Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak"

[wpgflamesfan]

most tracks are pretty solid with the exception of love lockdown. however the house remix of it is really good.

[Prototype]

Interesting to see the contrast on "Love Lockdown". I thought it was the most original song to be released to the mainstream in some time. It's easily my favourite song right now.

Kayne the artist has impressed me since "Through The Wire" and keeps toping himself.

Dis, I believe you're talking about "Jesus Walks" which has been his most powerful hit to date.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Prototype

Dis, I believe you're talking about "Jesus Walks" which has been his most powerful hit to date.

I'm looking for it on youtube now. That's not the one.

OK, it is the one. Evidently I was looking at part 2.

[oxygen]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I hate hip hop, in general, but someone posted a youtube of one of Kanye's videos a couple of years ago and I can't recall the name of it, but it was fantastic. The video has him in a church...it's sorta dramatic.

I think it's Diamonds from Sierra Leone

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Prototype

Interesting to see the contrast on "Love Lockdown". I thought it was the most original song to be released to the mainstream in some time. It's easily my favourite song right now.

Really? Sounds exactly the same as 90% of the crap out there (i.e. T-Pain, Chris Brown, etc.).

[Bill Bumface]

I hope there is some way I can learn to like auto tune. I loved graduation but besides Daft Punk there has never been a song with it that I've liked. Kinda frustrating he's using it for the entire album. All I've heard so far is love lockdown and I thought it was total crap.

[phaneuf_train]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

Where are you all hearing these songs? could you provide links?

www.hotnewhiphop.com is where I find most of the better leaks.

[Hack&Lube]

It's too bad some people will never hear the unreleased or rehearsal Prince stuff from the early 80s that he's never put out. His studio albums are generally pretty bad but he was amazing live and his earlier music sounds just like and much better than a lot of this "retro" stuff these days...mix that with sheer Hendrix guitar work and his basically playing every single instrument with great synths and electronic work, there's some incredible stuff there.

But yeah, the 80s had some incredible hip hop that people are seeming to clue into again, at least in terms of the sound if they don't recognize the inspiration. Check out some of the hip hop and funk on the GTA Vice City album. There were so many people doing way more than just MJ and in funkier ways that are less pop.

[Prototype]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Really? Sounds exactly the same as 90% of the crap out there (i.e. T-Pain, Chris Brown, etc.).

I guess I'm lucky that I don't listen to mainstream very much anymore. But if something catches my ear, and I like it, I listen to it.

I used to be all about top 40 anything, but now my music tastes are more reserved, so I don't think I've really heard the other stuff you're refering to.

I guess the whole synthasized voice thing is popular right now, but Kayne did it way different than Chris Brown on Forever.

[Hustle]

I am a Kanye West fan, but I'm not looking forward to this album at all. I'm all for innovation and creativity, but I really don't understand how using autotune for an entire record falls into that category.

I understand the need for artist progression, but i'm sketched out by this. That's also probably due to the fact that I'm a much bigger fan of Kanye's work (especially on the production side) from like 01-05.

That said, he is still one of the better mainstream hip hop acts out there today. This year has been terrible from a mainstream standpoint in regard to good albums (other than Nas and the T.I. album.. which was surprisingly good. go figure), hopefully Kanye is able to reverse that trend)

[Sparks]

Heavy use of Auto Tune always makes me think of that awful Cher song. It struck me as a novelty effect then and I never would have expected anyone to use it again in the same way.

[Blaster86]

According to this guy everyone loves him and he's the most important music icon of this generation.

Personally, I like one song. And the only reason I liked it is because he ripped off Daft Punk. I quickly grew to resent it for destroying a good song.

[RougeUnderoos]

"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice," he said in an interview on Wednesday. "It's me settling into that position of just really accepting that it's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan."

What a effing idiot.

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/15348921

You are going on the pile with the rest of the popstars, Kanye.

[Ro]

While I certainly agree with you that the guy is just too pompous and self-inflating to take seriously most of the time, I seem to be in the vast minority of people who are able to feel that way and yet still enjoy his music immensely.

It's one thing (and obviously totally OK) to simply dislike the music he makes, but I really don't get the "he's a jerk so his music sucks" line of thinking (not direct at you Rouge- your post just made me think of this). Michael Jackson puts wine in pop cans to get preteen boys drunk, but Thriller is still pretty freaking awesome. For whatever reason, Kanye doesn't seem to get that same treatment, and instead polarizes people one way or another.

Listeners like me who are able to separate his music from his giant head are scarcer than I thought they would be.

[RougeUnderoos]

I don't particularly hate his music, but I don't much like it either. The intertoobs provided me with one of his albums and I made it through once but never went back.

Thriller is still awesome, but Michael Jackson belongs in jail. He just gave up the Neverland Ranch yesterday, BTW.

[garypowers]

On the auto tune thing - not sure if it would still be up but when he dropped the demo for Love Lockdown on his website and people freaked out about the auto tune (as well the crappy beats) he re-recorded it but kept the auto tune and wrote a passionate defense of it on his blog that was a bit more verbose than "the funnest thing". Of course, verbosity has never been a problem for Kanye. I'm just running out or I'd try to link, but to paraphrase, "Kanye West don't care about out of tune people."

[Ro]

Full retail album has leaked, and I have had 3 or 4 days to digest it.

Two thumbs way up from me.

At first I thought it was a little shallow and disposable, but Kanye seems to have accomplished exactly what he wanted with this LP- crafting a totally original, catchy, and ultimately thoroughly enjoyable record. If this album is marketed correctly, I think he could reach a huge crossover market while still retaining critical acclaim due to the offbeat and risky nature of the music. It's most definitely simple pop music, and Kanye's not much of a singer, but it's so well produced and sounds so damn fresh! Standout tracks for me are Welcome To Heartbreak, Bad News, & RoboCop. But the whole album is dope.

Lovin' both versions of the cover art as well- might have to pick up a vinyl copy so I can add it to my collection of framed vinyl LPs:

[bluejays]

Yup, I got it online a few days back as well, and it's an album that definitely grows on you. Earlier I posted about Robocop leaking, but that was just the demo, and it was horrible, but the album version is really really good. I don't think it's his best work, but it was done differently, so much so, that it's almost original. I'd personally give it 3.5 of 5 stars, because there is quite a bit of filler, but it's a pretty nice album.

Not to change topic, but I also found 2 other albums the same day, The Killers (Day & Age) and Coldplay (Prospekt's March).

The Killers went back to their roots with this one, but aside from the first 6 songs or so (and the two bonus tracks), this album really wasn't up to par no matter what Flowers says. It's a more upbeat Sam's Town, but it's missing those couple really good songs from The Killers that you'd expect to be popular in indie circles, but also popular on mainstream radio. What I like though is different types of instrumentation used, and as always a big opening. But man, was it disappointing they didn't come up with another Smile Like You Mean It or Read My Mind. I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Coldplay's second edition was interesting, but more of the same that you'd expect from them. Some very very interesting sounds on this version though. Rainy Day is almost Nintendo music, but done pretty well that it's original. Out of just the new songs, I'd give it a 3 of 5 stars.

[Joborule]

I'm lookin forward to picking this CD up. I hate the guy personalty, but like his music.

[@theCBE]

Got it online this morning. I'm loving it.. really different sound.