808's & Heartbreak = Fail (The Kanye Thread)

imho. Kanye does not rap at all on the album, there is no sampling, no bear on the cover, and that voice box thing sucks. There is something to be said about keeping your albums fresh, but here he plays against all of his strengths.

Thoughts? STFU Lamrock? Its out November 25? Eww Kanye West?

Last edited by Lamrock on Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

I like Love Lockdown but a whole album full with that voice box actually really sucks.
I loved his first two albums and I liked Graduation but I'm definitely not that hyped for 808's.

And you got the most important fact, where the fuck is the bear?

The "voice box" thing is called the auto-tune. T-Pain is the orginator (mainstream) in using the auto tune, it is a great tool for pplz that can't sing to "sing". A great example is Kanye trying to sing! Rappers have started to use the vocorder these days to sing it out! At first, i thought "Love Lockdown" was phucked because i cant even recognize kanye with the vocorder (though it was some random guy singing!). Everntually i got use to kanye singing it's not that bad. Even if pplz dont like this, more rappers would starting singing. I read articles and heard 50 cent singing, and lil wayne planning on doing a r&b album.

The bear owns.

imho. Kanye does not rap at all on the album, there is no sampling, no bear on the cover, and that voice box thing sucks. There is something to be said about keeping your albums fresh, but here he plays against all of his strengths.

It's better if he didn't rap or attempt to sing in an album at all.
That effing voice box definitely needs to go the way of the dodo.

T-Pain is the orginator (mainstream) in using the auto tune

No he's not, shit's old as fuck. But if he was he'd deserve a minimum of 2 gigantic slaps in his ugly face.

That whole auto-tune thing is horrible. People who can't sing shouldn't be singing, it's that simple. It's not that people won't notice the lack of talent just because they sound like freaking smurfs...


As for Kanye's new album, his music already started getting semi-gay on that Graduation album. The moment I first heard Love Lockdown and found out that his new album will be all singing and no rapping I knew that I wasn't even going to download his new CD. I'm never gonna listen to it und just hope there won't be too many singles off it that you're forced to listen to everywhere you go.

I personally think some of the songs are the cd are great. I am definantly buying it and I'm a huge Kanye West fan, but seriously listening to the words and what he has to say its his deepest album to date. I really love this breath of fresh air from the cd, and I feel like he honestly has something to say with it.

"My friend showed me picture of his kids, and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs"

T-Pain is the orginator (mainstream) in using the auto tune

No he's not, shit's old as fuck. But if he was he'd deserve a minimum of 2 gigantic slaps in his ugly face.

That whole auto-tune thing is horrible. People who can't sing shouldn't be singing, it's that simple. It's not that people won't notice the lack of talent just because they sound like freaking smurfs...

dramacydal T-Pain is the originator in using the vocorder in mainstream music. The whole auto-tune thing allows people to make music. Just think of it as an instrument, and T-Pain produced all the songs himself and u gotta give him credit for that. Artists like Kanye would want to start doing some new stuff not just staying with the normal rap stuff. I think Kanye still raps in featured songs though!

Yeah, and my favorite band is the originator of great music.

T-Pain is the orginator (mainstream) in using the auto tune

No he's not, shit's old as fuck. But if he was he'd deserve a minimum of 2 gigantic slaps in his ugly face.

That whole auto-tune thing is horrible. People who can't sing shouldn't be singing, it's that simple. It's not that people won't notice the lack of talent just because they sound like freaking smurfs...

dramacydal T-Pain is the originator in using the vocorder in mainstream music. The whole auto-tune thing allows people to make music. Just think of it as an instrument, and T-Pain produced all the songs himself and u gotta give him credit for that.

that s true. however, obvious influences have to come from funkadelic music like Zapp & Roger or George Clinton or stuff like that.

dramacydal T-Pain is the originator in using the vocorder in mainstream music.

As I said, I don't think so but...

if he was he'd deserve a minimum of 2 gigantic slaps in his ugly face.

The whole auto-tune thing allows people to make music.

No, it allows talentless people to act as if they could sing.

Just think of it as an instrument

What the fuck? Hell naw! Now you deserve being slapped in the face by everyone who knows how much time and effort it takes to learn to play a real instrument.

and T-Pain produced all the songs himself and u gotta give him credit for that.

No I don't.

Artists like Kanye would want to start doing some new stuff not just staying with the normal rap stuff.

That's not true. Kanye's not doing anything new, he's just following a trend. There's nothing innovative about his new album.

This is something that really pisses me off to the point where I just wanna choke a bitch. When an artist goes in a different direction with his music and his new stuff simply sucks because he failed miserably there are always gonna be some smartasses trying to tell you that your taste is too limited, you're narrow-minded or you missed out on the progress taking place. "hes trying something new!1111!!! OMG hes so creative" My ass. When Q-Tip did it it was dope. When Mos did it it was dope. When Andre did it it was at least pretty decent. Now Kanye tried to do it as well and failed. That auto-tune shit is horrible, straight up. And apart from that there is nothing special or innovative to his new music so stop acting like he's the embodiment of creativity.

By the way, the last paragraph is not directed at any particular person.

