The lyrics do not flow well and often contradict themselves. This type of performance should not get an album nominated for best of the year. However, three out of the four featured artists underperformed. If an album has only four featured artists, they better do a masterful job. Hudson, and Lil Wayne are the only featured artists.
He could have picked random people off the street, and they would have been better than the actual featured artists chosen. You would think that West could get bigger names to collaborate with. This album does nothing but serve as a reminder to most of the population that Kanye West is richer than you. This line doesn’t seem to give off the relatable heartbreak story that people were hoping for. He said his daughter got a brand-new report card, and all I got was a brand-new sports car.” This can be seen in the song “Welcome to Heartbreak” when West says, “My friend showed me pictures of his kids, and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs. Instead, they got an album that told the story of a millionaire coping with the pain of a heartbreak. People were expecting a story they could relate to. These two events set the album up to be a heartbreak classic. He was also devastated by the sudden death of his mother, Donda. Instead, the image just covered up the garbage that was slapped together and called an album.īefore the album was released, Kanye West had relationship issues with his fiancé at the time, Alexis Phifer. Before listening to the album, I was excited because I thought that the great image meant it would be a great album. West realized that simplistic designs are more impactful, which is why almost all his albums have been simple.Ī sleek gray background with a heart that seems to be deflated perfectly displays the theme of heartbreak throughout the album. Instead, they got an album that told the story of a millionaire coping with the pain of a heartbreak.”Īrtists often try to make their album cover flashy. There is only one other aspect of this album worth praising: the cover image. While this may be true, it was not enough to distract from the uninspiring album. He said, “It still had (Kanye’s) impact while not being his greatest work.” Trinity senior Franklin Schoen reiterates this. Due to this, the rap industry has grown a wider audience. Since its usage in “808s and Heartbreak,” auto-tune has been a key element in almost every rap album. When asked about the album, Trinity senior Michael Schmidt said, “It pioneered the usage of auto-tune for many generations to come.” The only positives to “808s and Heartbreak” are that it brought auto-tune into the rap industry, and it has a sleek album cover image. The lyrics do not flow well and at times contradict themselves. The album’s featured artists are unimpressive at best.
While it was supposed to be a relatable album that told the story of a man going through a heartbreak, it was actually an album that showed Kanye West’s narcissistic thoughts. After much hype, the album ended up being a major disappointment for several reasons. In reality, this album should have been in the running for the worst album of the year. When it was revealed that Kanye West’s album “808s and Heartbreak” received a nomination for the best album of the year (2008), a flurry of confused tweets as to why occurred.