808s and Heartbreak Critique

808s & Heartbreak
808s and Heartbreak is Kanye West’s transition from an inspirational style of rapping about equality, tough times, and family to singing about his feelings of hurt, doubt, and anger with an auto-tuned style. As a member of the well-respected Roc-A-Fella Records, Kanye West was known for his brutally-honest lyrics towards culture, race, and society in general. With the release of 808s and heartbreak, West’s movement towards complex drum beats and a style of singing through auto-tuning changed West’s voice in an irregular manner. The change of style is what makes and breaks West’s album.
One of the biggest hits on the album, “Love Lockdown”, was done originally both lyrically and structurally. Using tribal beats with a variety of wide-ranged vocal pitches West captures his audience in a positive and negative aspect. At some points throughout the entire album, some transitions from a low to exceedingly high pitch will hurt your ears rather than caught my attention. At some points, it was like listening to nails scratching against a chalkboard or a desk being pulled across a wooden floor. At other points during the album, West’s vocals captured my attention, and went perfect with the tribal beats using taiko drums. Using the same style throughout the album West covers every aspect of life lyrically from personal relationships with women in his single “Heartless” to self-confidence in other single “Amazing.”
808s and Heartbreak is an album that shows West’s potential as a multi-dimensional artist, his ability to reach pitches that some would receive noise disturbances for, and his stardom’s domination of musical opinion. Because of his stature, West can rap under water, and still sell a multi-million album.