808s & Heartbreak
Encyclopedia
808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album
by American hip hop
artist Kanye West
, released November 24, 2008 on Roc-A-Fella Records
in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California
and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii
during September to October 2008. It was primarily produced by West, No I.D.
, and Jeff Bhasker. Conceived in the wake of multiple events that affected and distressed him during the previous year, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major musical departure for Kanye West from his previous work, lyrically, vocally, and production-wise.
Classified by West as a pop
album, 808s & Heartbreak incorporates elements of synthpop
, electronica
, R&B
, and electropop, while its tracks are primarily sung rather than rapped
by West and contain lyrical themes such as love, loneliness, and heartache. The album also contains extensive use of the Auto-Tune
voice processor and the Roland TR-808
drum machine, which was utilized and manipulated by West to produce a distorted, electronic sound. Approaching the album's production in a minimalist
fashion, West intended to contravene the typical sound of hip hop beat and instead evoke a presence of tribal drums.
The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart, selling 450,145 copies in its first week. It produced four singles, including the hit singles "Love Lockdown
" and "Heartless
". Despite having a divided reaction from music audiences towards West's stylistic change, 808s & Heartbreak received generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release. In 2009, Rolling Stone
magazine named it the 63rd best album of the 2000s decade. 808s & Heartbreak has been certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
and has sold 1.63 million copies in the United States.
, the remainder of 2007 and the following year featured events that profoundly affected Kanye West. On November 10, 2007, West's mother Donda West died due to complications arising from cosmetic surgery involving a tummy tuck and breast reduction procedure. Months later, West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term on-off relationship, which had begun in 2002. At the same time, West struggled to adapt to his new found pop star status he had once striven to achieve, often becoming the subject of media scrutiny. The loss, loneliness and longing for companionship and a sense of normality served to inspire 808s & Heartbreak. West stated that "This album was therapeutic — it's lonely at the top." A photograph taken by Danny Clinch
of West kissing his mother on the cheek was included in the album's booklet liner notes.
West felt that the emotions he felt could not be fully expressed simply through rapping, saying that aside from the fact that rapping had limitations, there were "melodies that were in me — what was in me I couldn't stop." West went to classify 808s & Heartbreak as a pop
album, asserting his disdain towards the contemporary backlash to the concept of pop music and expressed admiration for what some pop stars have accomplished in their careers. He later stated that he wishes to present the music as a new genre called "pop art", clarifying that he was well aware of the visual art movement of the same name
and wished to present a musical equivalent. "Either call it 'pop' or 'pop art', either one I'm good with."
and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii
. As implied by its title, 808s & Heartbreak prominently features the Roland TR-808
drum machine. Drawing inspiration from 1980s synthpop
and electropop performers such as Phil Collins
, Gary Numan
, TJ Swan and Boy George
, West felt that the 808 is a resourceful instrument that can be used to evoke emotion; the concept was introduced to him by Jon Brion
. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch
to produce a distorted, electronic sound, an effect he referred to as "heartbreak". He felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind. According to West, the fact that Hawaii's area code was "808" was coincidental, as he had already developed the album's title before being informed. The realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however. In terms of musical direction, West's intentions, according to Mike Dean
, were to go against the typical sound of hip hop beat, instead evoking the presence of tribal drums. Overall, West maintained a "minimal
but functional" approach towards the album's studio production.
The album makes prominent use of the voice audio processor technology of Auto-Tune
. West had previously experimented with the technology on The College Dropout
for the background vocals of "Jesus Walks
" and "Never Let Me Down", but he had not used it for lead vocals until 2008. "We were working on the remixes for Lil Wayne
's 'Lollipop
' and Young Jeezy
's 'Put On
' and he fell in love with the Auto-Tune", producer Mike Dean explained. Towards this end, West enlisted T-Pain
for coaching on how to utilize the technology. West himself openly stated that he loves using Auto-Tune and is dismayed that the term has been commonly associated with being "wack". He considers the technology "the funnest thing to use" and compared the situation to when he was a child and thought the color pink was cool until someone told him "it was gay", producing an analogy of how the views of society can rob people of their confidence and self-esteem. He later went on to state that he enjoyed the electronic feel produced by Auto-Tune and sought out to juxtapose the mechanical sounds with the traditional sounds of taiko drums and choir monk
s.
Rapper Kid Cudi
, who had signed onto West's G.O.O.D. Music label, contributed to two of the album's songs. Young Jeezy
contributed a rap verse on the track "Amazing" while "See You in My Nightmares
" is a duet with Lil Wayne
. Singer-songwriter Esthero
provided the few female vocals found on the album; credited under birth name Jenny-Bea Englishman, she co-wrote three tracks. When "RoboCop" appeared on the Internet, West refuted responsibility and was upset that the leak had occurred as the track was an unfinished version. Mike Dean had previously stated that the track was expected to receive additional treatment by Herbie Hancock
before the album's release.
weekend. 808s & Heartbreak was also released on November 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom and the Philippines. A limited edition in a digipak case was first released in Germany on November 21, 2008. A special edition of the album was released on December 16 that contains the album in CD and dual LP format, and also features album artwork redone by the artist of the original cover, KAWS
.
