On September 8th, 2008, Kanye West took a song that he had written a week and a half before to the MTV VMAs. West, was uncharacteristically melancholy. Coming off the celebratory and vivacious Graduation in 2007, West donned a gray suit with a broken heart pin. The pin would be the common thing for the upcoming 808’s and Heartbreak era. 20 Taiko drummers filled the back of the stage with a powerful, rhythmic flow that complemented the brooding red lights that permeated the sound stage. Kanye West wasn’t the boisterous person that we knew who stretched fans imagination with the Glow In The Dark tour. Something or things broke him.
Sometimes when you look back at things, it’s best to look at the end before you start at the beginning. The last track of 808s and Heartbreak is a live track called “Pinocchio Story.” It’s a complete stream of consciousness. The only structure is West proclaiming “I just wanna be a real boy, Pinocchio’s story goes, I just wanna be a real boy.”
Donda West, Kanye’s mother passed away on November 2007. This loss, no doubt, had a profound effect on West’s psyche; as would any person losing a parent. Even to this day; he is forever altered. Shortly after, West’s engagement to Alexis Phifer ended. When it rains, it pours. With the freestyle, not only does West contemplate if all the material possessions he gained during his assent were worth it; also starts to resent his dream itself.
And the day I moved to L.A., maybe that was all my fault
All my fault to be a real boy, chasin’ the American dream
There’s a scripture; Mark 8:36 to be exact. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? It’s a universal story.
808’s starts with the atmospheric and earthy, “Say You Will.” It’s a contrast to the triumphant and reflective Graduation opener, “Good Morning.” From here, you get the basis or the bolts of the album. All of these songs utilize the Roland TR-808 as the glue. Sometimes songs are simplistic in order to highlight the emotions that West are trying to convey. Many times, synths and orchestral arrangements serve as an undercurrent to the hard-hitting and aggressive nature of the base. It’s the calm and the storm. With the help of producers Plain Pat, No I.D., and Jeff Bhasker, this was an album that was a snapshot. It encompassed a moment.
West is not rapping his pain; he chooses to sing it. The auto-tune plugin evolved in hip-hop and R&B from the Zapp band using the talk box in the 80’s to artists like T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, and Lil Wayne embracing it in the late 2000s. The auto-tune structure on 808s often changes its pitch and sometimes, a reverb that takes the emotion in different places. In a song like “See You In My Knightmare,” West’s voice is clearer and breaks in auto-tune to convey the anger and need to break free from his former love. Even the synths are more pronounced. There’s no layer or filter as West and Lil Wayne trade stories of love lost.
Why auto-tune? Throughout this entire album, there are very heavy emotional themes. It strips you down. You become a shell of yourself – maybe even robotic. That’s why the usage is so crucial to depict West’s mind state. Also, singing is not Kanye West’s strong suit. It took a certain type of bravery to show the cracks in your heart through your weakest attribute (although assisted with auto-tune). The contradictory nature of 808s is also very human. West sometimes lashes out, but also is very regretful. That’s a very natural progression when you are bombarded by bad things and it ends up changing your view.
808s and Heartbreak is able to change tempos and emotions in a way that everything flows. The subject matter and the simplistic approach to constructing these songs pushed Kanye West into another realm of pop music. The cellos and bass collide in “Welcome To Heartbreak” as if it’s the opening credits to a Shakespearean tragedy. With the help of who would be a frequent collaborator, Kid Cudi, West goes into that theme of addition and subtraction. Materialism vs. Family. It’s interesting with the promotion of this album that West’s appearance is very plain. Often known for his admiration for fashion, he had to strip that down.
“Heartless” is dancing through the pain. Through a mixture of flutes and the melody, West creates his post-mortem breakup song. “Paranoid” calls back to the electro-pop of the 80’s where the those keyboards are the highlights. It’s one of the only songs on the album where the 808s aren’t extremely prevalent. “Robocop” takes on the theme of it’s name. West’s voice is very distorted and there’s a very mechanical flow to it. “Amazing” featuring a brief verse from Young Jeezy is a very slow ascension with taiko drums and piano.
Listening to West’s music over the course of four albums at that point, there are some familiar themes. The music of some songs continue, sometimes a minute longer to give brevity like 2005’s Late Registration. There are orchestral patterns that are almost movie-scene like in “Bad News” and “Robocop” towards the end. It’s not a complete foreign concept to the listener with connecting threads.
The last half of the album gets down to the underbelly of the aftermath of such profound lost. Complete with shaky synths that you can visualize being the glow of a street light, West is looking forward to an unknown. There’s a repetitiveness in the lyrics that shows this never ending cycle of searching. Yes, there will be things to light your way, but when happens when you are no longer enjoying the journey? Rinse and repeat. The “are we there yet” complex of life kicks in.
“Bad News” and “Coldest Winter” are goodbyes in two different ways. “Bad News” is the realization that the romantic relationship is over for various reasons. “Coldest Winter,” that samples Tears For Fears song, “Memories Fade” is a musical eulogy to his mother and the lost relationship. Two stages of grief. It’s poignant to end the album on that note because out of everything; that was the lasting impact. It started the unraveling of a how a certain dream can betray you. Consecutive losses can make you feel like the light at the end of the tunnel will never reach you.
On Graduation, Kanye West reached the top of the mountain. This was a journey that many were able to witness right from 2004’s The College Dropout. Donda’s son. The man who rapped “Through The Wire” with his jaw wired shut. With 808s and Heartbreak, he looked down from the top of the mountain and saw what it cost him. Victory is not without it’s losses. There’s an almost gloomy exchange that in order to gain something greater in life, you often have to lose things. Always known for his unabashed honesty and sometimes volcanic outbursts in order to solidity his spot, West spills his emotions out from a different perspective. The artwork for 808s depicts a deflated red heart. A simple, yet powerful image that acts as a statement of an album that didn’t shy away from the feelings of losing everything you thought made you whole.
