Words By Patrick M.
Ever since the rumors started that Kanye West was releasing an album of songs, I’ve been morally and vocally opposed to the project. Even when “Love Lockdown,” and “”Heartless,” hit the airwaves, I remained skeptical.
Then I heard “Welcome to Heartbreak.”
While my moral opposition to the project remains, my awe for Kanye as an artist continues to grows. Like few musicians can, he’s made music on his terms and forced listeners to come along by decree of pure dopeness. What’s more, he effectively forced his vision for the album upon me with this song; I find myself reconsidering the earlier songs within the context of “Welcome to Heartbreak.”
The problems with AutoTune remain, and the lyrics on paper appear childish, but the music conveys such strong emotion that these detractions are overwhelmed. The beat is the perfect mix of the dramatic (the opening violin and the echoing keys,) with the subtle, (the high drone that hovers over the verses.) The vocals are perfectly mixed in to convey feeling, even if the words to read well in paper, they hit like a ton of bricks. And of course Kanye’s drum machine skills are unmatchable.
Like Kanye, I can’t stop…listening to the fucking song. I apologize Mr. West for doubting you, and will return to my previous place amongst the masses while you make your place amongst the legends.
Kanye West Feat. Kid CuDi – Welcome To Heartbreak
Previously Posted — “Use Your Allusion…” | Kanye x Kaws = 808’s & Heartbreak Album Cover
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just wanted to say first………. “first”
Not feeling it..just can’t seem to get over the AutoTune hump
Damn….Teef I sense some insider trading shit with you being up on all these post early lol!!
Fuck kanye and his vocoder. I am a big fans sans vocoder but until he drops that shit I’m gone.
This track is absolutely brilla trilla grilla brillo brillo brillo!
This is one of them tracks that I can actually relate to, amazing!
The album got 5 stars out of 5 in today’s issue of Sunday Times Culture Magazine and they are usually stricter than you gotty with your 3 and a half ciggies! ;) :)
um, what they hell do you morally oppose? that doesnt make sense to me.
“And of course Kanye’s drum machine skills are unmatchable.”
Sure we’ve been listening to the same Kanye throughout the years? He’s always had the weakest drums.
lol, the dude admitted to stealing drum sounds from dilla beat tapes. fuck kanye. the drums on this track sound especially bad. listen to the snare, for fucks sake.
^Kanye has always been strong on Drums; but he has improved. The beats on the album are incredible; but his over reliance of using the autotune brings the album down.
^I meant hasn’t
Let me correct the first part of this essay:
“Ever since the rumors started that Kanye West was releasing an album of songs, I’ve been morally and vocally opposed to the project. Even when “Love Lockdown,” and “”Heartless,” hit the airwaves, I remained skeptical.
Then I heard “Welcome to Heartbreak.”
And I thought to myself, “Damn, I was right. This shit still sucks. The only good part of the song is when Kid Cudi sings. Kanye is on crack. He should have worked with the Trackmasters.”"
That’s more like it.
I like kanye and he can and should continue to steal drums forever as long as he doesnt ever make pop music again. People will claim that this album is too complex for people like me who trash it, but in reality this album is kanye dumbed down only to his emotions. He had his heart broken and this whole album only reflects the fact he is lonely. I dont give a fuck kanye. Get a prostitute and pay her to listen to your woes, because you couldnt pay me to listen to this fuckin trash.
I want that mayonnaise coloured benz back so badly.
Thought exactly same thing, was opposed to the whole album and disinterested, until I heard ‘welcome to heartbreak’, such a crazy dope song, one of kanye’s best which is saying alot. Copping tomorrow.
fuck the haters.
love me some kanye
It was one of my favorite tracks, but I still liked the whole album. I will be picking it up
Why does a person simply not liking an album equate to hate?
Why does a person simply not liking an album equate to hate?
============================
Because hip hop fans aren’t allowed to have opinions anymore.
But I personally love what I’ve heard of the album. I haven’t listened to everything yet, but Paranoid is my song. And Kid CuDi is a dope singer.
@ Doug Fresh – that wasn’t me that posted the first comment, those teef are fake, lol…he’s got the default gravatar
@ Shail, Paraniod is my song, too. Overall, the album is very hit or miss in my opinion. It’s not bad, but nowhere near as good as his earlier albums.
