Get To Know H.E.R.

Hits: Welcome To Heartbreak (ft Kid Cudi), Heartless, Paranoid (ft Mr Hudson), Street Lights, Coldest Winter

Strikes: Love Lockdown, Robocop, Bad News, See You In My Knightmares (ft Lil Wayne)

Balls: Say You Will, Amazing (ft Young Jeezy)

Note: I’m aware that there’s a bonus track on this, but I’ve decided that bonus tracks aren’t actually tracks that contribute to the body of the album and will from now on only give such tracks a mention if they deserve it. This one really doesn’t.

When Kanye West first made it known that he would be recording an album entirely in auto tune, I was shocked, to say the least. I expected that shit from Lil fucking Wayne (who consequently appears on this album) but from Kanye? When I heard this, I immediately wrote this album off as a complete failure in the making. After listening to this album from start to finish, was I right or was I being close minded?

Well, I’ll start by saying this. 808s and Heartbreaks really isn’t a hip hop album (and it isn’t The Love Below). Also, the Kanye West you’ll hear on this album isn’t the usual egotistical man you hear rapping about how great his production (which admittedly it is) and his lyrical prowess (pshhh) are. In fact, since Kanye doesn’t rap on this you should probably consider this not as a Kanye album but a side project by his alter ego, Kanye Pain (or T-West, whichever you prefer). Recognizing this will be crucial to whether or not you can actually enjoy this album.

As for the actual contents, I was half right when I dismissed 808s as a complete failure since half of its tracks were in fact, a total mess. Love Lockdown was probably reworked a gajillion times before it was put on this album and you know what? I still can’t stand it. But the real killer here is Robocop, which is without a doubt, the worst track on this album and probably in Kanye’s whole catalogue. On the flipside, there were several tracks on this album that I found myself liking and could even see myself enjoying the shit out of on a later day. Street Lights for one, is a beauty of a track, and Paranoid is also one hell of a song.

The production on 808s, as one can expect from a Kanye album by now (even a Kanye Pain album), is fucking magnificent, albeit a bit similar. The problem with the bad tracks is surprisingly not the auto-tune, which, after the first couple of tracks really wasn’t nearly as distracting as I thought it would be (except on Love Lockdown for some odd reason). No, the problem is that Kanye the singer has the most simplistic lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. It also doesn’t help that his better collaborators behind the mic aka Common, GLC, Talib, etc. are nowhere to be found on this album and we’re instead presented with the simple raps of Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy. To be fair, sometimes, simple works. But other times, it turns otherwise heartfelt tracks into repetitious, boring as shit material.

Speaking of heartfelt, another thing that you should be aware of going into this album is that the subject matter isn’t your typical Kanye West fare (remember the how great his production and lyrical prowess are thing?)). On the contrary, the subject matter is depressing as hell and really fucking emo. Which is understandable I suppose, considering his mother recently passed away and that he broke off his long term engagement with his fiancée. For the most part, this was actually a welcome change from the Mr. Ego Kanye was becoming and reminded me more of the lyrics on The College Dropout. It was when he started complaining about the problems his success brought him that I couldn’t really feel it anymore. First off, that subject is beaten to death in the rap game. Second, fuck all that. I mean I understand it’s your life and all and you got your problems but really? You got a problem with having too much money? But….I digress once again. That’s really more of a topic for a blog I should start one day entitled “What’s Wrong With the World Today.”

So…what’s my final word on 808s and Heartbreaks? It’s not as bad as I expected it too be (how could it have been?) and it’s definitely not as bad as some people are saying it is (close though). Like I said, don’t expect Kanye the rapper and it puts this project all into perspective for the most part. However, keep in mind that since this is basically an experimental thing as Kanye usually is a rapper (well, he’s usually a producer I guess, but whatever) and not an auto tune singer, it’s not as good as it could’ve been. Of course, the fact that I prefer this album to T-Pain’s last one, who’s day job in fact is auto tune singing, speaks miles about how bad he is. Anyways, there are a few good fucking tracks to be heard on this album so just track those songs down. I won’t guarantee that you’ll like the whole package though and to be quite frank, you probably won’t.