On October 16, West released an excerpt of "Coldest Winter" on the radio station Power 106
in Los Angeles. The track recreates elements of the song "Memories Fade" by the band Tears for Fears
. The song "Paranoid" later leaked onto the Internet and features Mr. Hudson
in the chorus. A remixed version of "Paranoid" was reported to feature pop singer Rihanna
, but did not materialize. Also appearing prior to the release date were "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy
, "See You in My Nightmares" featuring Lil Wayne
, "Street Lights", "Say You Will", "Welcome to Heartbreak" and "Bad News". An additional track, "Pinocchio Story" is a freestyle recorded at a live concert in Singapore. It was included in the album at the request of Beyoncé Knowles
.
On October 14, West, in collaboration with Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft
, hosted a promotional album listening event at Ace Gallery. Over 700 guests were invited to preview the entirety of 808s & Heartbreak. Under Beecroft's guidance, the event featured approximately forty nude women wearing nothing besides wool masks who silently stood in the center of the room. The women were illuminated by multicolored lights that would change as the music progressed. When it came time for him to speak, West stated that he'd been a fan of Beecroft's work and strong imagery, saying that he liked the idea of nudity because "society told us to wear clothes at a certain point". Beecroft had been contacted a month prior and conceptualized and generated the installation in a week. Beecroft admitted that while he had caught her offguard, she had the opportunity to hear the album for herself and heard things that touched her own life. Five days later, promotional photos for the album by photographer Willy Vanderperre were released. The images portrayed West wearing a grey glen plaid
suit, large browline glasses
, and a heart-shaped pin.
In October 2009, West was scheduled to embark on a tour, The Fame Kills Starring: Lady Gaga and Kanye West Tour, in promotion of Gaga's
The Fame
, and West's 808's & Heartbreak. It was canceled on October 1, 2009, without reason.
, music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune
. The negative feedback intensified when West eventually revealed that the entire album would be primarily sung with Auto-Tune rather than rapped and would focus heavily on themes of love and heartache. Numerous hip hop fans and certain rappers mocked West for becoming "sappy" while others deemed the upcoming LP as a throwaway experimental album. Comparisons were drawn to Electric Circus
, an album recorded by West's labelmate and close friend Common
. MTV eventually interviewed Common to share his thoughts and views on the artistic direction of the album. Common expressed both his understanding and his support for West's intentions, stating:
West received similar approval from Lil Wayne
and Young Jeezy
, both of whom contributed to the album. During an interview, when asked what music today inspires him, Wayne stated "Everybody's doing their thing, but they're not exciting. Everybody is doing the same thing. That's terrible. Do I love the music that's out right now? I love it with a passion. Does it motivate me? Not one bit. That's because 808s & Heartbreak isn't out yet." Despite the approval from the rap superstars, as well as the record-breaking chart performances of the first two singles, hip hop audiences remained indifferent towards the album, predicting it would flop. Responding to reviews, West stated that he didn't care about sales or getting good ratings, saying that it came from the heart and that's all that matters to him. When asked about the current state of hip hop, West compared it to a high school, stating that hip hop used to be all about being fearless and standing out, and that now it is about being afraid and fitting in.
, selling 450,145 units in its first week. In the last week of the year, 808s & Heartbreak sold 165,100 copies, jumping from the eleventh spot back up to the number five on the Billboard 200. The album moved up again the following week, selling 70,900 units and landing at number three. On January 27, 2009, 808s & Heartbreak was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
, serving as West's fourth album to ship one million copies in the United States. As of February 2010, it has sold 1.63 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan
.
Despite the debate and uncertainty surrounding the album's conception, its preceding singles demonstrated outstanding chart performances. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown
" debuted at number three on the Billboard
Hot 100 and became a "Hot Shot Debut". It is the highest debut of West's career, the second highest debut on the Hot 100 that year and the tenth song of the millennium to debut in the top three. Grossing over 1.3 million copies at the iTunes Store
alone, the single was certified platinum by the RIAA by the end of the year. On August 18, 2010, it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for shipments of three million units in the US. The single was also met by positive reviews from music critics, eventually culminating with being crowned "Song of the Year" by Time
. The second single, "Heartless
" performed similarly and became his second consecutive "Hot Shot Debut" by debuting at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified double platinum by the RIAA, having shipped two million units in the US. Due in part to the momentum produced by the album's release, certain tracks were met by chart success despite not actually being released as singles. The tenth track "See You in My Nightmares
" became yet another "Hot Shot Debut," peaking at number twenty-one in the U.S. and at number twenty-two in Canada while the fourth track "Amazing" charted at eighty-nine on the Hot 100. Following suit, "Welcome to Heartbreak" peaked at number eighty-seven on the Pop 100
.
s. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 75, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". USA Today
s Steve Jones commented that "West deftly uses the 808 drum machine and Auto-Tune vocal effect to channel his feelings of hurt, anger and doubt through his well-crafted lyrics". Dan Cairns of The Times
gave it five out of five stars and wrote "This so should not work...Yet 808s & Heartbreak is a triumph, recklessly departing from the commercially copper-bottomed script and venturing far beyond West’s comfort zone." Pitchfork Media
's Scott Plagenhoef called it "an introspective, minimal electro-pop record steeped in regret, pain, and even more self-examination than a typical Kanye West album". Tom Breihan of The Village Voice
found it to be "a work borne of depression" and dubbed it West's "superstar-freakout album: his Low, his Trans
, his Kid A
. The one where he decides that frozen remoteness is the only thing that makes sense". Rolling Stone
s Jody Rosen
commended West's incorporation of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and described the album as "Kanye's would-be Here, My Dear
or Blood on the Tracks
, a mournful song-suite that swings violently between self-pity and self-loathing". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
wrote that its "frosty, minimal sound backs lyrics of surprisingly raw emotion". Alex Macpherson of The Guardian
stated "it is the stylised, minimal music that lends the album its power".