I do agree that he deserves credit for having the balls to make an album like this…I just hope he switches his focus back to rhyming first.
this song is nice, I’ll admit that.
along with Amazin…just for the Jeezy appearance.
other than that…instead of the album growing on me…I’ve already outgrown this album…I grow weary of the auto-tune….despite the emotion Kanye evokes in 808′s…being different isn’t cool if it’s still wack…and that’s what I get out of the album as a whole.
with all respect to all whom voice their opinion of sir west . most of today i spent listening to the dudes myspace rocking the album. and i must say. the album is fire. it the other side to life, not everybody had a hard knock drug and murder filled life. a good bit of us jus have them simple problems women money,family and other simple shit. if folks take the time to listen to the lyrics they would really appreciate the substance that it has to offer. to me its classic. it aint that ring tone shit it even taht shit u rock in the club. its that shit u rock after a hard day of work ! a rough day in school a break up .u rock it cause dude aint scared to show that even though we think that $100 that’s owe to us on our last check is breaking our banks . he shows that even with cash and fame and apple-bottom booty being thrown his way he still is human and he still got issues.
after a hard day’s work….
I’d rather bump Foreign Exchange >>> 808′s
just calling a spade a spade…don’t mean I’m hatin’…..
(from Dallaspenn.com…I’m reposting this because I’m too weak-minded & inarticulate to formulate my own opinions & criticisms, lol…btw, i think it’s a must read, i think Dallas Penn looks at it from a unique & broader perspective):
http://dallaspenn.com/weblog/?p=3011
The Coldest Winter Evar…
808’s & Heartbreak IS a classic.
I’m going to go way out on a limb right here and say that ‘808’s & Heartbreak’ is the best album of 2008. It will be the one album that we all remember from this year. I’ve already forgotten about the so-called ‘Nigger’ album and the Roots ‘Rising Down’. Are the Roots still a band? I know that ?uestlove has a sneaker, deejays all over the place and loves to fucks with Twitter. Even Lil’ Wayne, who has sold nearly three million copies of the ‘Carter III’ will be eclipsed by the latest offering from ‘Ye Tudda West.
Does anyone make real shit anymore?
I’m not going to act like I have heard the entire album. I’ve heard all the joints that most of you have heard. The intro to Heartbreak, the joint with Jeezy, the joint with Weezy, the joint with Kid Cudeezy. See now, aren’t you glad that trend hasn’t taken hold where we call everyone “eezy” at the back of their names? Everyone is pitching a bitch because the vocal pitch is altered but no one is really listening to the tone, just the autotune.
KanYe is on this album yelling and throwing figurative furniture around the studio. This album is his catharsis for losing the one chick in the world that he could trust. The one broad he ever knew that wasn’t trying to get into his pockets, that wasn’t using him to get close to Jay-Z, Dame, or even that nigga Plain Pat.
Plain Pat what up?
I wonder what kind of pain KanYe experienced when he was young and his parents split up? That shit is hardbody. Big ups to all the dead end kids who find themselves in that emotional purgatory place you go to when your parents go their separate ways. Some of y’all have never known your parents as a family unit. For some of y’all it was always a situation where you went to your father’s crib on weekends or to your father’s mother’s crib if your father was a fuck up. It’s a crazy dynamic if that shit happens when you are still in that cartoon comicbook age and wearing underoos when your dad walks out the door.
Kids blame their parents and kids blame themselves. Truth is that America hates families and America eats the young. The album ‘808’s & Heatbreak’ was being written when KanYe’s parents split up. This album is on some raw emotional shit that I wish everybody would do. D.M.X. was the only rapper that I feel like wouldn’t hold back his feelings to get his point across. That nigga wouldn’t give a fuck what anyone said about him. He would smoke his crack, cry, pray to GOD, and then bark at the moon. That nigga was crazy. Everyone is too cool for fucking school. That shit is boring to me now.
I was just reading (I know, sooooo not Hip-Hop) the Spike Lee auto-bio and he talked about losing his mom to cancer while he was still in college. After that moment he had the courage to pick up a Super 8 camera. He always knew that he wanted to make films, but after his mom died he knew he HAD to make films. He found a courage to let his vision be set free. I think KanYe experienced the same feeling when he crossed this threshold in his life. The courage to trust everything in his mind that his mom had imbued to him. Losing your mother is the most hardbody emotional shit evar. Nothing in this world can happen to you worse than that. And then when you get up off the ground after crying your eyes out you realize that you are taller, stronger, harder. No one can tell you nothing.
