808s & Heartbreak

by Kanye West

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	11/24/2008
Label:	Roc-A-Fella
UPC:	0602517872790

Tracks

1. Say You Will
2. Welcome to Heartbreak
3. Heartless
4. Amazing
5. Love Lockdown
6. Paranoid
7. Robocop
8. Street Lights
9. Bad News
10. See You in My Nightmares
11. Coldest Winter
12. Pinocchio Story (Freestyle Live from Singapore)
13. [CD-Rom Track]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kanye West   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
Larry Gold   Conductor,String Conductor
Esthero   Vocals (Background)
Lil Wayne   Vocals,Featured Artist
Gregory Teperman   Violin
Phillip Ingram   Vocals
Olga Konopelsky   Violin
Romeo Johnson   Vocals
Kid Cudi   Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
James J. Cooper III   Cello
Lula Almeida   Percussion,Drums
Igor Szwec   Violin
Nina Simone   Vocals
Jeff Bhasker   Keyboards,Co-Producer,Vocals (Background)
Anthony Williams   Vocals (Background)
Ze Bruno   Drums,Percussion
Lula Almedia   Drums,Percussion
Alexandra Leem   Viola
Emma Kummrow   Violin
Rodney D'Assis   Drums,Percussion
Davis A. Barnett   Viola
Will Wheaton   Vocals
Jeezy   Vocals,Featured Artist
Luigi Mazzocchi   Violin
Jennie Lorenzo   Cello
Tony Williams   Vocals (Background)
Kevin Dorsey   Vocals
Jim Gilstrap   Vocals
Kadockadee Kwire   Vocals
Lula Alheida   Drums,Percussion
Glenn Jordan   Vocals
Toni Williams   Vocals (Background)
Rodney d'Assis   Drums,Percussion
Plain Pat   Co-Producer
Mr. Hudson   Vocals,Co-Producer,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Kevin Dorley   Vocals
Gibi   Drums,Percussion
Miles B. Davis   Bass
Charles Parker   Violin
No I.D.   Co-Producer

Technical Credits

Larry Gold   String Arrangements,Arranger
E. Wilson   Composer
Jeff Chestek   Engineer,Audio Engineer
Patrick Reynolds   Composer
Roland Orzabal   Composer
Kanye West   Composer,Producer,Audio Production,Executive Producer
Christian Plata   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Isha Erskine   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
John Stahl   Audio Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Andrew Dawson   Mixing,Engineer
Erik Madrid   Mixing Assistant
C. Bass   Composer
Patrick Doyle   Composer
J. Jenkins   Composer
D. Mills   Composer
Danny Clinch   Photography
Jeff Bhasker   Composer,Audio Production
Anthony Kilhoffer   Engineer
Alan Branch   Marketing
Anthony Williams   Composer
A. Williams   Composer
Montez Roberts   Audio Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Manny Marroquin   Mixing
Ryan West   Engineer
Dwayne Carter   Composer
Malik Yusef   Composer
Carter Administration   Executive Producer
Gaylord Holomalia   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Ernest Wilson   Composer
George Bass   Composer,Composer
M. Jones   Composer
Jenny-Bea Englishman   Composer
Vlado Meller   Mastering
P. Doyle   Composer
I. Menziesi   Composer
P. Reynolds   Composer
Chad Carlisle   Assistant Engineer
Rick Friedrich   Audio Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Scott Mescudi   Composer
Jay Jenkins   Composer
LaNeah Menzies   Composer
J. Peter Robinson   Package Design
Kris Yiengst   Artwork,Photo Coordination
Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua   Executive Producer
Chris Atlas   Marketing
Don-C   Marketing
Carol Corless   Package Production
Willy Vanderperre   Photography
Faheem Najm   Composer
Yusef Jones   Composer
Gee Roberson   Executive Producer
Ben McIldowie   Composer
Christian Mochizuki   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
No I.D.   Composer,Audio Production
Dexter Mills   Composer
Fahim Najm   Composer
Antony Williams   Composer
Malik Jones   Composer