However, Allmusic editor Andy Kellman stated "no matter its commendable fearlessness, the album is a listless, bleary trudge along West's permafrost". Charles Aaron of Spin
expressed a mixed response towards the songs' musical structures, calling the album "a long processional that starts and restarts and never reaches the ceremony". Slant Magazine
's Wilson McBee criticized West's singing, writing that "West would be unbearable without Auto-Tune." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
also commented that "it is that weakness for which this album will ultimately be remembered, some solid songs notwithstanding." On his general view of the album, Caramanica wrote that "At best, it is a rough sketch for a great album, with ideas he would have typically rendered with complexity, here distilled to a few words, a few synthesizer notes, a lean drumbeat. At worst, it’s clumsy and underfed, a reminder that all of that ornamentation served a purpose". Chicago Sun-Times
writer Jim DeRogatis
gave it three out of four stars and wrote "If West had interspersed the more mechanical tracks with some that were the exact opposite--say, simple piano interludes provided by his old collaborators John Legend or Jon Brion--he might have made a masterpiece. Instead, he's merely given us an extremely intriguing, sporadically gripping, undeniably fearless and altogether unexpected piece of his troubled soul."
Jaimie Hodgson of NME
gave it a seven out of 10 rating and called it "a surprising, but bold and brave progression from last year’s confused Graduation". Dave Heaton of PopMatters
complimented West's "winning ways with both song and album construction, and with the way he captures a particular feeling through unusual, evocative, carefully crafted music that’s both simple and complex, cold and warm, mechanical and human, melodic and harsh". Blender
s Josh Eelis called it "a chunk of emotional permafrost—a beautiful soundtrack for a long, harsh winter", and praised West's incorporation of the drum machine and Auto-Tune, stating "The 808 features just 16 sounds, but Kanye works wonders with this limited palette, turning lo-fi kick drums into an austere artistic statement [...] Kanye’s flat, nearly unmelodic singing underscores his own cyborgish detachment. He’s found a way to turn numbness into art". Chris Richards of The Washington Post
called it "an information-age
masterpiece". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
, Robert Christgau
gave the album an A- rating, indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction". He complimented its "own dark sound and its own engaging tunes", and noted that West's "decision to robotize as well as pitch-correct his voice both undercuts his self-importance and adds physical reality to tales of alienated fame that might otherwise be pure pity parties".
(number seven), NOW
(number four), The Observer (number eight), Vibe (no order) and Time
(number six). Pitchfork Media
named 808s & Heartbreak the twenty-first best album of 2008. Dan Leroy of LA Weekly
cited it as one of the top ten hip hop albums of the year. Jam!
named it the top album of 2008. Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim DeRogatis included the album on his list of the year's ten best albums and wrote, "With every listen, the poignancy of these personal tales of loss grows deeper, perfectly matched by the cold, lonely, robotic but nevertheless winning grooves that accompany them. Upon further reflection, it is a brave and daring 4-star effort that deserves to be heard by any fan of adventurous pop music." Time Out New York featured the album on its list of the Best and Worst Albums of 2008. The magazine's writer Colin St. John cited 808s & Heartbreak as one of the worst of 2008, and editor Steve Smith named it third on his best-of list, while calling the album "the year's most misunderstood triumph." 808s & Heartbreak received a nomination for Outstanding Album
at 40th annual NAACP Image Awards. The album also received a nomination for Best Album at the 2009 MOBO Awards
. In 2009, Rolling Stone ranked it number 63 on its list of the 100 Best Album of the Decade.
Despite its accolades, 808s & Heartbreak was largely overlooked as a contender for the 52nd Grammy Awards
. According to Vibe magazine editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall, West's controversial incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
and the ensuing backlash against West "probably hurt him", but perceived West's stylistic change on the album as the primary reason for it not being nominated. West received one solo nomination, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Amazing", and five other nominations for his guest appearances and collaborational work.
album, 808s & Heartbreak had a significant effect on hip hop music. While his decision to sing about love, loneliness, and heartache for the entirety of the album was at first heavily criticized by music audiences and the album predicted to be a flop, its subsequent critical acclaim and commercial success encouraged other mainstream rappers to take greater creative risks with their music. According to The A.V. Club
s Nathan Rabin, "in the wake of Kanye West’s success, a new wave of rappers like B.o.B
, Kid Cudi
, and now Drake
have filled albums with an intimate form of introspection far removed from typical rap braggadocio". During the release of The Blueprint 3, New York rap mogul Jay-Z
revealed that his next studio album would be an experimental effort, stating, "... it's not gonna be a #1 album. That's where I'm at right now. I wanna make the most experimental album I ever made." Jay-Z elaborated that like West, he was unsatisfied with contemporary hip hop, was being inspired by indie-rockers like Grizzly Bear
and asserted his belief that the indie rock movement would play an important role in the continued evolution of hip hop.
