Say goodbye to the Dropout Bear; Kanye West's all grown up, and he's not happy. His latest album finds Kanye leaving behind "Good Life," and instead embracing his hell: heartbreak. Ironically enough, West has chosen to segue into this more despondent sound by recording his newest album in Hawaii (area code: 808).
Album opener "Say You Will" sets the stage for a drum- and synth-heavy record. For someone who claims to be the "voice of this generation," there isn't much voice at all here, with the last three minutes consisting of the backing track on loop, complete with repeating digital blips. But the song achieves West's goal of introducing what won't be the most upbeat of his albums.
For example, one might expect a more fast-paced song to counterbalance the moody feel of "Say You Will," but West's not trying to fool anybody. This album is dark and melancholy. On "Welcome to Heartbreak," West laments his decision to enter the music industry instead of leading a simpler, more family-oriented life: "Dad cracked a joke, all the kids laughed/But I couldn't hear him all the way in first-class." Although we miss his old philosophy that "having money's the everything that having it is," it's hard not to sympathize.
In "Heartless," West narrates "the coldest story ever told" about his pessimism following a nasty breakup. Kanye bemoans, "You got a new friend/Well I got homies/But in the end/It's still so lonely." It's the first semblance of any actual rapping on the album, reminding us of West's previous three outstanding records. And with the recently released Hype Williams-directed video, we can expect it to top TRL any day now. Oh, wait...
Alex Reinstein
Our subdued trip into the reflective mind of Kanye continues with "Amazing." One of the more interesting beats on the album is soon joined by a surprisingly unaffected piano and West's Auto-Tuned voice. After a brilliantly orchestrated pause halfway through the track, Young Jeezy's tempered verse begins with an underwhelming downbeat that leaves us wanting more. Despite this letdown, Jeezy's signature raspy delivery meshes well with the piano and wood-block beat.
Clearly West's message with Heartbreak is one of disillusionment, perhaps from the high-powered, loveless clubbing lifestyle his earlier work helped define. In "Love Lockdown," he deals with the complications of new money, balancing the societal expectations of polite restraint with his more Freudian primal urges. While the verses are completely synthesized, the chorus bursts through with vibrant and natural African drumming.
The "Lockdown" video (debuted on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" of all places) further highlights this battle between id and ego when Kanye's pristine white, Jason Bateman-inspired penthouse is infiltrated by a flood of painted tribesmen wielding dusty drum heads and clacking necklaces made of wild animal bones. It's a quintessential clash of the civilized Apollonian with the savage Dionysian that Nietzsche deemed the birthplace of all art. Kanye's advice: "Keep your love locked down."
The sixth track, "Paranoid," is one of the more upbeat, even danceable, songs on the album. The track features a collage of '80s sounds reminiscent of Prince or Michael Jackson. Lyrically, the track continues the album's theme of intimacy and mind games. In attempting to infuse self-confidence in his "baby," Kanye croons, "They don't know you like I do." It's up to the listener to believe him.
The flowing back-up vocals and driving synth beat make "Paranoid" one of the fuller, more complete tracks on the album. But it still won't initiate many dance parties. Of course, I might just be "worried about the wrong things."
Sam Schlinkert
Kanye West often creates enjoyable songs whose subject matter is difficult to discern (see Graduation's "Flashing Lights" or Late Registration's "Gone" for prime examples). Unfortunately, the seventh cut on 808s, "RoboCop," is not one of these tracks. It's abstract, but not entertaining. Kanye sings futuristic and largely nonsensical rhymes over a beat that grows from initially intriguing to eventually tiresome. This is not his best work.
However, for all of Kanye's Auto-Tune overindulgence, "Street Lights" serves as the record's penance, absolving Mr. West of his synthesizer sins. The beat and lyrics, while minimal, are powerful. It's the track where Kanye is at his most reflective and daring, defying expectations on both the subject and style appropriate for rap artists. Case in point: "Street Lights" doesn't even have verses. Instead, there are only five repetitions of its mesmerizing chorus.
Aside from its musical ambitions, "Street Lights" is one of the few tracks where Kanye does not come off as the larger-than-life diva who throws a tantrum every time he is passed over for a Grammy. Here, Kanye ditches his persona and sounds like what he truly is-a musician releasing his first album since his mother's unexpected death. Throughout the track, Kanye repeatedly sings, "I know my destination/But I'm just not there." The final line is a chilling, "Life's just not fair." If there were ever a song that allowed us to empathize with millionaire rap moguls, it would be "Street Lights."
"Bad News," the ninth song on the album, is a similar departure from Kanye's previous work. On yet another piano-based beat, the track comes off as part vengeful, part voyeur. Hell hath no fury like a Kanye scorned, as the rapper relates, "Oh you just gonna keep it like you never knew?/While I'm waiting on a dream that'll never come true." It's definitely a well-produced track, but it also struggles to find a satisfactory tempo. Due to an almost unrecognizable vocal and stilted beat, "Bad News" may be a little much for Kanye's long-time followers. Still, it's an admirable gamble from a rapper who could have rested on his platinum laurels.
Jordan Axt
As 808s concludes, KanYeezy continues to deliver a strong performance. The 10th track, "See You in My Nightmares," is a collaboration between Kanye and Lil Wayne, widely rumored to be a "duet." This turns out to be somewhat of a misnomer, as the artists alternate vocals that eviscerate some poor girl who made the egregious mistake of leaving two of the craziest dudes in music. Kanye basically screams the line, "Tell everybody that you know/That I don't love you no more" and Weezy's turn is fierce, complete with high-pitched squeals, snarling and debased rhyming. He even does some crooning, which is like listening to a bottle of cough syrup howl through a megaphone. Needless to say, the song succeeds on every level.
The knockout punch to the jab from "See You" is "Coldest Winter," a genuine and stirring cut. Supposedly written for Kanye's mother, the song orbits around the line "Goodbye my friend/Will I ever love again?" The singing is, in a mysterious and inexplicable way, enjoyable. And with drums like these-primitive and effective, the clack of drumsticks giving an organic quality to the otherwise icy instrumentation-the vocals don't have to carry the song. Sure, it's getting late in the year and the temperature is dropping, but you'd have to be frozen to a polar bear to have a more frigid winter than Kanye.
"Coldest Winter" appears to be 808s' proper closer. However, affixed to the end is live (singing) freestyle "Pinocchio Story," a solid track that takes Kanye back to the self-aggrandizing that characterized albums one through three. The lyrics pine about wanting to be a "real boy" and are some of the record's strongest. While the rest of the album takes a more divergent path from his previous work, "Pinocchio" reminds the world of what they really love about Kanye West: Kanye West. And that's one thing that he and the public certainly have in common.
Kevin Lincoln
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