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• Perhaps the best comparison for 808s & Heartbreak is when Bob Dylan went electric in 1965. Like Dylan, Kanye didnt need the fame or credibility: His third (and third multiplatinum) album, 2007s Graduation, had come out only a year earlier, and hed already established himself as the kind of visionary who could steer the conversation while hovering somewhere above it. Like Dylan, the new direction made him a genius to some and a traitor to othersa split that highlighted both the divisiveness of his art and the conservative streak in a scene where the imperative to keep it real can be as stifling as it is comforting. You dont need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, Dylan sanga line, incidentally, from the first electric song of his that most people would have heard (Subterranean Homesick Blues). But youd have to have a pretty good internal compass to bet your future on where that winds gonna take you.
  It isnt hip-hop in the conventional sense. At least, it certainly wasnt when it came out in 2008. But in the intervening years, the album has become a blueprint for an entirely new wave of rap: introverted, melodic, melancholy, confessionalthe sound of Drake and The Weeknd on down to Juice WRLD and Lil Uzi Vert. His pain is real (Coldest Winter), but his arrogance is, too (RoboCop). He recognizes the transitory nature of life (Street Lights), but it doesnt stop him from holding a grudge (Heartless). And no matter how alienated fame makes him feel (Welcome to Heartbreak), he cant quite give it up (Amazing).
  Kanye says he started exploring melody because thats how teachers taught concepts to him when he was a kidlearning through song. And for all its robotic austerity, 808s is a kind of kids album, or at least one that taps into the rush of unsorted emotions that comes with youth. If he runs all its tracks through Auto-Tune, it isnt just to get the notes right, but to convey the reality of what it means to try to feel everything at once: You go numb.
  

  Review

  AllMusic rating: AllMusic users: (1,860 votes) Read the AllMusic.com review

• Artist: Kanye West Label: Roc-A-Fella Records Format: LP Units: 2 Country: Europe Genre: Hip Hop & RnB Style: Experimental

• A1 Say You Will
  A2 Welcome To Heartbreak
  A3 Heartless
  B1 Amazing
  B2 Love Lockdown
  B3 Paranoid
  C1 Robocop
  C2 Street Lights
  C3 Bad News
  D1 See You In My Nightmares
  D2 Coldest Winter
  D3 Pinocchio Story (Live From Singapore)
  CD-1 Say You Will
  CD-2 Welcome To Heartbreak
  CD-3 Heartless
  CD-4 Amazing
  CD-5 Love Lockdown
  CD-6 Paranoid
  CD-7 RoboCop
  CD-8 Street Lights
  CD-9 Bad News
  CD-10 See You In My Nightmares
  CD-11 Coldest Winter
  CD-12 Pinocchio Story (Live From Singapore)