On its stylistic impact, Marcus Scott of GIANT
writes that hip hop artists such as B.o.B
, Drake
, and Kid Cudi
followed with similarly-minded works, noting West's introspective, emotional themes and the album's synthpop and "Vangelis
-inspired" music. Music writer Greg Kot
views that 808s & Heartbreak "set off" the "wave of inward-looking sensitivity" and "emo"-inspired rappers such as Kid Cudi and Drake during the late 2000s, writing that the album "presaged everything from the introspective hip-hop of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) to the wispy crooning, plush keyboards and light mechanical beats of Bon Iver
's Justin Vernon and British dub-step
balladeer James Blake
." Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
has cited the album as "the template [...] for essentially the entirety of Drake's young career", and that he "shares West’s love for mood and never-ending existential analysis". B Michael Payne of Fuse TV
echoed this sentiment, writing that the "gloomy production" of Drake's 2010 debut album Thank Me Later
has "the fingerprints of Kanye's 808s and Heartbreak".
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
artist Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, released November 24, 2008 on Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Island Def Jam Motown Music Group.-Formation and Early Years:...
in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
during September to October 2008. It was primarily produced by West, No I.D.
No I.D.
No I.D., officially known as Immenslope and also known as Ernest Wilson , is a hip hop and R&B record producer, also the vice-president of Def Jam Recordings, best known for his early work with Chicago rapper Common and is known as "The Godfather of Chicago hip hop".. The nickname No I.D...
, and Jeff Bhasker. Conceived in the wake of multiple events that affected and distressed him during the previous year, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major musical departure for Kanye West from his previous work, lyrically, vocally, and production-wise.
Classified by West as a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
album, 808s & Heartbreak incorporates elements of synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, and electropop, while its tracks are primarily sung rather than rapped
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
by West and contain lyrical themes such as love, loneliness, and heartache. The album also contains extensive use of the Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
voice processor and the Roland TR-808
Roland TR-808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines . Introduced by the Roland Corporation in early 1980, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real...
drum machine, which was utilized and manipulated by West to produce a distorted, electronic sound. Approaching the album's production in a minimalist
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
fashion, West intended to contravene the typical sound of hip hop beat and instead evoke a presence of tribal drums.
The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 450,145 copies in its first week. It produced four singles, including the hit singles "Love Lockdown
Love Lockdown
"Love Lockdown" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 18, 2008 as the lead single of his studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Written and produced by West and musician Jeff Bhasker, it was premiered by West at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards prior to its release as a single...
" and "Heartless
Heartless (Kanye West song)
"Heartless" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released on November 4, 2008 digitally as the second single for his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. It debuted at the number four spot on the Billboard Hot 100 where it eventually peaked at number two and reached number-one on the...
". Despite having a divided reaction from music audiences towards West's stylistic change, 808s & Heartbreak received generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release. In 2009, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine named it the 63rd best album of the 2000s decade. 808s & Heartbreak has been certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
and has sold 1.63 million copies in the United States.
Background
Following the release of his third studio album GraduationGraduation (album)
Graduation is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 11, 2007 on Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2005 to 2007 at Chung King Studios and Sony Music Studios in New York City and at Chalice Studios and The Record Plant...
, the remainder of 2007 and the following year featured events that profoundly affected Kanye West. On November 10, 2007, West's mother Donda West died due to complications arising from cosmetic surgery involving a tummy tuck and breast reduction procedure. Months later, West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term on-off relationship, which had begun in 2002. At the same time, West struggled to adapt to his new found pop star status he had once striven to achieve, often becoming the subject of media scrutiny. The loss, loneliness and longing for companionship and a sense of normality served to inspire 808s & Heartbreak. West stated that "This album was therapeutic — it's lonely at the top." A photograph taken by Danny Clinch
Danny Clinch
Danny Clinch is a photographer and film director who was born in Toms River, New Jersey in 1964. He graduated from Toms River High School East in 1982 and after attending Ocean County College, he attended the New England School of Photography, a two-year institution located in Boston, MA.Clinch...
of West kissing his mother on the cheek was included in the album's booklet liner notes.
West felt that the emotions he felt could not be fully expressed simply through rapping, saying that aside from the fact that rapping had limitations, there were "melodies that were in me — what was in me I couldn't stop." West went to classify 808s & Heartbreak as a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
album, asserting his disdain towards the contemporary backlash to the concept of pop music and expressed admiration for what some pop stars have accomplished in their careers. He later stated that he wishes to present the music as a new genre called "pop art", clarifying that he was well aware of the visual art movement of the same name
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
and wished to present a musical equivalent. "Either call it 'pop' or 'pop art', either one I'm good with."
Recording
The album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
. As implied by its title, 808s & Heartbreak prominently features the Roland TR-808
Roland TR-808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines . Introduced by the Roland Corporation in early 1980, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real...
drum machine. Drawing inspiration from 1980s synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and electropop performers such as Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, TJ Swan and Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
, West felt that the 808 is a resourceful instrument that can be used to evoke emotion; the concept was introduced to him by Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
to produce a distorted, electronic sound, an effect he referred to as "heartbreak". He felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind. According to West, the fact that Hawaii's area code was "808" was coincidental, as he had already developed the album's title before being informed. The realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however. In terms of musical direction, West's intentions, according to Mike Dean
Mike Dean (producer)
Mike Dean is an American hip-hop producer. He is known for pioneering the "Dirty South" sound in the 1990s, particularly in work for artists from Rap-A-Lot Records. Dean has most notably worked alongside Scarface of the Geto Boys, 2Pac, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Yukmouth of the Luniz, Outlawz,...
