808s & Heartbreak

When surfing iTunes the other day for new releases, I came upon Kanye West's new album, 808s & Heartbreak, and took a minute to check it out. Although I generally had a lot of respect for Kanye's work up to that point, I had never been interested enough to actually pick up an album.

This album changed that.

Within minutes of checking out each of the songs, I was hooked and had to rush to buy the CD at Best Buy as soon as I could (on Black Friday, as all the stores were closed for Thanksgiving). Although it took a little getting used to, the album has quite easily become one of the best albums I've purchased in a long time.

This record is a sort of concept album, both thematically and musically:

Kanye had a rough year this past year, losing his mother to complications in her cosmetic surgery procedures, calling off his engagement, and trying to come to terms with his admittedly superficial life. This album is the product of all that soul-searching, and it shows - in the best way possible at that. The subject matter is mostly a form of sincere and often melancholy reflection on heavy topics such as loss, love, fame, and maturity. To further enrich things, Kanye restricted himself to only sung melodies (a big departure for him, as he's known as a rapper, first and foremost); simple, almost minimalist drum beats produced almost exclusively on a Roland TR-808 electronic drum machine; and a heavy reliance on an Auto-Tune vocal effect, which fortunately is not overused or handled in a gimmicky manner.

The result of all this (plus a moving album art design and presentation) is a complete package that leaves me respecting Kanye even more as an artist, and ten-fold as a human being (he has a reputation for being an arrogant prick, and this sort of tender hearted and self-critical musical essay is enough to start melting that impression). Overall, I can't recommend this album enough. I never thought I would be saying that about a Hip-Hop/R&B album, but I am.