Review Summary: Are those really the lyrics?
My ears have a bizarre relationship with the work of Mr. West. As a producer, Kanye is quite musical - thats obvious even with
808s, I also recommend you check out some of my personal favorites which are the song 'Angel' on Game's
LAX album and 'Lucifer' on Jay-Z's
Black Album. Listening to those two beats it is clear that Kanye has a knack for at least one side of the hip-hop spectrum, producing some of the most classic beats mainstream rap has ever heard. But the question is, as a rapper, if you are so in-tune with your ability to produce tracks can't you mesh them with fitting lyrics if you know the beats so well? The pen is not Kanye's strong point and even though he may think so he is feeding himself with an illusion. Even so if one is ignorant to their weaknesses, those flaws eventually find a way into the ignorant persons expressive work if they make any. Now, singing is a totally different story for the famed rapper. He hasn't exactly showcased any talent in the area in the past, and since his discovery of the Auto-Tuner he hasn't exactly had to. I've seen people use voice effects in studios before, they can make the worst singer in the world into a regular Christina Aguilera if necessary. But that lasts for one track maybe, with prolonged listening it becomes obvious that effects have been used and the singers efforts loose the organic feel they had at first.
I couldn't put it any better than I just did,
808s and Heartbreak starts off very promising (who in hell doesn't like that Welcome to Heartbreak beat? Maybe I'm just a sucker for the violin) and throughout the album its clear that Kanye was on a one-way road the entire time he was recording the album. It feels rushed; all of the beats share a robotic, calculated feel to them. I know Kanye's production very well and I can tell you if he spent not even a month longer in the studio he could have produced something ten times the magnitude of this. The songs rely on bass-heavy, dreamy beats with extremely manufactured vocal work. The song he does with Lil' Wayne is very disappointing and is a perfect example of a basic tune with no substance, entirely relying on computerized effects to give it the emotional feel that it has. Weezy's lyrics are hardly enough to save the song, while they are decent they still sound too much like Kanye's vocals to really add any outside substance to the track.
The saddest thing a front-man (or woman) can do to their band is waste the instrumental work with lackluster vocals. Since Kanye on this album is essentially a one-man band, he has a responsibility to put the puzzle-pieces together by himself. Awesome beats are absolutely no excuse to lazily spew some meaningless love-song words and call it a song. A
song has a soul, and while the creator of the songs may not share that aspect, the song itself can be a metaphor for something much bigger and cathartic than it already is. Kanye typically fills his notepads with interesting insight to the inner workings of a revered yet troubled figure in one of the biggest businesses on the planet. On
808s, the beats begin the songs with hype-sounds that have the listener expecting something quite epic to knock against their eardrums for the next few minutes. Alas, Mr. West could just as easily had a fourteen year old boy who has recently experienced a breakup with his first girlfriend write his lyrics for him. So in the lyrical department,
808s is shamefully disappointing.
Of course, its a Kanye West album, there are highlights.
Streetlights is a masterpiece in the realm of
808s and executes the musical style I believe Kanye was truly searching for after the death of his mother. Speaking of his mother's death I suppose that could be a very strong influence on
808s and its harmonized style of futuristic pop.
Coldest Winter was apparently dedicated to her and if she was in fact a large influence on this album then it is clear in this song, as it is without a doubt the best song on the CD and probably the best song Kanye has ever released. Its drumming is intoxicating as much as the audibly heartfelt singing is, despite the use of the Auto-Tune Kanye pulls off a gem.
Heartless is another song I could see myself replaying in the future - interesting piano and flute effects, and while the vocals are as robotic as they are on the rest of the album the singing is spectacularly rhythmic on this song.
Kanye has always been pop-sensible and radio-friendly, however
808s and Heartbreak is nothing
but a pop album. His past work is hardly as mopey and depressing as this is, and I find that Kanye doesn't belong in such a musical realm. What happened to 'The Good Life' and 'Touch The Sky', 'Homecoming' and 'All Falls Down'? Kanye is a soulful rapper who can make an already uplifting beat into an anthem...if he's
rapping. He must face the fact that if one cannot already sing, filling the unexperienced void with artificial effects is lying to your musical self. Check out
Pinocchio Story at the end of this album;
live Kanye exemplifies his inability to sing and while the fans still eat it up, it should be eating him up on the inside.
808s would have better served itself as a few singles, Kanye West is very confused.