, were to go against the typical sound of hip hop beat, instead evoking the presence of tribal drums. Overall, West maintained a "minimal
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
but functional" approach towards the album's studio production.
The album makes prominent use of the voice audio processor technology of Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
. West had previously experimented with the technology on The College Dropout
The College Dropout
The College Dropout is the debut album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released February 10, 2004, on Roc-A-Fella Records. It was recorded over a period of four years, beginning in 1999. Prior to the album's release, West had worked on rapper Jay-Z's The Blueprint , which showcased his...
for the background vocals of "Jesus Walks
Jesus Walks
"Jesus Walks" is a hip hop song by American rap artist Kanye West. It was released on May 25, 2004 as the third single from his debut album, The College Dropout. The song is built around a sample of "Walk with Me" as performed by the ARC Choir. "Jesus Walks" was well-received by music critics, who...
" and "Never Let Me Down", but he had not used it for lead vocals until 2008. "We were working on the remixes for Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
's 'Lollipop
Lollipop (Lil Wayne song)
"Lollipop" is the first single from Lil Wayne's sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. The track features the late R&B artist Static Major and is produced by Deezle and Jim Jonsin. The song was released digitally on March 13, 2008. The song is Lil Wayne's & Static Major's most successful to date,...
' and Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
's 'Put On
Put On
"Put On" is the first single off rapper Young Jeezy's third studio album, The Recession. The song features Kanye West using an Auto-Tune effect. It was released on iTunes on June 3, 2008 under the same name. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.-Music...
' and he fell in love with the Auto-Tune", producer Mike Dean explained. Towards this end, West enlisted T-Pain
T-Pain
Faheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
for coaching on how to utilize the technology. West himself openly stated that he loves using Auto-Tune and is dismayed that the term has been commonly associated with being "wack". He considers the technology "the funnest thing to use" and compared the situation to when he was a child and thought the color pink was cool until someone told him "it was gay", producing an analogy of how the views of society can rob people of their confidence and self-esteem. He later went on to state that he enjoyed the electronic feel produced by Auto-Tune and sought out to juxtapose the mechanical sounds with the traditional sounds of taiko drums and choir monk
Choir monk
In Roman Catholicism the term "Choir Monk" is used to distinguish monks who may become priests from the lay brothers who are occupied mainly with secular affairs....
s.
Rapper Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi , better known by his stage name Kid Cudi , sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the...
, who had signed onto West's G.O.O.D. Music label, contributed to two of the album's songs. Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
contributed a rap verse on the track "Amazing" while "See You in My Nightmares
See You in My Nightmares
"See You in My Nightmares" is a song from Kanye West's fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Produced by West and his former mentor No I.D., the song features a duet between West and rap artist Lil Wayne. It was to be sent to mainstream radios on March 10, 2009, while to Rhythm/Crossover radio on...
" is a duet with Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
. Singer-songwriter Esthero
Esthero
Esthero ,born Jenny-Bea Englishman, is a Canadian singer-songwriter who currently lives in Los Angeles, California. The name Esthero refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of herself and producer Doc McKinney...
provided the few female vocals found on the album; credited under birth name Jenny-Bea Englishman, she co-wrote three tracks. When "RoboCop" appeared on the Internet, West refuted responsibility and was upset that the leak had occurred as the track was an unfinished version. Mike Dean had previously stated that the track was expected to receive additional treatment by Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
before the album's release.
Release and promotion
On September 24, West announced that he had finished the album and would be releasing it sometime in November. In his blog post, he wrote "I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it..I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible". West later stated that the album would be released on November 25, 2008. However, Island Def Jam, the distributing label, brought the date forward by one day to capitalize on ThanksgivingThanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
weekend. 808s & Heartbreak was also released on November 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom and the Philippines. A limited edition in a digipak case was first released in Germany on November 21, 2008. A special edition of the album was released on December 16 that contains the album in CD and dual LP format, and also features album artwork redone by the artist of the original cover, KAWS
KAWS (artist)
Brian Donnelly , professionally known as KAWS, is a New York-based artist and designer of limited edition toys and clothing. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.-Biography:...
.
On October 16, West released an excerpt of "Coldest Winter" on the radio station Power 106
KPWR
KPWR is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area on an analog signal and in HD Radio...
in Los Angeles. The track recreates elements of the song "Memories Fade" by the band Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
. The song "Paranoid" later leaked onto the Internet and features Mr. Hudson
Mr Hudson & The Library
Benjamin Hudson McIldowie , known professionally as Mr Hudson, is an English R&B/pop artist based in London, England. Mr Hudson is signed to produce Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music...
in the chorus. A remixed version of "Paranoid" was reported to feature pop singer Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, but did not materialize. Also appearing prior to the release date were "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
, "See You in My Nightmares" featuring Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
, "Street Lights", "Say You Will", "Welcome to Heartbreak" and "Bad News". An additional track, "Pinocchio Story" is a freestyle recorded at a live concert in Singapore. It was included in the album at the request of Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
.
