Kanye West...808's and Heartbreaks

In my opinion, one of the hardest things for an artist to accomplish is doing better than a previous milestone. Unless expectations are set rather low...it's almost impossible to be greater than you once were in the eye of public. Kanye West has achieved this milestone and done so much more since his artist debut in 2004. He's stuck to his lyrics and his mastery of production to create a sound in rap all his own. But, what happens when he takes a new direction? What happens when he takes on entirely new genre? Surprisingly, quite well.

This album is his 4th mainstream release. On this with him are Young Jeezy, Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson, and every body's favorite add-on, Lil' Wayne. Kanye sings...yes sings the entire album. Does his voice sound good...NO, but we all knew that going in. However, it does not take away from the body of work he has created. In fact, it almost adds to it. He tries to mask the tone deaf sounds by using synthesizer (a.k.a. the T-Pain machine) to make his voice sound a little better, but it does not work at all. This is by far his most heartfelt and emotional album to date. Most likely it is because before starting production, Mr. West lost his mother and his long time girlfriend over the span of one month. With that much emotional torment, it was easy for him to turn his pain into good music.

After listening to it in its entirety the first time, I noticed something really significant. Each beat produced can be made hot with his voice. He created an entire album that suited his style. Some records would depend on who is brought on to make it good. Not in this case. He made this album so that he can make it hot. The people he added to his songs seem to make the song better by pure luck instead of by skill (TAKE THAT WEEZY!!). My favorite track would have to be Paranoid. I'm personally a fan of fast beats so this one automatically caught my attention. The beat is phenomenal, and the pattern he used in the vocals only adds to what is already good.

Despite being skeptical about the new direction, this album is a definite by for dedicated Kanye fans. For the average fan, give it a listen and decide from there. Most people would definitely pass only because of the genre change. But don't worry, this will most likely be the first and last R&B album from Mr. West. Something like that cannot be done again nor should it be. The next installment would only bring sales as bad as Soulja Boy's 2nd installment (I HATE THAT GUY).

Leave comments. I wanna know what your opinion is on this.

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