Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

I'm not much of a rap person but when it comes to Kanye West, things change instantly. He is a wonderful producer and in my humble opinion the best rapper of all time. 808s & Heartbreak is his 4th studio album. You can feel this album is different from the previous ones without even listening. The first three albums were titled in a college theme ("The College Dropout", "Late Registration" and "Graduation") and all contained Kanye's famous bear on their cover art.

Almost everyone agrees that the first two albums were hip-hop classics. Graduation was advertised with "Stronger", maybe his best song ever, but the album was a bit of a let down. This album proves he is now successfully graduated and no doubt his heart is broken. The thing I like about Kanye is unlike other rappers, he sings, he doesn't try to prove himself. He doesn't have a very good voice but he can sing. He showed the world that hip-hop is not about saying words that rhyme. In this album he really reflects his emotions to his singing.

The album takes it's name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine, he did most of his production on these machines. Unlike previous albums, this doesn't include much strings, it's more electronic. The sound of 808s are so dominant, giving the album a more complete feel. The first two singles, "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown" stand out but other songs are also really good. "Bad News" and "Coldest Winter" are worth attention. "Amazing" is made popular by NBA but I don't think it's one of the better ones. It's a good song though I think they chose it because it fits with their slogan; Where Amazing Happens. The album closes with a freestyle live performance called "The Pinocchio Story". It is quite touching and if he improvised that on stage, well he is a genius.

For me a good album is made by writing a few good songs, and writing other songs to back them up. This album does that exactly. 52 minutes it's still a bit long but his shortest album up to date. He definitely has better songs in his previous albums but this is the most complete one. This is the best to listen to. Which also makes it the best Kanye West album up-to-date.