On October 14, West, in collaboration with Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft
Vanessa Beecroft
Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian contemporary artist living in Los Angeles.-Artistic practice:Beecroft's work is a fusion of conceptual issues and aesthetic concerns, focusing on large-scale performance art, usually involving live female models...
, hosted a promotional album listening event at Ace Gallery. Over 700 guests were invited to preview the entirety of 808s & Heartbreak. Under Beecroft's guidance, the event featured approximately forty nude women wearing nothing besides wool masks who silently stood in the center of the room. The women were illuminated by multicolored lights that would change as the music progressed. When it came time for him to speak, West stated that he'd been a fan of Beecroft's work and strong imagery, saying that he liked the idea of nudity because "society told us to wear clothes at a certain point". Beecroft had been contacted a month prior and conceptualized and generated the installation in a week. Beecroft admitted that while he had caught her offguard, she had the opportunity to hear the album for herself and heard things that touched her own life. Five days later, promotional photos for the album by photographer Willy Vanderperre were released. The images portrayed West wearing a grey glen plaid
Glen plaid
Glen plaid or Glenurquhart check is a woollen fabric with a woven twill design of small and large checks...
suit, large browline glasses
Browline glasses
Browline glasses are a style of eyeglass frames which were very popular during the 1950s, especially in the United States. The name derives from the fact that the bold upper part of the frames frame the lenses in the same way that eyebrows frame the eyes...
, and a heart-shaped pin.
In October 2009, West was scheduled to embark on a tour, The Fame Kills Starring: Lady Gaga and Kanye West Tour, in promotion of Gaga's
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
The Fame
The Fame
The Fame is the debut studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Interscope Records. After joining Kon Live Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin...
, and West's 808's & Heartbreak. It was canceled on October 1, 2009, without reason.
Initial reaction
The reaction to 808s & Heartbreak around the time of its conception was mixed, ranging from anticipation to bewilderment and indifference. Upon the unveiling of the lead single "Love Lockdown" at the 2008 MTV Video Music AwardsMTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
. The negative feedback intensified when West eventually revealed that the entire album would be primarily sung with Auto-Tune rather than rapped and would focus heavily on themes of love and heartache. Numerous hip hop fans and certain rappers mocked West for becoming "sappy" while others deemed the upcoming LP as a throwaway experimental album. Comparisons were drawn to Electric Circus
Electric Circus (album)
Electric Circus is the fifth studio album by rapper Common, released December 10, 2002 on the now-defunct MCA Records. The album was highly anticipated and praised by many critics for its ambitious vision. However, it was not as commercially successful as his previous album, Like Water for...
, an album recorded by West's labelmate and close friend Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
. MTV eventually interviewed Common to share his thoughts and views on the artistic direction of the album. Common expressed both his understanding and his support for West's intentions, stating:
West received similar approval from Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
and Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
, both of whom contributed to the album. During an interview, when asked what music today inspires him, Wayne stated "Everybody's doing their thing, but they're not exciting. Everybody is doing the same thing. That's terrible. Do I love the music that's out right now? I love it with a passion. Does it motivate me? Not one bit. That's because 808s & Heartbreak isn't out yet." Despite the approval from the rap superstars, as well as the record-breaking chart performances of the first two singles, hip hop audiences remained indifferent towards the album, predicting it would flop. Responding to reviews, West stated that he didn't care about sales or getting good ratings, saying that it came from the heart and that's all that matters to him. When asked about the current state of hip hop, West compared it to a high school, stating that hip hop used to be all about being fearless and standing out, and that now it is about being afraid and fitting in.
Commercial performance
In its first week of sales, 808s & Heartbreak reached the number one spot on Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling 450,145 units in its first week. In the last week of the year, 808s & Heartbreak sold 165,100 copies, jumping from the eleventh spot back up to the number five on the Billboard 200. The album moved up again the following week, selling 70,900 units and landing at number three. On January 27, 2009, 808s & Heartbreak was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, serving as West's fourth album to ship one million copies in the United States. As of February 2010, it has sold 1.63 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
.
Despite the debate and uncertainty surrounding the album's conception, its preceding singles demonstrated outstanding chart performances. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown
Love Lockdown
"Love Lockdown" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 18, 2008 as the lead single of his studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Written and produced by West and musician Jeff Bhasker, it was premiered by West at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards prior to its release as a single...
" debuted at number three on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 and became a "Hot Shot Debut". It is the highest debut of West's career, the second highest debut on the Hot 100 that year and the tenth song of the millennium to debut in the top three. Grossing over 1.3 million copies at the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
alone, the single was certified platinum by the RIAA by the end of the year. On August 18, 2010, it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for shipments of three million units in the US. The single was also met by positive reviews from music critics, eventually culminating with being crowned "Song of the Year" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. The second single, "Heartless
Heartless (Kanye West song)
"Heartless" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released on November 4, 2008 digitally as the second single for his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. It debuted at the number four spot on the Billboard Hot 100 where it eventually peaked at number two and reached number-one on the...
" performed similarly and became his second consecutive "Hot Shot Debut" by debuting at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified double platinum by the RIAA, having shipped two million units in the US. Due in part to the momentum produced by the album's release, certain tracks were met by chart success despite not actually being released as singles. The tenth track "See You in My Nightmares
See You in My Nightmares
"See You in My Nightmares" is a song from Kanye West's fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Produced by West and his former mentor No I.D., the song features a duet between West and rap artist Lil Wayne. It was to be sent to mainstream radios on March 10, 2009, while to Rhythm/Crossover radio on...
