The record arrives in the wake of a year in which Kanye lost his mother and split with his fiancée, designer Alexis Phifer. A bold, fascinating, foolhardy, occasionally unlistenable Kanye West record was inevitable, with or without the cyborg-soul software. But Auto-Tune isn’t totally to blame for 808s & Heartbreak.

With Kanye largely abandoning rapping in favor of digitally altered crooning, his fourth album represents a cultural high-water mark for Auto-Tune, that now ubiquitous pitch-correction technology. And that haunted me all the way home.Kanye West announced long ago that mere hip-hop superstardom was not enough for him - he wanted to be “the number one artist in the world.” So it’s no surprise that his untrammeled egotism has led him well beyond the usual limits of his genre. “I’m in love with you, but the vibe is wrong. When you decide to break the rules? ‘Cause I just heard some real bad news.” “My face turned to stone when I heard the news.

See I know my destination, but I’m just not there.” So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare. “All the street lights glowin’ happen to be just like moments passin’ in front of me. “Who knew she was a drama queen that would turn my life to Stephen King’s?” “I wish this song would really come true. See I wanna move, but can’t escape from you.” “You wait a couple months, then you gon’ see, you’ll never find nobody better than me.” “Why would she make calls out the blue? Now I’m awake, sleepless in you.” “Didn’t you know, I was waiting on you? Waiting on a dream that’ll never come true.” Grab a tissue and copy-and-paste these to your status updates. 24), VIBE compiled some of its most emo lines for you to reminisce and shed some thug hipster tears. For the album’s forthcoming 5th anniversary this Sunday (Nov. So his reflective 2008 project took listeners on a bumpy jet ride, with somber ballads like “Welcome to Heartbreak,” “Bad News” and “Street Lights” leading the way.Īs divisive as it was, 808s & Heartbreak proved to be a game-changing album that fueled more and more rappers to go deep about love. He’d just broken up with his then fiancée, Alexis Phifer. For his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak, Kanye West dumped out all his emotions using AutoTune, a drum machine and a load of depressing lyrics.

Kanye 808s and heartbreak