808s and Heartbreak

We kind of strayed away from doing reviews a while back, and I felt that was fine cause the purpose of the blog isn't to tell people what music is good and what is bad, rather to expose people to new music that we believe is worth listening to. However, I felt like the new Kanye West album was so monumental and controversial, as well as applicable to lots of the stuff we typically write about here, that it was worth a mention.

When I first heard the premiere single from Kanye's newest release, 808s and Heartbreak, I thought "what the hell?". Upon hearing that the whole album would be comprised of tunes in a similar style I thought "this poor bastard's ego has finally consumed him". Long story short, when I sat down to listen to the album the first time I was not exactly going into it with the most open of minds. I was sure that it was going to reach a level of suck that most high school garage bands could only dream of. However, as I began listening my thoughts and impressions seemed to be best dictated by a line from the Simpsons (as are all things in my life) "I know what I hate, and I don't hate this".

It's easy to notice right away that the death of his mom and a failed relationship has temporarily soured Kanye's view of the world. Combine this with a jaded view of the current rap industry he helped produce and an overactive ego with a constant need to reinvent the wheel and you have Kanye's 4th studio release. There's more substance to this album than I would have predicted, both lyrically and musically. This album, more than any of his others, has shown me he understands music and knows how to layer and construct it into something powerful and moving.

On the other side of the coin though is the ridiculous production and gimmicky vocal editing which has seriously cut into the musical credibility of the album. In a way I felt like his ego really did consume him to the point where he thought the idea of having the entire album done with the auto-tune on the vocals was a good idea. The album reminds me of the way people described Vince's movie "Medellin" in the show Entourage. On the surface it's not really that impressive due to a controlling director/producer who became consumed by his ego and refused to listen to anyone on any aspects; but there's genius in there that could be exposed with some editing.

In summary its an interesting album, and definitely worth a listen for those of you (like myself) who originally panned it without trying it. Does it live up to everything it could be? No. Will I still be listening to this album as much as his others in 5 years? No. Is Kanye one of the the most talented musicians in the business today? Yes.

Normally I'd post some tracks to check out, but we all know those would get taken down in about 5 seconds, so you'll just have to check them out for yourself by legally *wink wink* obtaining your own copy of the album.

Now I can't let you go home empty handed, so I'll leave you with a track from Beyonce's kid sister Solange, who has a fairly decent neo-soul/pop album out. This isn't one of the album tracks, but rather just some random thing she made featuring my most favorite up and coming rapper Wale. Its kind of humorous to hear the sister of Beyonce do a big "screw you" song to the record industry when Beyonce is pretty much the token diva for said industry right now. You might recognize the beat as Dre's "Explosive" off The Chronic 2001, remixed with a little Kanye of course.

Solange Knowles - Fuck The Industry (feat. Wale)

- Alec