808's and Heartbreak

[stevew]

I have a really fuckin bad feeling about this record. Kanye's joined the dark side, and fell in love with that horrid autotone bullshit. If I wanted to listen to T-Pain, I'd buy a T-Pain record.

[stevew]

YouTube - Kanye West - Love Lockdown

[Tasan]

I don't know, I could listen to that. What else is on there?

[Karlifornia]

The verses would be great if they had more difference with the backing music. The first chorus is catchy, but I keep expecting each chorus to build more. They don't.

Meh.

[Young Drachma]

Kanye can't sing. That's the fundamental problem with this concept album of his. That he's just not a singer. I understood what he's trying to do, why he's trying to do it and I appreciate his sentiment. But if you suck at it, does that mean you ought to do it anyway? Apparently, he thinks so. But we all knew that after the breakup and his mom dying that he was gonna go off the deep end on his new album, so...I'm not really all that surprised by the strange factor of this new LP.

[Young Drachma]

Heartless is the only song I've heard so far from the album that's worth listening to.

[Young Drachma]

Coldest Winter is produced really well. But again, the fact that he can't sing really messes it up. But that said, not many artists could think to do an album like this with a straight face, much less pull it off.

Here's an interview with him, talking about the album. Some of the quotes are pretty...priceless.

Kanye on the street's reaction to his latest music:
"The whole album is shit that 50 would rap over, but I’m trying to put them Phil Collins melodies when I rap to them."

Kanye on the emotion behind his new album:
"I'm at a listening session in the UK playing my joint right now. I love listening sessions, because it feels like Christmas Day when the parents get to see their kids open up the gifts. I feel like I try to give the gift of music. This album is based off the devastation and the hurt that I’ve felt the past year. All the hurt that I’ve felt within the past year from all the losses that I’ve endured, have sort of settled me into being this fucking super-famous alien, where everywhere I go, somebody wants a fucking photograph…it’s hard when you not really a celebrity, but you’re just a real person that ended up being famous for your craft."


Kanye on using Auto-Tune and the title 808's & Heartbreak:
"What’s good is that this is therapeutic for me…it’s better than suicide to just keep on putting out music and art. I got a lot of backlash for the medium that I wanted to do this in. I created a thing I call ‘Heartbreak,’ that’s like a mixed drink. It’s Auto-Tune meets distortion, with a bit of delay on it and a whole bunch of fucked up life. And that’s what I call my ‘Heartbreak.’ And that’s what every record basically has.
"I’m delivering what I feel like is art, and that’s what I want to deliver from this point on. The records I’m doing right now might not have high hats and shit like everything else has. But when I go out and be listening to shit like Jimi Hendrix and The [Rolling] Stones and Lenny Kravitz, they wouldn’t play no Hip Hop records in the midst of that. I feel like niggas give up on trying to make music on the Quincy Jones level

[MikeVic]

I want to play with this AutoTone thing. Is it a program, or some hardware stuff?

I hope there isn't too much AutoTone out there, but some is OK. Sounds kinda like the vocals in a trance song.

[stevew]

I was expecting something amazing after all that's gone on in the last year. Instead we've apparently received the first rap emo record

[Tasan]

Okay I'm in NO way a Kanye West fan or expert, or even much of a hip hop fan, but I've liked everything off this album. Very emotional, very well produced.

** okay I just listened to Robocop ( Kanye West - Robocop | Hip Hop Songs > HipHopDX.com ) and didn't like it much, it was missing the emotion of the others.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I want to play with this AutoTone thing. Is it a program, or some hardware stuff?

I hope there isn't too much AutoTone out there, but some is OK. Sounds kinda like the vocals in a trance song.

Auto-Tune - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Antares Auto-Tune Evo Pitch Correcting Plug-In

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Auto-Tune - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Antares Auto-Tune Evo Pitch Correcting Plug-In

Nice, thanks.

[stevew]

I like Heartless, and I've only heard like 4-5 songs off this, so maybe I'll like it more when i hear the whole thing. Some dude like Seal, aka someone who can sing, is much more suited to this type of music.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by stevew

I was expecting something amazing after all that's gone on in the last year. Instead we've apparently received the first rap emo record

Murs does emo rap a hell of a lot better than Kanye ever could. Just FYI. There are lots of other, almost entirely indie (underground rap) artists who probably personify the emo rap deal. Atmosphere is another act (a group from Minnesota) who seem to bear the emo rap label too.

But no, it hasn't reached mainstream.

[k0ruptr]

after listening to this off and on for about a month, its scary, but I'm really starting to like it. not half bad at all.

[samifan24]

I posted this in the Youtube thread but it's more appropriate here.