808's & heartbreak post release thread, aka version II Options

[brooklyneast05]

can't have enough kanye west threads for this . i love kanye more than kc loves soulja boy and we know how much that is


anyway, since the album is officially released in 3 hours, we're going to need this thread. no more speculation and what not, tomorrow we'll have real opinions. (even though most of us have already heard at least 50% of the album anyway...never mind that)


i'm gonna go pick this up tomorrow morning and then i'll be back to give my input, the rest of you guys needa do the same.


here's a hiphopdx review i just read. we'll see how much we agree with this. if anyone else runs across a good (good as in well written, not necessarily a positive view) review, post it up here becuase i love reading reviews and comparing them.

brandon should write his own review imo

Supportive or critical of this album’s movement, you have to admire Kanye West’s courage. In the days of shrinking albums sales and sticking to proven formulas, one of music's biggest artists has done a complete 180 after having last year’s top critical and commercial album in Graduation. Some call it a slap to the face of his fans, others call it a true artist’s evolution. Implementing auto-tune is hardly a new idea, but criticism that Kanye is just piggybacking some T-Pain money and not just doing this because he felt like it ignores the trends of this man's career.

Combining the emotions of a lost mother, a called off engagement, and the stress of mega-stardom and “pap-snapping” celebrity, Kanye has taken a detour from his "school" series, as well as his proven comfort zone for 808's & Heartbreak. The album opens triumphantly, in fact the first five songs are as good a start to any work this year. He may be singing a different, computer-assisted tune, but Kanye's trademark attention to detail remains in tact on the minimal opener "Say You Will." By the time it is running on at the end of the song, the beat has built and evolved beautifully. Kanye's songwriting takes center stage on the Kid Cudi-assisted "Welcome To Heartbreak," as he laments his drive for fortune and fame costing him everything else in his life, specifically building a family. Sampling may have been set aside, but ‘Ye’s production here - between the opening cello and the piano throughout - it's as moving as anything he's ever done.

"Heartless" is the most evocative song in ‘Ye’s artistic evolution, and not just because it is one of the few instances in which he actually raps. It is the perfect marriage of Kanye's 808's & Heartbreak experiment, with all the pieces coming together in a way they seldom do over this album’s 11 tracks. Put this song on any other Kanye album and while it might walk the perimeter, it'd still be pretty fresh. "Amazing" isn't far off either with it's excellent song structure, visceral production and welcomed rapping guest Young Jeezy.

After hit single "Love Lockdown" bookends a phenomenal start, the album begins to slide as the attention to detail starts to reflect a T-Pain album rather than a Kanye West album. "Paranoid" sounds like a Tangerine Dream album cut from two decades ago, equally as understated today. "Robocop" follows, and despite its rugged intro and title, it is more Peter Pan than Peter Weller. "Street Lights" is quality work, but "Bad News" is quite dull and "See You In My Nightmares" featuring Lil Wayne is one of the biggest disappointments of the album. The duo doesn't come close to finding the chemistry they showed on Tha Carter III, and their combined auto-tuned stylings ignore the definition of overkill. "Coldest Winter" is ‘Ye’s highly-publicized tribute to his mother, and while it is a good song from an aesthetic standpoint, it's a letdown. Obviously you can't fault the man for making what he felt, but the song came as an abstract surprise from the man who was so specific three years ago on “Hey Mama.” West offers unfamiliar fans a breakup anthem, in what is arguably the most personal song on the album.

If anything, this album proves once and for all what an incredible artist Kanye West is. Being that 808's & Heartbreak is a completely different beast than his past work, it is impossible to compare. But consider how drastically different this is than his debut, and that he still pulled it off very easily. Few artists can stray so far from home and succeed. This is even more impressive when his art project was made using the musical equivalent of paint-by-numbers known as auto-tune. For many, auto-tune is only tolerable in small doses, if at all. Through little more than sheer talent Kanye still managed to make an album that begs repeated listens; even if it is only for 75% of it. Welcome to Heartbreak.