Retail version finally leaked. From bad to worse this album got. My favorite track, "Robocop" was completely ruined, with the out-of-place strings, and dumb LA girl bit. Welcome to Heartbreak was also overproduced, but that song was never that great in the first place. Overall, I would rank it as his worst album. Late Registration >>>>> College Dropout >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Graduation >>>>>>> 808's and Heartbreak.

I hear he is coming out with a proper rap album next year though. If it is good and includes a bear, all will be forgiven.

Tough to rate such an album. Let me tell you, I love rap. Im a Hip Hop fan.

College Dropout was pure Hip Hop, sick, creative, variating. +++
Late Registration was pure Hip Hop with even more Soul influencing it. +++
Graduation was something new, a good album, not really Hip Hop and every track sounding the same. +

Now 808s and Heartbreak: I am listening to it the whole day right about now, it has something appealing. Some tracks have nice beats. The voice thing sucks though. It is no Hip Hop at all. But it again has its moments like Paranoid for example. +

Plz Kanye bring back some Hip Hop and even more important, bring back Albums with different songs.

dramacydal T-Pain is the originator in using the vocorder in mainstream music.

I know i'm a little late but come on: have you listened to any 80s music? they used that shit constantly. Just because he's the main one to use it since you've been born doesnt make him the originator...

And to dramacydal's points

This album is the epitome of a grower. At first I hated it (to the point of making an 808's = fail thread), then started to like it, then hated it all over again when retail version came out, but I'm starting to like it again. There are a few great tracks (Love Lockdown, Paranoid, Heartless, Robocop sorta) and I don't feel obliged to skip any.

I wouldn't fit this at all into his hip-hop canon. I definitely like his first two better, but I think 808's is a bit better than Graduation. Cut Drunk & Hot Girls and Barry Bonds from Graduation, and it would narrowly take third.

Also, its very interesting to see the polarizing scores this album has received; allmusic's 2/5 shocked me. I can't wait to see what Pitchfork things. Either way, I predict a concept review.

Pitchfork is full of a bunch of rambling idiots. If the band's music sounds god awful but has a recent upsurge in underground popularity then they'll ride that band's dick until it falls off. Anything else they'll throw an arbitrary number lower than 5 out of 10 and pretend that they're so cool by being music elitists.

Methinks it will get a 5.8. Its the score they always give to one of their favorite artists' first dud.

PPls, Kanye West is still one of the best selling artists in the business right now, no matter wat he decides to do, he would still get attention. As to he auto tune issue, i don't see nobody having the auto-tune as their signature trademark style except 4 t-pain in the past few years. 808 and heartbreaks will most probably reach platinum status in a couple months!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWHNcWcgCeU

That still doesn't address the fact that the auto tuner is for men with vaginas.

^Exactly.
And it also doesn't address the fact that T-Pain is NOT the originator of it.

Kanye West is still one of the best selling artists in the business right now [...] 808 and heartbreaks will most probably reach platinum status in a couple months!

Wow, this has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the album. You failed at finding valid points just as badly as Kanye failed trying something new*.

*here: new = old

Didn't Cher and J-Lo use that thing because they can't really sing? Everytime you hear the autotune correction, you know they were out of tune, hehe.

I'm pretty sure Britney Spears used it as well.

http://www.defsounds.com/news/Kanye_cle ... at_colbert

"This is not hip-hop music. Taking a sample, looping it and doing all that 'throw your hands up in the sky' thing has become such a cliche. Hip-hop is over for me. I sing, not rap, on this album. I now want to be grouped among those musicians you see in those old black-and-white photos - the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. And I'm not going to get there by doing just another rap album full of samples" said Kanye.

However, at a recent press conference, when asked to elaborate on his statement and reasoning for leaving the genre, West says that's not exactly what he meant.

“What does that mean,” West asked. “Hip-hop is over for me? I never said that.”

“That quote is like so wrong,” West responded.

So appearently he's not sure what to do in the future, but if he's serious with the first statement, he practically died for me.
The first two albums were those that made him famous and made me like him, but if he continues what he started with 808's ... meh dunno.

Talking 'bout 808's & Heartbreak, I downloaded it as I wasn't sure whether I'd buy it or not, but after listening to it, I don't think it'd wouldn't have been worth it. Paranoid is the only song I like on it, but I won't spend 15 bucks for one or two songs.

I got the album and I don't really like it. Someo of the songs are good... not that he is singing. He doesn't sing well at all. It's the words for me. Even when he was rapping though, I listened to the words and not how he rapped or how he sounded. College Dropout was and will be my favourite Kanye record ever and it sort of went downhill from there but 808s is definitely a lot more... strange for me.

At the end of the day, I am regretting paying for the album when I think I can only listen to half of it... oh well. It was funny because I was telling my friend that it was gonna be shit and I wouldnt pay for it but the fan in me wanted to buy his album.

Its a grower, I'm telling you. I started an 808's hate thread, and now I'm one of the forum's biggest advocates of it. I only feel tempted to skip one song when I listen to it.

Also, Late Registration owns College Dropout.

what song do you feel tempted to skip? I tend to skip robocop/amazing/love lockdown.... I like em' just overplayed em already.