" became yet another "Hot Shot Debut," peaking at number twenty-one in the U.S. and at number twenty-two in Canada while the fourth track "Amazing" charted at eighty-nine on the Hot 100. Following suit, "Welcome to Heartbreak" peaked at number eighty-seven on the Pop 100
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...
.
Critical response
808s & Heartbreak received generally positive reviews from music criticMusic criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
s. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 75, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
s Steve Jones commented that "West deftly uses the 808 drum machine and Auto-Tune vocal effect to channel his feelings of hurt, anger and doubt through his well-crafted lyrics". Dan Cairns of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
gave it five out of five stars and wrote "This so should not work...Yet 808s & Heartbreak is a triumph, recklessly departing from the commercially copper-bottomed script and venturing far beyond West’s comfort zone." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Scott Plagenhoef called it "an introspective, minimal electro-pop record steeped in regret, pain, and even more self-examination than a typical Kanye West album". Tom Breihan of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
found it to be "a work borne of depression" and dubbed it West's "superstar-freakout album: his Low, his Trans
Trans (album)
Trans is the twelfth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1982. Recorded partially and released during his notorious Geffen era in the 1980s, Trans baffled many Neil Young fans. Some suggested that the album could be a satirical message that Young was trying to send about the...
, his Kid A
Kid A
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
. The one where he decides that frozen remoteness is the only thing that makes sense". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
commended West's incorporation of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and described the album as "Kanye's would-be Here, My Dear
Here, My Dear
Here, My Dear is a studio double album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released December 15, 1978 on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room in Hollywood, California from 1976 to 1977. A deeply personal and controversial album, Here, My Dear is notable for...
or Blood on the Tracks
Blood on the Tracks
Blood on the Tracks is Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released by Columbia Records in January 1975. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records....
, a mournful song-suite that swings violently between self-pity and self-loathing". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
wrote that its "frosty, minimal sound backs lyrics of surprisingly raw emotion". Alex Macpherson of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
stated "it is the stylised, minimal music that lends the album its power".
However, Allmusic editor Andy Kellman stated "no matter its commendable fearlessness, the album is a listless, bleary trudge along West's permafrost". Charles Aaron of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
expressed a mixed response towards the songs' musical structures, calling the album "a long processional that starts and restarts and never reaches the ceremony". Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
's Wilson McBee criticized West's singing, writing that "West would be unbearable without Auto-Tune." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
also commented that "it is that weakness for which this album will ultimately be remembered, some solid songs notwithstanding." On his general view of the album, Caramanica wrote that "At best, it is a rough sketch for a great album, with ideas he would have typically rendered with complexity, here distilled to a few words, a few synthesizer notes, a lean drumbeat. At worst, it’s clumsy and underfed, a reminder that all of that ornamentation served a purpose". Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
writer Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
gave it three out of four stars and wrote "If West had interspersed the more mechanical tracks with some that were the exact opposite--say, simple piano interludes provided by his old collaborators John Legend or Jon Brion--he might have made a masterpiece. Instead, he's merely given us an extremely intriguing, sporadically gripping, undeniably fearless and altogether unexpected piece of his troubled soul."
Jaimie Hodgson of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
gave it a seven out of 10 rating and called it "a surprising, but bold and brave progression from last year’s confused Graduation". Dave Heaton of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
complimented West's "winning ways with both song and album construction, and with the way he captures a particular feeling through unusual, evocative, carefully crafted music that’s both simple and complex, cold and warm, mechanical and human, melodic and harsh". Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
s Josh Eelis called it "a chunk of emotional permafrost—a beautiful soundtrack for a long, harsh winter", and praised West's incorporation of the drum machine and Auto-Tune, stating "The 808 features just 16 sounds, but Kanye works wonders with this limited palette, turning lo-fi kick drums into an austere artistic statement [...] Kanye’s flat, nearly unmelodic singing underscores his own cyborgish detachment. He’s found a way to turn numbness into art". Chris Richards of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
called it "an information-age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
masterpiece". In his consumer guide for MSN Music
MSN Music
MSN Music was a part of the MSN web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. In 2004, Microsoft created an MSN Music download store to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store, though its sales in comparison were...
, Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album an A- rating, indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction". He complimented its "own dark sound and its own engaging tunes", and noted that West's "decision to robotize as well as pitch-correct his voice both undercuts his self-importance and adds physical reality to tales of alienated fame that might otherwise be pure pity parties".
Accolades
The album was named one of the ten best albums of 2008 by a number of publications, including The Hartford CourantThe Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
(number seven), NOW
NOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
(number four), The Observer (number eight), Vibe (no order) and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
(number six). Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
named 808s & Heartbreak the twenty-first best album of 2008. Dan Leroy of LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
cited it as one of the top ten hip hop albums of the year. Jam!
Jam!