‘Graduation’ was the prequel to 808’s just like that victory ceremony in Episode 4 was the prequel to that battle on the planet Hoth. That was a cold fucking winter. This will be the coldest winter evar.
In a few years some of y’all will use this album to help you work out of your coldest winter. Don’t act like your big homey Billy X. Sunday didn’t tell you the fucking deal. For a nigga to make a song that would make me fuck with Wayne is an achievement. Maestro did it with ‘3-Peat’. Now KanYe does it with ‘C U In My Nightmares’.
I’m not sure which listenership is futuristic enough to embrace this album. It deals with loss on such a level that even I can’t fully understand. When my dad died I thought about all the things that he had done for me to get to the point where I could control my destiny (true story is that he hated that I wanted to be a writer instead of an architect) and how much sacrifice both my parents made for me to pursue my dreams. That’s why I fucks with ‘808’s & Heartbreaks’.
This shit is a dedication to all of those that help us get out our dreams.
@ Doug Fresh
“Why does a person simply not liking an album equate to hate?”
I personally love the album but…
Word.
(Off to H-a-w-a-i-i… no turkey just roasted pig)
^ so, in other words, the shit is for sucka for love ass niggas lol?
I kid I kid lol…
I think it’s a good album for what it is. That being not Hip-Hop, creative, blase blah.
But like I told my man, this doesn’t top Andre’s joint if you want to compare “experimental albums by rap artists.” I’m not even sure if it tops Tay’s contributions to LIAB or Love The 80′s.
I think a whole lot of scared critics will give Kanye all the ass-licking they can muster for fear of him spazzing, discrediting them in front of his adoring public (“THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND MY ART! I SHOULD HAVE WON EVERY AWARD”), etc.
I actually rode to it heavily last night. On a whole, it’s a cool listen for certain moods. Going on a ledge & trying something different? Yes in many ways. But groundbreaking? Nah. Best album of the year? In what – Hip-Hop or other genres? In Hip-Hop, fuck nah. You can’t even lump it in w/Hip-Hop because i get the sense that it would be doing a disservice to the album, Kanye & his intentions for the album.
Ronnie made this point & I think it has more validity than anything else I’ve heard. If anything, we potentially have the 2008 version of Here, My Dear.
damn now that i think of it tef ur right . it is the hottest of 08. heck da only reason i still rock da carter3 is because Dr.carter- the sample of holy Thursday is bananas ! but this here iS classic and jezzy did his thing on amazing . i live in the south now so u know i gotta argue why kanye is hotter than gucci mane ! and you thought you had problems ! thanks tss for being on point and on time.
The rest of the pack are just Kanye West pretenders, when others imitate, one might as well innovate, that’s exactly what Kanye has done, you either like it or you don’t.
But yeah along with Coldplay, I think Kanye’s will be the most reknowned album of 2008.
Q-Tip too what a truimphant come back.
But yeah ED-209, Robocop, OCP HQ is not Detroit this time around the real Tronic is over in Chi-Town and Kanye has proven it once again.
This should hold you down until Jeff Bridges returns in TR2N.
Kanye West, yes sir, you’ve done it again.
i love this album, and WtoH is my favorite track.
i’m shocked by how often i’ve replayed it…
that said, Leave it All Behind is more incredible by far.
innovate? By vocodering it up? Blackstreet did it with dre in the 90′s and cher even beat him to the punch.
On anther note had lucacris’s album leaked yet?
All I know is I’ve been bumpin the Luda and yes the T-Pain album waayyyyyyy more than heartbreak I havent gave it fair chance yet tho I plan to but it may take awhile
shizzle i got both and i aint listen to the first track! damn chi having a hell of a yr. now all i need is my bulls to get in the playoffs ( i know im wishing on a star) aye next up common !
speaking of Luda…
Luda replaced T-Pain on this one song, I don’t think the song made the album, but there’s footage of it here:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/45819/saturday-night-live-blizzard-man
Kanye’s been thru a lot this year & when you listen to this album he really does give it some emotional shit.
I guess in himself he wanted to make an album of songs & while the Autotune (I wish people would stop callin it a vocoder…ok its a vocoder EFFECT but it aint a vocoder!!!) is the IN thing then I s’pose he decided to make use of it!
