[CD Review] Kanye West, '808s & Heartbreak' (Roc-A-Fella)

Thematically, the work plunges deeper into the neuroses he’s been telling us about for years: his insecurity and spiritual unease, the difficulties of celebrity. The death of his mother and a relationship fissure have brought these issues into sharper focus, and as a result, Heartbreak is an immediately gelling, singular creation. Its tracks avoid many specific details about Kanye’s losses, instead dealing in generalities. “People will talk/Like it’s old news/I played it off and act like I already knew,” he sings on “Bad News.” On “Coldest Winter,” he adds: “Goodbye my friend/Will I ever love again?” His move from slang-heavy rap particulars to clearly articulated pop universals completes a transition he started with his last album, Graduation; the idea is to enable crowds worldwide to sing along at his shows. (U2 are the world’s most popular band at least partly because their catalog is full of such easily understood lyrics as those in “With or Without You.”)

Related Content

• Yeezus! Kanye West Is At It Again
  May 21, 2013
• Imperial Stars To Pay Nearly $40k to Department of Transportation
  June 4, 2013
• Top Five Classic "South Park" Musical Guests
  October 3, 2012
• The 15 Greatest Original Film Scores From the Past Decade
  June 10, 2013
• Top 10 Concert Highlights From Gibson Amphitheatre
  April 25, 2013

More About

• Kanye West
• Radiohead
• U2
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Celebrity News

As to Kanye’s much-discussed singing and his T-Pain-assisted use of auto-tune on the album, they’re nonissues. The vocoder sound has been part of pop music’s landscape at least since Cher’s “Believe,” and Heartbreak singles such as “Robocop” and “Love Lockdown” are completely satisfying. Yeezy was never much of a rapper anyway, and in fact Young Jeezy sounds absolutely Paleolithic here when he does his usual thing on “Amazing.” Heartbreak’s strict commitment to its aesthetics helps West achieve what he’s set out to create—an enduring, relatable testament to indescribable suffering.