It's called "pop art," but leave Andy Warhol out of it.
That's the name of the new music genre hip-hop icon Kanye West claims to have created with his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, on Roc-A-Fella records.
Although Kanye recycled the term from the 1950s visual art movement of the same name, in terms of style 808s is actually minimalist. Nothing if not original, 808s stripped-down-sound has the potential to revolutionize the future of hip-hop music. In fact West prefers to label it a "pop album."
Released on Nov. 24, 2008, 808s debuted at No. 1 before going platinum, just in time for Grammy season. "Amazing"ly, just one year after losing out to Herbie Hancock (who knew?) for Album Of The Year, West has a legitimate shot at redeeming himself, as long as voters are OK with his use of Auto-Tune.
The new album's popularity notwithstanding, the biggest beef most listeners have with 808s is West's heavy use of the voice audio processor, which many artists use to mask poor vocal delivery or lack of singing skills. West was turned on to Auto-Tune during collaborations with fellow rappers Lil Wayne and T-Pain on each of their most recent albums.
To combat the mechanical sound produced by Auto-Tune, Kanye incorporated a variety of tribal drumbeats into the songs heard on 808s. As the first half of the album title, "808s,"acknowledges, West used the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer - a retro drum machine that first came out in the 1980s - to create his expressive, simplistic beats. The track "Coldest Winter" adds to the 80s-inspired sounds occasionally heard on the album, which remakes portions of the Tears For Fears song, "Memories Fade."
Concerning the "Heartbreak" heard on the album, West's motivation to write and record his new disc is the first step in his healing process in the wake of a difficult time in his private life, which has been made more public than ever before during the rapper's career.
First, West lost his mother Donda, who died in November 2007 from complications during plastic surgery. Then, in April 2008 Kanye broke up with girlfriend Alexis Phifer, ending their engagement. West replaced his trademark Dropout Bear character with a red deflated heart-shaped balloon for the album's cover.
The release of 808s is proof of West's savviness in the music business and his status as a truly great performing artist. Following his third album - the mega-successful Champion (2007) - Kanye drastically departed from the sound that made him famous. Compared to other current album No. 4 releases by bands of comparable international fame (Coldplay's Viva La Vida and Fall Out Boy's Folie a Deux for example), 808s is far more innovative and inventive - a feat few in the music industry would have predicted.
It would be unfair to hate on the hip-hop star for writing emotional songs. West's lyrics on 808s are a breath of fresh air in the superficial rap world of cars, clothes and girls. "There is no Louis Vuitton to put on," sings West on the album's final track, "Pinocchio Story," a live performance included at the insistence of Beyonce Knowles, whose opinion holds some sway as the wife of Roc-A-Fella founder Jay-Z.
Awards and critical success aside, 808s certainly makes West seem more vulnerable in the than public eye than ever before. As time goes by, West's latest daring musical attempt (albeit auto-tuned) may end up as the most significant release of his career. In Daft Punk terms, if West seemed "(Harder, Better, Faster,) Stronger" on Champion, it's because he was. Despite his narcissistic, at times arrogant public persona, West's recent personal tragedies that inspired the honest creation of 808s assures us mere mortals that Kanye West is "Human After All."
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