008 UMG Recordings, Inc.
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