I mean damn, I wish I could sing, i think if I was in his position I would make an album like that…with Autotne of course!
He’s Kanye, he is one of the only people bold enough to actually say “imma do what I wanna do” & do it…we need more Kanye’s on the front line
I’m not sayin this album is anything amazing but I like it, like Gotty says, if your in the mood for it press play.
let the man do his thing.
Peace
Bounce
the Autotune hides the fact that he can’t sing…I suppose he could’ve had someone else do the vocals, but who better than him to convey emotions only he could’ve felt…things would’ve gotten lost in translation…
conceptually, FE-LIAB & Death Of Adam are arguably better, but those 3 right there? ain’t anything else coming close in terms of having a narrative…y’all don’t think ‘Ye knew he was going out on a limb with this shit? shit, he could’ve sat on his laurels and delivered a run-of-the-mill rap record with features and shit….either way, people would’ve had something to say about it…I give him props for sticking to his convictions
sonically, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea…I admit, I do have to be in a certain mood to listen to it….a better album would have one be able to play it no matter the weather or mood…that said, I fucks with it
He would smoke his crack, cry, pray to GOD, and then bark at the moon. That nigga was crazy.
==============================
LMFAO!!
Dope album that I really dug, but it ain’t hip-hop & it ain’t the best album of the year in any genre, unless we’re talking about ‘Ye’s self-described “Pop Art” category, in which the album deserves the Grammy lol. Quirky but not really groundbreaking, ego-driven but intensely personal. I think it’s a great album that pushes the boundries of modern music but lacks the true creativity to really go where Kanye wants to go. He shoulda called up Jon Brion.
* maybe “pushes the boundries of modern music” is a bit strong (I have a flair for the dramatic lol), but it’s far from the generic, monotnous stuff that gets pushed to the masses.
anyone read his interview in Fader? pretty interesting.
yeh i feel i should apologize to K. West, but then again, he’s a much better producer/rapper than singer..
kanye can do no wrong.
yaw high…..this album is medicore at best. hits and misses. far from classic but at least got to express himself. i expect the next album to be better as continues to grow. its only his fourth album.
“sonny Says:
anyone read his interview in Fader? pretty interesting.”
I wanted to check it out but couldn’t find it online. Do u have a link?
im trying to scan it now. i’ll post a link once its up.
^ thanks!
I have listened to the album a few times and I still am not feeling it. It is cool to do something different and every now and then someone will go out to left field (LIAB/Love Below) and make a dope album. This album is not a good album at all.
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“the other side to life, not everybody had a hard knock drug and murder filled life. a good bit of us jus have them simple problems women money,family and other simple shit. if folks take the time to listen to the lyrics they would really appreciate the substance” NappyRed
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I don’t think Ye ever spit lyrics like that. Ye also spit “raps” about money problems,family and simple shit without singing and when he did sing, he didn’t use the vocoder. I think this album is Ye’s ego at it’s best, maybe even his worst. Not a very good album.
“If I don’t like it, I don’t like it. It don’t mean that i’m hatein’”
(c) Common
I’m Amazing – the Fader Interview with K. West
http://thehellacultureblog.wordpress.com/
click on the individual images to view them better…i hope.
The Fader is free via itunes…
Gotty … this is 4 u
I love 808…
Welcome to Heartbreak
Paranod
On repeat
LMFAO at dudes saying this album is classic. it really shows the state of music when an album is mediocre at best can be described as classic. but as stated, the majority of critics won’t have the balls to criticize the album in case ‘ye spazzes out again.
Shaking my damn head
After reading the article I can see Ye is still big headed as ever!! ! Why would you be upset your albums are not in Starbucks or fashion shows? Are you serious?
808s isn’t a hip-hop album. i think that’s the problem a lot of people seem to be having with it.
but RE: the critics, it’s their (our?) job to praise what they deem praiseworthy and critique what they deem to be garbage. trust me, no one is living in fear of kanye. he’s shit on major publications, media outlets, u.s. presidents, etc. and everything has been business as usual.
take this site, for example…you cats don’t hold your tongue and kiss ass out of fear of retribution from artists. no respectable site or publication would ever do that. favorable reviews of 808s and heartbreak will come because some people will find the album to their liking…a lot of them, i think. a good question to ask is, what’s going to happen next?