While I’m a little more than hesitant to really label Kanye a legend, there’s no ignoring the huge impact he’s had on modern day hip hop. Everybody should know Kanye’s story by now and if you don’t, chances are you’ve probably been living underneath a rock for the past 8 years. The first time I took interest in Kanye was when I saw that he produced nearly all of my favorite tracks from Jay-Z’s Blueprint. About a year later, after the infamous car accident, I read an article in XXL saying that he was set to release a solo album sometime in the near future. The album met a couple of delays and by the time it came out, I’d pretty much forgotten about Mr. West. A month later, I was walking through Best Buy when I saw a copy of the album on the shelves and decided to buy it off the strength of his past production work. I immediately put it into my CD player (yes..I still use one of those) and slowly but surely was blown away. Compared to the over-saturation of 50 Cent that was 2003 (although Get Rich Or Die Trying was a pretty good album), this was a totally different monster. I then proceeded to play the shit out of this CD for the rest of the year. Let’s take a look at how this album, which most of you probably have heard at least once by now, plays out.

The album starts out with an Intro that nobody needs to hear more than once and goes right on to the next song, We Don’t Care. With it’s infectious, happy go lucky beat and sing a long chorus, it’s decent enough as the first track. I take it more as a joke track than anything else, especially since some of the lyrics on it are down right hilarious. After a short, forgettable interlude in the form of Graduation Day, comes the popular All Falls Down. Story goes that Kanye couldn’t get the Lauryn Hill vocal sample cleared and had Syleena Johnson redo the vocals. I’ve heard the original with the original sample and honestly, the album version sounds a lot better.

After yet another interlude (although I’ll Fly Away is better than most skits I’ve heard on rap albums) is Spaceship, one of the best songs off the whole album. I’ve always felt that Kanye made a mistake in releasing Consequence’s solo before GLC’s, since what I’ve heard from him so far outdoes everything I’ve heard from Consequence and in fact he outshines both Kanye and Conse on this track. The next three tracks are sequenced in a way that for some reason has always seemed brilliant to me. The first song in this three song centerpiece is a song that damn near everyone knows by now, Jesus Walks. Regardless of what you feel about the subject material, it’s a great song (and why should you complain? if you can sit through hours of Wu Tang and Brand Nubian 5% preaching, you can sit through 3 minutes of this). Next comes Never Let Me Down, which features Jay-Z and is another great track. Although Jay and Kanye spit bars about two totally different subjects the song somehow works, and Jay’s last, not included in the original version, verse is especially nice.

The next song on the album and the final in my trio is the ridiculously good Get ‘Em High. Ever since the first time I went through this album, this song has always stuck out in my mind as the best song on the whole damn album. Kanye, Talib and Common are all on point and the beat just rocks. Of course, the damn sequencers had to ruin it all by following this track with the down right stupid Workout Plan skit and its just as stupid, related song The New Workout Plan. At least the album makes up for this with the next song, Slow Jamz, which was a song that was originally on Twista’s Kamikaze. It’s a slightly different version with a couple of R&B breaks and for the most part I find that I prefer this to the Kamikaze version.

Breathe In Breathe Out is a forgettable song and only features Ludacris on its hook. After another skit (which is actually pretty funny the first couple of times around) is School Spirit. If you’re wondering why the curses are censored on this, it’s because Aretha Franklin wouldn’t let Kanye sample the song unless it was rendered clean. The censoring may distract you a little bit, but overall it’s a short, fun song. The next actual song on the album is Two Words, a song that has quite possibly THE best production on this album. As such, I like it, even if Mos’ guest verse is a bit disappointing. Following Two Words, is another song that everyone should know, Through The Wire, the song that shows that Kanye is one diligent, hardworking bastard. I’m gonna assume that you, the readers, know the story behind this song by now, and as such, I’m gonna move right on ahead to Family Business. It’s a real feel good song, and I’ve always enjoyed it a lot. I’m not usually the biggest fan of sung R&B hooks, but for this song I’m willing to make an exception. The next “song” is Last Call, and it features a puzzling intro by Jay-Z, is way too long, and is merely ok as far as outros go.

The Good: All Falls Down, I’ll Fly Away, Spaceship, Jesus Walks, Never Let Me Down, Get ‘Em High, Slow Jamz, School Spirit, Two Words, Through The Wire, Family Business

The Solid: We Don’t Care, Breathe In Breathe Out, Every Skit Other Than “I’ll Fly Away” and “Workout Plan”

The Bad: Workout Plan, The New Workout Plan

Final Score: 9.0

Four years after its release, Kanye’s debut album is no classic, but still holds up pretty well. There are really no big missteps other than Workout Plan and as far as I’m concerned, the good tracks more than makes up for the slack. I could’ve done with fewer skits, but then again, I ended up not liking the one Kanye album that didn’t have any skits at all (Graduation), so who knows? If you don’t have it already, I would suggest you pick it up whenever you can, especially since you can probably get it for cheap used off Amazon.