Jam! is a Canadian website, which covers entertainment news. It is part of the CANOE online portal, owned and operated by Quebecor through its Sun Media division....
named it the top album of 2008. Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim DeRogatis included the album on his list of the year's ten best albums and wrote, "With every listen, the poignancy of these personal tales of loss grows deeper, perfectly matched by the cold, lonely, robotic but nevertheless winning grooves that accompany them. Upon further reflection, it is a brave and daring 4-star effort that deserves to be heard by any fan of adventurous pop music." Time Out New York featured the album on its list of the Best and Worst Albums of 2008. The magazine's writer Colin St. John cited 808s & Heartbreak as one of the worst of 2008, and editor Steve Smith named it third on his best-of list, while calling the album "the year's most misunderstood triumph." 808s & Heartbreak received a nomination for Outstanding Album
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album
The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Album:...
at 40th annual NAACP Image Awards. The album also received a nomination for Best Album at the 2009 MOBO Awards
MOBO Awards
The Music of Black Origin Awards, established in 1995 by Kanya King MBE and Andy Ruffell, are held annually in the United Kingdom to recognise artists of any ethnicity or nationality performing black music....
. In 2009, Rolling Stone ranked it number 63 on its list of the 100 Best Album of the Decade.
Despite its accolades, 808s & Heartbreak was largely overlooked as a contender for the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
. According to Vibe magazine editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall, West's controversial incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, honoring the best music videos from June 19, 2008, to June 29, 2009. Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. The awards were held a few months after Michael...
and the ensuing backlash against West "probably hurt him", but perceived West's stylistic change on the album as the primary reason for it not being nominated. West received one solo nomination, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Amazing", and five other nominations for his guest appearances and collaborational work.
Legacy and influence
Although West designed it as a melancholic popPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
album, 808s & Heartbreak had a significant effect on hip hop music. While his decision to sing about love, loneliness, and heartache for the entirety of the album was at first heavily criticized by music audiences and the album predicted to be a flop, its subsequent critical acclaim and commercial success encouraged other mainstream rappers to take greater creative risks with their music. According to The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Nathan Rabin, "in the wake of Kanye West’s success, a new wave of rappers like B.o.B
B.o.B
Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...
, Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi , better known by his stage name Kid Cudi , sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the...
, and now Drake
Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey Drake Graham , who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation....
have filled albums with an intimate form of introspection far removed from typical rap braggadocio". During the release of The Blueprint 3, New York rap mogul Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
revealed that his next studio album would be an experimental effort, stating, "... it's not gonna be a #1 album. That's where I'm at right now. I wanna make the most experimental album I ever made." Jay-Z elaborated that like West, he was unsatisfied with contemporary hip hop, was being inspired by indie-rockers like Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear (band)
Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band, composed of Edward Droste , Daniel Rossen , Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear . The band employs traditional and electronic instruments...
and asserted his belief that the indie rock movement would play an important role in the continued evolution of hip hop.
On its stylistic impact, Marcus Scott of GIANT
Giant
Giant or Giants may refer to:*Giants *Giant *Giant people; see gigantism, a medical condition*Giants -Arts and entertainment:*Giant , a 1952 novel by Edna Ferber...
writes that hip hop artists such as B.o.B
B.o.B
Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...
, Drake
Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey Drake Graham , who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation....
, and Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi , better known by his stage name Kid Cudi , sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the...
followed with similarly-minded works, noting West's introspective, emotional themes and the album's synthpop and "Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
-inspired" music. Music writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
views that 808s & Heartbreak "set off" the "wave of inward-looking sensitivity" and "emo"-inspired rappers such as Kid Cudi and Drake during the late 2000s, writing that the album "presaged everything from the introspective hip-hop of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) to the wispy crooning, plush keyboards and light mechanical beats of Bon Iver
Bon Iver
Bon Iver is a Grammy nominated folk band founded in 2007 by American indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. It includes Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was...
's Justin Vernon and British dub-step
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
balladeer James Blake
James Blake (musician)
James Blake is a British electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from London, UK. On 6 January 2011, Blake was announced as runner-up in BBC's Sound of 2011 poll...
." Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
has cited the album as "the template [...] for essentially the entirety of Drake's young career", and that he "shares West’s love for mood and never-ending existential analysis". B Michael Payne of Fuse TV
Fuse TV
Fuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
echoed this sentiment, writing that the "gloomy production" of Drake's 2010 debut album Thank Me Later
Thank Me Later
Thank Me Later is the debut studio album of Canadian recording artist Drake, released June 15, 2010, on Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Motown Records...
has "the fingerprints of Kanye's 808s and Heartbreak".
Track listing
Personnel
Information adapted from album liner notes.| # | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 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" |
|
Chart positions
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
12 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
11 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
15 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
11 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
13 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
4 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 21 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
19 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
42 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 50 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
23 |
| Italian Albums Chart | 65 |
| French Albums Chart | 52 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
30 |
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Gold |
| Canada | CRIA Cria A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically... |
Platinum |
| Ireland | IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
Platinum |
| UK | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |
| United States | RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Platinum |
Chart procession and succession
See also
- Kanye West discographyKanye West discographyThe following is a comprehensive listing of official releases by Kanye West, an American rapper, singer, and producer. He has released five studio albums, two DVDs, and twenty-nine singles on Roc-A-Fella Records . He has also sold over 11 million albums in the United States, over 15 million worldwide...
- Kanye West production discographyKanye West production discography- Grav - Down to Earth :* 03. World Domination 1* 05. Sick Thoughts* 06. City To City * 07. Thought It Was On* 08. Line For Line * 10. Keep Movin* 12. One Puff* 13. Down To Earth...
External links
- 808s & Heartbreak at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Lyrics and audio samples at Yahoo! MusicYahoo! MusicYahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...