Easily best song I’ve heard off the album (which isn’t saying much). But by no means a classic.
The album concept is intriguing at first but like most pop art (Warhol, etc) once you “get it” there is never the same satisfaction again.
This album will not stand the test of time. Autotune is played and Kanye- many of us have lost loved ones but self destruction is not the answer here.
*thinks about changing genre categorization for 808s in iTunes*
fuck it, all the other ‘Ye albums are listed under “Hip Hop/Rap”, so, for the sake of convenience, yeah…but it ain’t hip-hop, lol
but according to the fuck-sticks at Best Buy…it’s “Rap”
I’mma create a new category for 808s…”Autotune Emo”
The album is kind of an extension of “Late Registration” sonically, like “Graduation” was an “extension” of “College Dropout”. I figure “Good Ass Job” would be more in line with “Graduation” but with “Ye, who knows what it’ll sound like. It may be spoken word over rock riffs with only two features…Charles Hamilton & Axl Rose lol. I’d DL it lol.
this albums got us all thinking about the future of hip hop in music in general
kanye won
hip hop won?
you tell me
p.s. STILL roasted like evar
haven’t given it a listen yet and only heard love lockdown and coldest winter, but i can say coldest winter has piqued my interest and i cant wait to see where he has went with this
The whole album is dope except Love Lockdown which we’ve all heard too much… few weeks ago i didnt think i’d say that, but i’ve been listening to 808 over and over this weekend.
All these HATES and LIKES aside Kanye will kill em’ on the release because he is smart. I think everyone in this post has expericed one or more situations that he has talked about on this album. The ambience and the instrumental feel along with the deeply emotional lyrics will drag any person in for the ride and really put them in a state of awwwee. I’m not a fan of the autotune but I can say I am a fan of music and musically this album is great with the exception of Robocop even though it is hilarious. Kanye is like 50 in some cases “In The Money Makin Business” thats why he is releasing another album at the first of the year. And he released it at the end of this year so that he can get the album of the year cause if you have something fresh bringin in the new year thats the only sound you can pretty much wrap your ears around but if he put it out at the beginning of this year we would already be tired of it. Most albums of the year released and the end of that quarter. Its a money making game guys. Real music don’t get the notoriety that it should… You will never hear no Elzhi on the radio in regular rotation unless its a friday night flavas show or something of that sort.
New album is bammer as hell…Was a big fan pre auto-tune and Ye trying to be a singer…Sucks balls, wouldnt even give it 1 Cig that was hand rolled from the little bit of tobacco that you get from going through an ashtray of butts!
The album is mediocre….and trust me, I’m being generous with that opinion.
“Dear Kanye, lose the autotune & vocoder, start rapping again and stop trying to sing. You are not a good singer”
Kanye fell off/sold out/ went turd loggin LONG ago. Anybody who bumps 808 should have their balls chopped off.
Welcome to Heartbreak is like listening to the problems of a depressed, drunk acquaintance of a friend of a friend you haven’t spoken to in years.
Listening to this made me feel bad for him. And that was all I got out of it. I wasn’t nodding my head, I my mouth was hanging open in shock. First, why would you put something out there that sounds like a track you made on your laptop while you were waiting for a flight? Second, how are you going to make a “blues” album that nobody can relate to? I’m sorry, Kanye, I don’t know what it’s like to have a Lamborghini instead of a daughter. I can feel your despair, but it is kind of creepy to be honest with you, because I don’t know you that well, and I’m not your therapist.
The beats? It sounds like he took Mortal Kombat arcade samples and made them WORSE somehow. Everything he is trying to do has been done before AND BETTER by the people who did it first. Get your own gimmick.
Lyrics:
“when i grab your neck i touch your soul”
what? that doesn’t even make sense. what is he trying to say? for most of his songs it sounds like he is just talking to himself, as if we’re not here.
Seriously, the more i listen to this, the sadder i am about this whole thing. They are just shoving this garbage down our throats. This sounds like my kid brother made this on fruity loops after his high school girlfriend broke up with him. They gotta make it big, so everyone goes along with it, even though “the emperor has no clothes” so to speak.
KanYe’s new “effort” is like a duck with a speech impediment: wack, wack, wack.
(kanye, please seek professional help, seriously for your own sake, don’t do anything extreme you will regret)
i miss the college dropout era kanye his sample selection was so on point