808s & Heartbreak is Kanye West’s fourth studio album, released on November 24th, 2008, and it was a base breaker as far as fans were concerned. It produced four singles:
Background[]
While making ‘Good Ass Job’, Kanye West went through some personal issues. Ye’s mother, Donda West died due to complications from cosmetic Surgery [1]and his relationship with his fiancé Alexis Phifer ended.[2] Kanye who was still trying to adjust to the fame and fortune that came with being a celebrity was emotionally weak and lost.
Kanye expressed his sorrow in an emotionally charged album that had less complex instrumentals and was based on the Roland TR-808 drum machine and Auto-Tune. Kanye first announced the album’s release date on September 24th, 2008, saying: "I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it..I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible."
This album was very influential to the following hip-hop artists including Drake, Future, Travis Scott and many others.[3] When asked about the album. Kanye would say "It was just what was in my heart. The type of ideas that it was coming up with, the melodies that were in me — what was in me I couldn’t stop."[4]
Tracklist[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Say You Will | Benjamin Mclldowie, Dexter Mills, Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West, Malik Yusef | Kanye West | 6:18 |
| 2 | Welcome To Heartbreak (feat. Kid Cudi) | Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West, Patrick Reynolds, Scott Mescudi | Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West | 4:23 |
| 3 | Heartless | Kanye West, Malik Yusef, NO I.D., Scott Mescudi | NO I.D., Kanye West | 3:31 |
| 4 | Amazing (feat. Jeezy) | Dexter Mills, Jay Jenkins, Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West, Malik Yusef | Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West | 3:58 |
| 5 | Love Lockdown | Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West | 4:30 | |
| 6 | Paranoid (feat. Mr Hudson) | Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West | 4:38 | |
| 7 | RoboCop | Anthony Williams, Dexter Mills, Faheem Najm, Jay Jenkins, Jeff Bhasker, Jenny-Bea Englishman, Kanye West, Malik Yusef, Patrick Doyle, Scott Mescudi | Kanye West | 4:34 |
| 8 | Street Lights | Anthony Williams, Benjamin Mclldowie, Jenny-Bea Englishman, Kanye West | Mr Hudson, Kanye West | 3:10 |
| 9 | Bad News | George Bass, Kanye West | Kanye West | 3:59 |
| 10 | See You in My Nightmares (feat. Lil Wayne) | Dwayne Carter, Jeff Bhasker, Kanye West, NO I,D, | NO I.D., Kanye West | 4:18 |
| 11 | Coldest Winter | Kanye West, NO I.D., Roland Orzabal | Jeff Bhasker, NO I.D., Kanye West | 2:44 |
| 12 | Pinocchio Story | Kanye West | Kanye West | 6:02 |
References[]
- ↑ https://www.mandellbrown.com/blog/cosmetic-surgery-expert-responding-to-the-death-of-donda-west-mother-of-kanye-west/
- ↑ https://people.com/celebrity/kanye-wests-fiance-sad-over-breakup/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20111229125050/http://www.theawl.com/2011/09/kanye%E2%80%99s-808s-how-a-machine-brought-heartbreak-to-hip-hop
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20081204032313/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1599993/20081121/west_kanye.jhtml